Upright skiing with skis close together

[kwahoo]

Fairly new to this site. Great source of information!

When riding up the lift, I often see people skiing nearly upright, with skis tight together, almost touching, making frequent turns. These turns are not deep turns, just a little to one side, then to the other. They don't seem to be going high on their edges; they don't lean over much. It's graceful and looks effortless, but I can't quite figure out how they are doing this and whether this is even desirable. When I've tried this, I end up going way faster than they seem to.

As far as I can tell, they are not skiing the slow line fast. They don't appear to be slarving, and I can't tell if they're skidding the tails a bit.

Just curious. Not really planning to try it. The style I've developed is to carve the turns aggressively by getting well over on the edge, which results in way more lean in my legs. These people stay remarkably upright.

Thanks for any insights!

--Kevin

 

[Scrundy]

Many styles of skiing, whatever works for you. The better skiers use a combination of many styles without thought, just comes naturally. A lot depends on conditions and what they are skiing at that particular time. Bump skier will ski with a narrow stance and a carver should ski with a narrow stance and open up when laying trenches.

 

[pchewn]

I think you'll want to visit this old thread with similar content:

https://www.skitalk.com/threads/skiing-with-boots-glued-together.25057/

 

[crgildart]

Park and pipe skiers stand upright with skis close together.. works well for switch. moves.. Bump skiers need a tight stance to get through the ruts smoothly. A shoulder width, railroad track carving stance only works well on nicely groomed terrain.

 

[kwahoo]

I think you'll want to visit this old thread with similar content:

https://www.skitalk.com/threads/skiing-with-boots-glued-together.25057/

Super helpful, thanks!

 

[cantunamunch]

Fairly new to this site. Great source of information!

When riding up the lift, I often see people skiing nearly upright, with skis tight together, almost touching, making frequent turns. These turns are not deep turns, just a little to one side, then to the other. They don't seem to be going high on their edges; they don't lean over much. It's graceful and looks effortless, but I can't quite figure out how they are doing this and whether this is even desirable. When I've tried this, I end up going way faster than they seem to.

As far as I can tell, they are not skiing the slow line fast. They don't appear to be slarving, and I can't tell if they're skidding the tails a bit.

Just curious. Not really planning to try it. The style I've developed is to carve the turns aggressively by getting well over on the edge, which results in way more lean in my legs. These people stay remarkably upright.

Thanks for any insights!

--Kevin

There a couple of things going on here - the graceful and effortless tail flicking in the fall line is called 'wedeln'.

If you search on YouTube you will find umpteen dozen vintage wedeln videos - here is Reilly M. doing a modern take on it:


It's desirable if you -want- to ski like that. It's all up to your intent and desire. Having more than one style in one's toolbox can be quite fun.

 

[ScottB]

Try this one, it will straighten you out in no time.

 

[Sanity]

It's graceful and looks effortless, but I can't quite figure out how they are doing this and whether this is even desirable. When I've tried this, I end up going way faster than they seem to.

As far as I can tell, they are not skiing the slow line fast. They don't appear to be slarving, and I can't tell if they're skidding the tails a bit.

Constant forward pressure, all the weight on the outside ski. I desire it.

 

[Rod9301]

Park and pipe skiers stand upright with skis close together.. works well for switch. moves.. Bump skiers need a tight stance to get through the ruts smoothly. A shoulder width, railroad track carving stance only works well on nicely groomed terrain.

Shoulder width skis is the worse idea coming out of PSIA

 

[Jilly]

Rollerblade turns? The skier actually uses the side cut and edges of the skis to turn. It's not a big turn or long turn, more like a change in direction.

 

[cantunamunch]

This thread makes me want to get the Ott Gangl wedeln emoji back.

Rollerblade turns?

Hehe. That's pretty analogous to skate teachers calling hockey stops "ski turns".

 

[nemesis256]

I've always assumed people who ski like that learned how to ski before shaped skis were a thing, since that was the technique back then, and it stuck with them. No idea if there's any truth to that though.

 

[newboots]

I've always assumed people who ski like that learned how to ski before shaped skis were a thing, or were taught by someone who had, since that was the technique back then, and it stuck with them. No idea if there's any truth to that though.

FIFY
I think this is true.

 

[LiquidFeet]

This thread makes me want to get the Ott Gangl wedeln emoji back.

 

[cantunamunch]

Yup. BTW, Ott was on 150cm Atomic 9'16 SL skis for that one. And yes, the hat is (was) that tall

 

[crgildart]

I've always assumed people who ski like that learned how to ski before shaped skis were a thing, since that was the technique back then, and it stuck with them. No idea if there's any truth to that though.

Flawed.. Look at all the park rats and mogul competitors who are under age 22. Shaped skis hit late 1990s.. It's what kind of skiing you do, what terrain (groomed or park/bumps/big mountain), and who you learned to ski from more than what kind of gear you ride..

 

[Tony S]

and whether this is even desirable

It's not. @crgildart is talking about a niche thing that you would already know about if it were relevant to you. @nemesis256 had it.

 

[Tony S]

Flawed.. Look at all the park rats and mogul competitors who are under age 22. Shaped skis hit late 1990s.. It's what kind of skiing you do, what terrain (groomed or park/bumps/big mountain), and who you learned to ski from more than what kind of gear you ride..

Skiing like a park rat or mogul competitor is great if you're a park rat or a mogul competitor. If you're a generalist like 99.5% of us, it's not.

 

[Fuller]

If you think of yourself as a "complete skier" then you should at least be able to ski like that as needed. Terminal intermediate groomer cruisers can't come close.

 

[François Pugh]

It's a variation on the traditional short-radius turn. Short radius meaning shorter than the ski was designed to carve arc-2-arc. It has built-in speed control. Start by learning the basic traditional short radius turn, and go from there.