Fundamental Movements
Think of them as movements, drills, challenges, learning opportunities, or games. These movements will teach you how your body, your skis, and your line interact together.
Movements should be completed with intent towards mastery, and remember there is no perfect, just prediction and correction. Entertain these movements for what they can teach you. If you find something you like from this list, be it a mindset, a motion, an intention or focus, hone in on it, and make it a habit.
These movements will reveal the positives and negatives in your current skill set. Practicing often will expand and refine that skill set in the positive direction.
If using this set of movements as an assessment, set aside one full day to complete every movement from start to finish. Each movement builds on the previous, and the most simple of the movements are often the most revelatory. The first two sets of movements are aimed at mindset and focus. The following three sets will provide an experiential understanding of how skiing works by breaking into dissected parts. Then repeat the first two sections, observing any changes.
Once you have completed this assessment, note any learnings and then feel free to practice at will, picking and choosing those which are most benefitting you.
Going through the whole process every so often, month after month, year after year, is a great way to keep track of your progress. These movements also make great warmups to your ski day.
Video demonstrations are found at the bottom of Sections 3, 4, & 5.
Enjoy
Breathe
How are you breathing while skiing? Are you holding your breath, hyperventilating, using your chest, your belly, your back? Do you use your nose or your mouth? When the terrain goes from easy to difficult, does your breath change too?
There is no correct way to breathe while skiing. These movements will inform you as to how you are breathing now, and how changing your breath will alter your skiing. You can perform these breathing drills on any run or terrain, but you might find it easiest to focus on playful terrain to start.
The goal of these movements is to change your habitual actions through intention, focus, and observation. You will find that despite your intention at the top of the run, it is difficult to keep focus once you have begun to ski. Keeping your focus from top to bottom is the real challenge to these and all movements, so that’s why you’ll begin with the most deceptively simple focus, your breath.
1.1 Observe.
Take a run or multiple runs, skiing as you normally do, and observe and take note of your breathing patterns.
1.2 Nasal Breathing.
Breathe in and out of your nose exclusively from the top of a ski run until you reach the bottom.
1.3 Slow Nasal.
Again using your nose to inhale and exhale, now lengthen your breaths to a 4 second inhale and 4 second exhale while you ski from the top of a run to the bottom.
1.4 Slow Exhale.
Inhale through your nose for 3 seconds and exhale through your mouth for 6 seconds from top to bottom.
1.5 Belly Breathing.
While skiing, feel each inhale fill the entirety of you belly, back, and sides of your torso. Try adding this feeling to any of the previous movements.
Look
Where are you looking while skiing? Perhaps your sight is at your ski tips, far away, tracing an imaginary line down the hill, scanning for jumps, constantly re-focusing on a singular obstacle in front of you, noticing your shadow, other skiers, etc. Again, there is no correct way to see, but like breathing, where you look will directly influence how you ski.
Look, and your body will follow.
2.1 Soft Foveal, Active Peripheral.
Foveal vision is what you use to read a book or your phone. It is central and narrow, and very good at deciphering details. Peripheral vision comes from the outer edges of your eyeballs and is very good at picking up movement and light changes, less good at detail. Ski from top to bottom using your peripheral vision. Think less detailed focus and more eyes wide open. Like a visual meditation, don’t focus, just take it all in and let it pass through.
2.2 Red gate, Red Gate.
In ski racing a blue gate always follows a red gate. If you were in a race course, this drill would have you looking down the hill at the next red gate as you passed the first red one. Then as you skied past the first blue gate, you’d be looking at the second blue gate. In this way, you are always looking two turns ahead. You do not need a race course to practice, just look two turns ahead.
2.3 Counting Turns.
At the top of a run, pick a landmark far below (like a tree, trail sign, big rock, etc.). Now visualize how many turns you will make on the way to that landmark and note the number. Ski to the landmark counting your turns and compare your visualized versus the actual number of turns. Mastery is matching both numbers.
2.4 Follow the Leader.
For this drill you can follow a person or simply follow a set of tracks down the hill. Your goal is to try and trace their tracks with your own. For maximum effect, follow someone you want to emulate, or at least their tracks. For fun’s sake, follow horrible looking tracks and see what happens.
2.5 Switch Skiing.
For this drill find a gentle, playful run. Ski backwards. Alternate looking over both shoulders to initiate your turns.
