ski lesson

I'm not a very good skier, but I'm working on it. This weekend I took a lesson ("Perfecting Parallel") at Winter Park. In addition to the parallel info, I also learned a critical foundation that I was missing. That foundation is the concept of using your skeleton instead of your leg muscles. Hopefully the use of stick figures will help elaborate.

Bad form:
As you can see above, the old me stood with my calf pressed against the boot, heel/ankle at a right angle, perpendicular to the slope or even worse depending on the steepness [1]. My thighs were doing the work of keeping me in an aggressive position yet still upright [2] and I was sticking my butt out [3] as my instructor said. My line of vision [4] was essentially parallel to the slope, which is correct. The worst thing about this is my center of mass was more towards my heel than toes... leaving the tips of the skis to take on a mind of their own.

Good form:
As you can see above, the new me stands with my shin pressed against the boot, heel/ankle at a sharp angle [1]. My calves and skeleton are doing the work of keeping me in an aggressive position yet still upright [2] and I am not sticking my butt out [3], rather upright instead. My line of vision [4] is the same (essentially parallel to the slope, which is correct). The best thing about this is my center of mass is more towards my toes than heel... giving me control over the tips of the skis.

This is the opposite of riding a mountain bike downhill, where you tend to sit back in the saddle as steepness increases, but feels much better on skis. My first ski trip this year wore out my thighs, but felt great after this Saturday. Maybe this will help out somebody else too... I know if I come home with sore thighs again I just need to re-familiarize myself with these million dollar drawings.