Pole Plant

PROBLEM: The skier keeps her/his body constantly facing the tips of their skis which results in a stiff posture and awkward turns.

CONTEXT: A skier has the most control and is most stable when he/she is turning. Having a stiff posture can cause any turn to be a slow and awkward process.

FORCES:

• Many skiers feel a need to watch snow just in front of their skies
• Control while skiing comes from using the edges of the skis

SOLUTION: Always plant the inside pole at the initiation of every turn.

RESULTING CONTEXT: Planting the pole forces the body to move. At the very least, the skier must reach out and look into the turn. Hopefully, the skier will rotate their shoulders and, more importantly, their hips into the turn. Additionally, it helps to move the skier's center of mass over the crux of the turn.

RATIONALE: A friend once told me, "Anyone can get down the mountain, but it's not skiing if your not turning." When on skis, control comes from how the edges bite into the snow. The rest of the ski is made to have as little friction as possible. Therefore, you must turn. When the center of mass is between the skis, the angle that the skis encounter the slope has to be small. This means that the edges are barely being used. Thus, the turn is slow and awkward. When a skier turns, they need to lean into the turn so that their skis can make an appreciable angle with the sloop. This is really the only way to use the edges and make the skis flex. (Side note, this implies that there is a minimum speed at which you can ski.) Also, because the skier must lean into a turn before the edges bite, the body has to lead the skis.

Although the above is valid, it is a difficult thing to explain to a beginner skier. Like many things, most often a person will need to experience it before they can conceptually understand it. The PolePlant pattern is a simple way to help the skier's body move correctly without the skier necessarily understanding why.

Author: Jay Stramel 11/30/99