Propel
Skiing relies heavily on gravity. Heck, you could stand there doing nothing and gravity would probably get you to the bottom of the hill. But you can also propel yourself, and when you are teamed up with gravity instead of at it’s whim, you will have an entirely different experience of control.
The following movements are based on the motion of skating. Skating is walking but with tools on your feet. Think roller blading, ice skating, and Nordic skate skiing. Center your weight over one ski, focus on flexing and edging that ski. When the energy in that ski rebounds, use it to smoothly transfer your weight over the other ski and begin to flex and edge once more. Repeat. Aim for smooth weight transfers, powerful motions, and the feeling of acceleration!
These movements should be entertained with boot buckles loosened* and without the use of ski poles. This way you will receive direct feedback from your movements.
*Loosened while still maintaining control.
3.1 Simple Skate.
To begin, find a large flat area and mark two points about 100 feet apart. Skate back and forth between the points repeatedly, getting to know how your skis and body work together in propulsion.
3.2 Sloped Skate.
Repeat the Simple Skate Movement on a sloped pitch. Try a mellow slope to begin. Note the differences between skating uphill and down.
3.3 Barrel Racer.
On the same playful pitch, mark three points in a triangle formation. Skate around the points, making sure to vary your direction, making both clockwise and counterclockwise loops.
3.4 Skating Arcs.
Find a long run with a consistently mellow/playful pitch, like a green circle to blue square type of run. Begin skating in a straight line downhill. As you gain speed, you will reach a point where it feels impossible to continue accelerating without loosing control of your skating motion. At this point, begin to arc your skis more and more across the hill, so as to maintain the skating motion and feeling of propulsion. In this way, you should feel the tension of acceleration at all times, and use the shape of your line to control your speed.
3.5 One Ski Skate.
Remove one ski and find a playful slope. Flex and roll that ski from edge to edge repeatedly as you descend. The goal is to feel the propulsion of an adapted skating motion. This one isn’t easy (perhaps the hardest of all the drills), but proficient skiing on one ski makes two skis a breeze.
Resistance
Now that you know how to go, it is pertinent to know how to stop. These movements will teach you how to resist the pull of gravity by adding rotation to the flexing and edging of your skis. Think about it this way, a ski is fastest when un-flexed, un-edged, and with the tip pointed straight down the hill. Resistance movements will have your skis doing the opposite. Of course, it’s not all or nothing. These movements will teach you to control a range of resistance from minimal to maximal.
Entertain these drills with your boot buckles loosened* and without the use of ski poles.
*Loose but still maintain control.
4.1 Sidestep.
Find a very steep but inconsequential pitch. Begin at the bottom of it with your ski tips pointed horizontal to the slope’s fall line. Sidestep upwards, smoothly and slowly transfering your weight from foot to foot, ensuring to roll your edges sufficiently into the snow, so as not to fall. At the top, reverse steps back down the hill. Make sure to practice on both sides.
4.2 Sliding Edge Set.
Again on a steep but inconsequential pitch, but this time beginning at the top with skis pointed horizontal to the fall line and edges rolled into the snow in a stopped position. Roll edges the opposite way so as to start a sideslip down the hill. When ready, quickly and precisely roll edges back into the snow to stop. Pause a moment and then repeat. After 5-10 repetitions, switch sides.
4.3 Rotating Edge Sets.
On the same pitch as the Sliding Edge Set and with the same starting position, begin to sideslip. This time rotate your skis 180 degrees to the other side before quickly and precisely rolling your edges into the snow to halt. Repeat 5-10 times on each side, ensuring that your forward momentum is moving in a straight line down the hill. Rotation should only be around the vertical axis running from the top of your head to your feet.
4.4 Whirly Birds.
On a playful slope, rotate 360 degrees, keeping both skis on the ground. Repeat and vary direction, speed of rotation, velocity, pitch, etc.
4.5 Hockey Stops. The goal is to stop as quickly as possible on any pitch, at any speed, and in any direction. Begin slowly and ramp up the pitch and speed as you become comfortable. Beginning uphill, point ski tips straight down the hill and glide downwards, ski bases flat to the snow's surface. When ready, simultaneously rotate 90 degrees to either direction, while rolling skis on edge and centering your weight over the downhill foot. Repeat and change direction of rotation.
