THE PERFECT SKI STANCE | body position and posture in varying conditions and terrain

Hi guys, I'm Jojo and I'm a fully qualified ski instructor working in Kosovo and Maribel. Today we're going to talk about the secret to a perfect ski start. This video is for you if you want to start feeling a little bit more stable on your skis in any condition across the hill. So skiing is a sport, it's important we remember that. A lot of people tend to forget. So like all sports, it's really important that we stand on our skis in a correct position. So we're just going to talk about our overall position on skis. So starting with our ankles, knees and hips, they want to have even flexion between the ankle, knee and hip. We don't want to be flexing too much at the knee, otherwise we'll be back in the back seat. We want to be nice and even throughout. And then moving on to our upper body, we want our core to be nice and strong and engaged, so not lazy because this is a sport. And then our hands want to be out in front wider than shoulder width apart. And then it's really important that we keep our head looking at where we're going, not down at our skis. So we've talked about our overall position we want to be skiing in, but we do need to adapt that depending on what we're skiing or how we're skiing. So if we were to ski down this piste, like Mach 10 carving, we'd want to widen our stance so that we're able to increase the edge angle. If our stance is too narrow and we try and do that, we're just not going to get as much out of the ski and we won't be as stable. So for our fore and aft position, we want to be in this really strong attack position where our core is really nice and engaged and our arms are nice and forward and strong and looking out in front. So we're going to start off pretty cruisy. So my stance is in that general position and as I increase my speed, I widen my stance to increase the edge angle and my upper body is nice and forward with my hands out in front. So I'm creating that really strong attack position. As the terrain flattens out a little bit and you want to be a bit more aware of the fact you're on a green run, you may want to adapt your stance to a little bit narrower to slow the speed down. If we move into the bumps, we actually want to narrow the stance again so the skis remain a lot flatter for when we're going down the moguls. For our fore and aft position, we want to be a lot more on top of our skis. Our legs want to be still really strong but they also want to be quite soft and subtle to suck up the bumps underneath us which means our upper body wants to be really super engaged and strong with our arms out in front so you're almost ending up walking yourself down the bumps. So when we're in powder we tend to have our stance a lot narrower so that our skis can act as one so that we can bounce through the snow more efficiently. People assume that when we're powder we want to be in the back seat which isn't necessarily true. We want to try and maintain that skier stance perhaps with a slightly narrower ski width and our arms want to be nice and forwards to keep carrying the momentum down the hill. So when the powder is that amazing champagne soft fluffy powder we all dream of, we can maintain that general skier stance so nice and forwards and ready to attack the mountain but if it's a little bit wet and heavy and not so nice consistency we do want to be a little bit in the back. So for ice it's a really good idea to keep your stance in that general position. We may want to be a little bit more upright but try and just glide across the ice. Try not to put too much edge on because unless your skis are razor sharp they're going to lose grip so my motto is just slide and glide. A lot of people are scared of the ice but own it, don't be scared of the ice. With your fore and aft position it's important to just stay nice and relaxed. Don't go in the back seat because that will make you shoot off across the piece and then you'll lose control so stay on top of those skis and just slide over it. If this was icy down here I would maintain the same width stance but I'd probably be a little less edgy and just skid over the ice a little bit more. Now that you've got all the tools to unlock the secret to the perfect ski stance I hope that you'll be able to ski the whole mountain with complete confidence and if you'd like some extra tips and to ski with me be sure to book a lesson with me Jojo on Maison Sport.