Ski Tips for Kids
"J turns describe the big curved J shape of the track you'll make with your skis in the snow. It's a fun way to introduce kids to the parallel stance, and it's another way they can stop.
Start out by skiing in a gliding Pizza straight down the slope, right in the fall line. Before you get going too fast, turn across the hill (out of the fall line) and make that curved part of the letter J. You'll come to a nice controlled stop with your skis pointing back uphill. It might help to have someone else make a big J turn first and then you can follow that track in the snow.
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"Your jacket has a zipper that should be used like the laser guidance system for your whole body. Think of your pants and jacket as two distinct halves, and they each move differently. Your skis down at the snow will be moving back and forth with each turn, but your upper body should be stable and smooth. Focus on a quiet upper body by trying to keep your jacket zipper pointed downhill.
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"The steeper the slope, the more the C shape helps you stay in control.
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"As the motions get smoother and less blocky, your whole body starts to look like a graceful C shape pointing downhill. This is the shape of an expert skier!
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"Airplane turns are one of the best games to encourage skiers to properly pressure the downhill ski. You simply pretend to be an airplane.
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"Think about guiding and smearing that uphill pinkie toe across the snow until the skis are parallel. If you are teaching, you can prompt this by calling out pinkie toe in the snow!" (it rhymes!). Imagine you are spreading jelly on bread with that uphill ski. Work on both sides. Then make big swooping S shapes as you go from turn to turn."
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"“The Wedge Christie lets you keep the training wheels on for that tricky moment at the start of the turn. Use the Pizza as you get TALL and guide your skis into the go line, then get SMALL in the rounded bottom of the turn. Guide your uphill ski so it slides smoothly into French Fries.”
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"Start in the mountain stance on an easy Green slope. Point your tips across the slope and a little bit downhill. Press your uphill pinkie toe into the snow as you move forward. This will keep that uphill, inside edge on the snow. If you do it right, you can look back and see two parallel sets of French Fries marked on the slope. Do it on both sides.
You should keep your body turned just a little bit downhill. Look in the direction you are skiing, but if you peek down at your skis as you traverse, you'll see the uphill ski is just a little bit forward. That means you're doing it right!
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"Teach the 'The Mountain Stance' by mirroring each other's position.
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"Imagine grapes under your big and little toes.
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"All skiers need plenty of practice with parallel skills before heading onto Blue terrain. They don't need to be skiing in perfect technique, but steeper slopes will require getting into a parallel, or French Fries, stance.
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"Find some short zones of more challenging terrain with a nice, flat runout.
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