Adaptation
The propulsion and resistance movements so far have been on planar slopes, yet we all know that skiing is three, possibly four dimensional. The following movements start adapting the planar motions of skiing to the third, vertical dimension.
Entertain these drills with your boot buckles loosened* and without ski poles.
*Loose but maintain control.
5.1 Absorb.
Find a choppy, bumpy, or mogul riddled slope. From a far side boundary, pick a point on the other side, just a little bit downhill. With eyes fixed on this point, begin to traverse to it. Keep your center (i.e. hips) fixed in the vertical axis, and use the contraction and extension of your legs to absorb the undulations. Skis should be perpendicularly weighted from your center point. Remember to look uphill for assailants before traversing.
5.2 Jump.
On a playful pitch, begin straight down hill, bases flat. With your weight equally over both feet, contract and powerfully extend your legs to jump and then land softly. Keep your weight perpendicular to the snow surface for takeoff and landing. This is jumping at it’s simplest, but the theory applies to any takeoff and landing you may encounter.
5.3 Bank Turn.
Find a slope with a continuous bank along one side, like the uphill side of a cat-track or half of a half-pipe. Make turns using a propelling skate motion down the slope, and place one turn’s apex on the planar pitch and the other apex on the top side of the bank. Note the difference.
5.4 Fall Away Turn.
On the same slope, repeat the Bank Turn Movement, but place one apex on the downhill side of the bank instead of the top. This would be the downhill side of the cat-track or the bottom of a half-pipe wall.
5.5 Roller.
The roller is the arena in which the vertical and horizontal axis movements combine into one. A roller can be absorbed, jumped, a bank, or a fall away. The key here is to play around with different lines into, over and past the roller. Try going straight up and over, fast and slow. Then add turns. Try putting an apex on the upside and the downside of the roller, with your bases flat over the crest. Or, put the apex of a turn at the peak of the roller to experience a fall-away on the up and down. Find multiple rollers in a row for more fun.
The Roller Movements will give you an idea as to how your line makes your movements more or less hard. If your line is mandatory, you will know what it takes to move past an obstacle with control. If your line is controllable, then you will know the effects of each possibility, choosing the one you so desire.
Look
Look, and your body will follow.
6.1 Soft Foveal, Active Peripheral.
Foveal vision is what you use to read a book or your phone. It is central and narrow, and very good at deciphering details. Peripheral vision comes from the outer edges of your eyeballs and is very good at picking up movement and light changes, less good at detail. Ski from top to bottom using your peripheral vision. Think less detailed focus and more eyes wide open. Like a visual meditation, don’t focus, just take it all in and let it pass through.
6.2 Red gate, Red Gate.
In ski racing a blue gate always follows a red gate. If you were in a race course, this drill would have you looking down the hill at the next red gate as you passed the first red one. Then as you skied past the first blue gate, you’d be looking at the second blue gate. In this way, you are always looking two turns ahead. You do not need a race course to practice, just look two turns ahead.
6.3 Counting Turns.
At the top of a run, pick a landmark far below (like a tree, trail sign, big rock, etc.). Now visualize how many turns you will make on the way to that landmark and note the number. Ski to the landmark counting your turns and compare your visualized versus the actual number of turns. Mastery is matching both numbers.
6.4 Follow the Leader.
For this drill you can follow a person or simply follow a set of tracks down the hill. Your goal is to try and trace their tracks with your own. For maximum effect, follow someone you want to emulate, or at least their tracks. For fun’s sake, follow horrible looking tracks and see what happens.
6.5 Switch Skiing.
For this drill find a gentle, playful run. Ski backwards. Alternate looking over both shoulders to initiate your turns.
Breathe
7.1 Observe.
Take a run or multiple runs, skiing as you normally do, and observe and take note of your breathing patterns.
7.2 Nasal Breathing.
Breathe in and out of your nose exclusively from the top of a ski run until you reach the bottom.
7.3 Slow Nasal.
Again using your nose to inhale and exhale, now lengthen your breaths to a 4 second inhale and 4 second exhale while you ski from the top of a run to the bottom.
7.4 Slow Exhale.
Inhale through your nose for 3 seconds and exhale through your mouth for 6 seconds from top to bottom.
7.5 Belly Breathing.
While skiing, feel each inhale fill the entirety of you belly, back, and sides of your torso. Try adding this feeling to any of the previous movements.