Foot distance while skiing?....

[oldschoolskier]

There are lots of correct and incorrect answers on this as no one width is the correct one for all things.

Narrow width allows maneuverability.
Medium width balances maneuverability with stability.
Wide width stability is the goal.

If you look at SL, GS and mogul skiers the width is Narrow (at the extreme side of narrow).

Good recreational skiers depending on what they are doing are between narrow and medium most of which depends on comfort level and application.

Beginners medium to wide, balance.

Speed skiers on the extreme side of wide for stable tracking hard to upset platform, but for aerodynamics try to get towards the narrowest possible without loosing stability.

So if you are suggesting to someone new to skiing the standing starting point is somewhere between shoulder width to a couple of inches apart (similar to standing stationary without skis). If it feels comfortable, it's probably is correct. THIS IS THE STARTING POINT. From there it varies to match the what the skier needs at the moment.

One important thing some of the images have extremely narrow width (high edge angles) but large ski separation (vertically) for body mechanics and clearance, don't confuse this with width (most mistakenly do).

If it look like an "A" frame its wrong and width, if it looks like high edge angle it narrow to the extreme and correct.

 

[wolcoma]

I believe stance and width of the stance are really more about body type and balance than a set standard. For us older skiers and racers, growing up on straight skis until the mid-90's we all skied in a more narrow stance than today. There are some great WC slalom skiers who prefer a fairly wide stance and others use a much narrower stance. I often joke my skiing style is a mix of the 70's, 80's, 90's and 2000's plus. Very hard to break old habits, but we do the best we can. Although I have always enjoyed learning over the years attending many masters, coaches, and PSIA clinics. I wish I skied this way with the current ski technology when I was racing full-time in my teens and twenties.

 

[geepers]

Not illegal or immoral, rather it stems from an ongoing inside joke we have among friends about "your beautiful GS turns on your SL skis". The implication being that doing GS turns on SL skis means that you are using very low edge angles (aka not tipping).

This goes back to how most recreational skiers ski. They mostly ski without much offset or deflection of the skis. They prefer to ride on top of them, making long turns on skis with short radius sidecuts.

 

[dj61]

It can be an effective tactic. No, not referring to wide stance. The tactic I'm referring to is labeling another poster as this or that in a forum. But this time it's a crash n burn - you've no idea what stance width I use any of time. (Although it could be inferred - if some-one skied for 40 years with that feet together 70s style we can pretty much bet the house that their default will not be 'wide'.)

Don’t you know that Stevo just “knows”?