How to Shape Your Ski Turns

Video Transcript

BILL BOSTICH: The big boss, John Clendenin, he came up with a great metaphor for his teaching methodology in turns. Let's say we had two jets flying side by side, if you wanted to go--this plane wants to go in this direction, this plane better open the door. The same thing is true with the bottoms of your feet and our turn shapes. Now, if you do this without having the door open with this plane, we have convergence in the air. Convergence in the air and convergence on the ski slope are both bad: one, a lot of people die; the other one, you crush your tips and that's not so good either. So again, it's a sequential move, a tip and a tip, a tip and a tip. And always remember, less is more. And today, we're going to talk about the genesis of the ski turn: Where does it start? How do we engage our plastic? Well, it starts from the very bottoms of your feet up. We don't ski with our shins; we don't ski with our hips. They all come along for the ride, but, again, it's the kinetic chain. Everything happens from the bottoms of our feet up. If it doesn't start there, don't do it. So if you want to go in this direction, you just tip and tip. Feel that arch come up, that's the cue for your brain that gets you on your little toe's pad. If you want to go in this direction, just tip and tip. Less is more, tip your feet. And to further illustrate, this is our little toe's pad, and this is our big toe pad. Most skiers step under the big toe pad of the outside foot. We initiate our turns with the little toe's pad of the inside foot. Again, tip and tip, less is more.