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Reprints From The Professional Skier

Spring 1997 - "Fitting A Square Peg Into A Round Turn" by Larry Dean

This article is reprinted from The Professional Skier. All copyrights apply. Please see our copyright and disclaimer notice page.

As ski instructors, we always teach at rounder turn shapes control speed and produce good skiing, but one question remains: How do we get students to round out their Z-shaped turns?

To answer this question, it helps to identify why the skier is making a Z-shaped turn in the first place. I believe Z-turn skiers either have a fear of skiing the fall line or lack the skills to progressively blend edging and rotary movements to achieve the rounder tam shape. Characterized by a skier's harsh, jerky movements with overrotation of the body and skis, Z turns blend the beginning and completion of the turn into one movement. As skiers attempt steeper and more challenging terrain, they spend more time skiing across the fall line and skidding throughout the turn to decrease their speed.

To teach a high-quality round turn, ask your students to ski a square turn shape (hesitation turn), which develops patience and control through the middle of the turn. Select terrain that is suitable for the level of your students. I find that the gentle slope of a green or easy blue run works best. Have your students start with a diagonal traverse, then initiate just enough of a turn to point the skis straight down the fall line. After holding the straight-run portion for two to three seconds, they should initiate a turn to another diagonal traverse in the opposite direction before coming to a complete stop. After your students have successfully skied the square turns to a stopping point, have them attempt a series of linked square turns.

Encourage your students to maintain a tall stance while straight running in the fall line and between turns in the traverse. Skiers who break a single turn into two turning movements with a straight run in the middle will be less likely to move their upper body too far to the inside and behind the center of balance. The overrotation movements should begin to disappear, and with the tall stance students will be less likely to sit back on their heels. You have had your students break the turn into three distinct parts - a beginning (turn into the fall fine), middle (straight run in the fall line), and end (turn back across the fall fine). Have them play with the timing of each part to change turn shape and control speed. The goal at this point is to develop the middle part of each turn.

Next, instruct your students to change the straight run in the fall line into a very slight turn with less shape than the beginning and end components. Tell them to continue to shape the middle of the turn until it is one flowing movement that resembles the letter "C" from beginning to end. By letting the student experience the sensation associated with the middle of a turn, you will have improved his or her overall quality and timing of the turn.

The students can now practice this drill until they can perform the square turns on more challenging terrain. The timing and flow of their normal turns should show a vast improvement since they are now using the entire turn shape, including the middle, to control speed. Your more advanced students should strive for more precise pressure and edging movements at turn initiation, decreasing those movements at the finish of each turn to enhance the transition and initiation of the next turn. The ideal movement is to gain the ability to carry the energy and flow from one turn to another rather than disrupt it with harsh edging (braking movements) at the end.

Most students don't let their skis do the work for them. Instead, they spend too much energy finishing the turn as soon as possible. But by following the shape of a square (with slightly rounded corners), the student will gain patience and learn to control the middle of a turn using the skis as the primary tool.

Larry Dean is a certified Level III alpine ski instructor at New York's Ski Windham. A member of PSIA-E since 1990, Dean is also a certified flight instructor and a black belt instructor in Okinawan Karate.