Recently I spent a week snow skiing in Jackson Hole Wyoming and Grand Targee. These are two awesome mountains on which to get some serious skiing done. Although I’m not one for high downhill speeds, I can carve hard consistent turns down the steepest slopes.  

     On the plane ride out I read articles about unloading the ski at the edge change, dropping the hips in the turn, and holding the turn as long as possible without loosing speed. Funny in that I was reading Snow and Water-ski magazines detailing the same technique. Once on the slopes I tried to put all this into practice.

     What I found was after a day of doing this with full concentration and effort, the following day I was getting more aggressive, and by the third day I was hitting runs top to bottom with hard turns, aggressively attacking the hill and carving all the way down. As I unloaded the skis at the edge change I would counter-rotate as I reached to plant the pole. 

     The turn was nearly automatic as the skis carved all the way around with no loss of speed. I was able to carve a hard turn and stay on edge across the entire width of the slope until the process was repeated. Timing when to come out of the turn so as not to loose speed took a bit of practice, but being on long runs enabled me to repeat this until it became easier and the muscle memory was there.

     The forth day we hit Grand Targee just as the lifts opened. Seeing everyone go up the main lift we decided to hike over to the road and ski down to the Sacagawea lift. Since everyone else was skiing on the main run we had this side to ourselves for about an hour.  Laying first tracks on a groomed slope is like having glass on a public lake course. It doesn’t happen very often or last very long. I picked my run and dropped in, carving from top to bottom, purposefully trying to make each turn as tight but as smooth a turn as possible.

     When I returned up the lift I could see my arcs in the snow as I had laid first tracks. I was pleasantly surprised to see each turns arc being consistent, and across the slope the turn radius as well as cross course angle looked to be equal on both sides. I counted 12 turns before hitting the flats all at approximate slalom (water) course width.

     One week later we got a break in our winter weather here at home so I hit the water for the first time this year. It was difficult to try and cross train with no muscle memory for the water but I did try to get a few tests in. I found that by concentrating on staying flexible in the legs, unloading the ski at edge change and counter-rotating going into the turn, I could drop my hips as the ski came around the buoy putting me in what felt like a strong position to pull when skiing back into the handle. My timing was inconsistent due to the winter lay off but the function felt there. I had some great cross course pulls that were fast but felt in control putting me early for the next buoy.

     I felt that by transposing my snow ski edge change and counter-rotating turn into the slalom course my turns were easier and more consistent putting me in a better position for the cross course angle and speed. Turning a buoy in the slalom course has never been much of a problem, achieving and holding good cross course angle and speed has been. By finishing the turn in a stronger position I can see where it helps you achieve a better cross course angle which gives you the time for a more controlled and easier turn at the next buoy.

     Although water and snow skiing have many similarities, the differences go beyond the obvious. Water ski turns have so much more compression force as the ski carves with no slippage unlike a snow ski that can be unloaded a bit when needed. Unload a slalom ski in the turn and disaster strikes. The speeds on the water are also much higher. A downhill snow skier may reach the same speeds but cannot make near the same turn radius at that speed. This gives me the most complications when using snow ski techniques on water. There just isn’t enough time to think and react as you need. Muscle memory and repetition is the only way I can see the techniques interacting but I can definitely see similarities at work.

     Implementing a new technique is just what this skier needed to get the new season off and running. I can only hope that winter moves on quickly as the new season is fast approaching and that short first set the other day re-fueled the fire to go out chasing a new PB this season. Armed with some new ideas and techniques to work with may be just what’s needed.


Gordon Slingerland

Gordon is a regular contributor and can be found carving buoys in his spare time.

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