Ball, Stick, String
There is no correct way to ski. No truth. No secrets. No perfect turn.
The Ski More Good philosophy is based in intention, action & observation.
Skiing is a way to get from the top of a mountain to the bottom. It can bring many emotions, including joy, but mechanically it is a simply a form of transportation. It is the act of moving your body in coordination with your equipment in an effort to control the transportation.
Skiing is not possible without a mountain, gravity, & snow, all of which you have no direct control over.
The three controllable aspects are your body, your equipment, and your line. Here they are represented by three objects: a ball, stick and string.
The ball represents your body. A ball cannot fall and it is infinitely mobile. Other shapes are stable or mobile, but the sphere is both. Be a ball.
The center of this ball is a point in your body cradled by your hips. It is three finger widths below your belly button and two finger widths deep. From this point, there is a radial line to the point of contact with the snow surface. The point of contact can be one foot, both feet, or the other foot. To be a sphere, this radial line ought to be perpendicular to the surface of your skis at all times. Let’s call this the Weighted Line.
There are other radial lines through your body, the ball, including one from your center that travels up through your spine and out the top of your head. Imaging this line as a string that is always in tension, and always perpendicular to gravity. Let’s call this the Taut Line.
Imagine your skis moving underneath you from left to right, your weight must transfer from foot to foot in order to keep the line perpendicular to your skis. The taut line however must be remain perpendicular to gravity, therefore straight up. The angle between the Weighted Line and the Taut Line are what most ski instructors refer to as angulation. Angulation is how your body counteracts the force of gravity, while simultaneously weighting and controlling your skis. The proper angle depends on the terrain, snow, your line and the properties of your skis.
The stick represents your skis. You get two of them, sticks.
A stick has a few properties for you to consider:
Bendable - i.e. Flexion
Rollable - i.e. Edging
Pivotable - i.e. Rotation
*Other properties include flotation and torsion but they are not addressed here.
Ski flexibility can be soft and forgiving or stiff and responsive. It might be stiffer in the tail and softer in the tip or visa versa. Understanding how your skis flex will inform your line & your body’s movements in an effort to control them.
Edging is achieved by the shape of your skis (straight or parabolic) and the degree of the edges themselves. Skis will have differing lengths of edge contact and the same ski will have more or less edge contact depending on the snow’s firmness.
Rotation must occur around a point. In our case, the point is our foot. Rotation will point your skis in any given direction.
Skiing with control is appropriately applying some combination of flexion, edging and rotation to manipulate your skis as you intend. A stick will do none of this on its own. An outside force must act on it. Gravity, terrain, the snow and your movements are what makes a stick ski along a line.
The string represents your line. Line is both where you want to go & where you go. When these two aspects are in alignment, you have control. Line is the path between top and bottom, it can be straight or curved and anywhere in between. Your line is also story, just ask your tracks.
Skiing is the interaction between the ball, stick, string, gravity, mountain & snow. You cannot separate or remove any aspect and still be skiing. Experiential understanding of the interaction between these things will give you mastery over them.
Mastery is controlling your body, equipment, & line in reaction to gravity, the mountain, and snow.