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Skating

Skating

So far these drills have focused mostly on one of the basic skiing skills at a time.  Real skiing, of course, utilizes all of the skills together, so let’s start to combine some of them.

Skating on skis is very useful.  It is critical on flat terrain, allowing a skier to move forward easily, leaving snowboarders struggling behind!  And, it is also a good drill for combining the skills of edge control and pressure shift from ski to ski.

Drill:  Skating

This is a good skill even for beginners.  When instructing I usually did a little work on skating on the very first day for first time skiers.  More experienced skiers likely already know how to skate, but they can get extra use from it by employing it while already moving as a means to increase speed.

Skating on skis employs the same movements as ice skating.  Watch speed skaters lining up for the start.  Legs bent, body forward, and the skate they will push off from angled to the side.  At the start, the angled push off skate is edged hard into the ice to provide a platform to push off from.  The skater extends the leg hard to push off from the platform and moves forward and then place weight on the other skate to glide.  That skate is then edged and the racer pushes back onto the first skate to glide, and the sequence is repeated.  If the skate is not angled to the side and edged, then it just slides backward, and no forward momentum is generated.

On skis, it is the same.  One ski is angled out to the side, then edged and the skier pushes forward onto the other ski and glides.  That ski is then edged and the skier pushes his/her weight and motion onto the other ski and glides.  Repeat.  Each ski slides on an angle outward from the desired path, but with the body in between the skis, the overall direction of travel is forward.

It looks easy, but for first timers it is not unusual for the skis to slide out to the side instead of providing a stable platform to move ahead from.  The reason?  Not edging the ski sufficiently in between the glide and push phases.

Think of it like a dance.  It may look like a two-step, but it is really a waltz!  If the skier simply tries to push, glide, push, glide, etc., the push ski isn’t edged sufficiently, since when gliding on a ski it is flat to the snow and will skid to the side when pushed against.

To fix this problem, use a three step rhythm.  1. Edge the push ski.  2. Push off against that ski and step onto the other one.  3. Glide on the other ski.  Then repeat.  Set up a rhythm: edge, push, glide; edge, push, glide. 

To edge the ski, simply bend the knee and move it toward the center of your body.  That both puts that ski on its edge, and it also bends your leg so you can apply full pressure when you extend and push.  The result?  An edging motion, then a push and weight shift to the other ski, followed by a glide on a flat ski.  Repeat these three motions and you will have integrated two primary skiing skills, edging and ski to ski pressure shift, and developed a smooth way to proceed over flat snow or even up a hill.

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73JsRlu_j5I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhCcg8K3oFY

Even though this is an example on cross country skis, the idea is the same.

https://www.psia-nw.org/video-galleries/alpine-level-i-tasks/skating-on-flat-terrain/

Watch the push-off ski tilting to engage the edge just before pushing off.