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Steer with the Ankles & Feet
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 I was riding a lift with my friend Joe recently when he asked me for a pointer. I said, "sure -- use your feet and ankles more." He looked kind of blank when I said that. Well, I next talked to Joe a couple of weeks later, after he came back from a skiing holiday out west. He was so excited. He said to me "Rob, I found something that no one's ever told me before." "What's that?" I said, and he said, "I use my feet and ankles." Now, who wasn't listening?
Anyhow, I've got to show you how Joe was skiing before, and then maybe you can relate to that little story. Before, he would bend the knee joint quite effectively, and the hip joint quite effectively, but the ankle joint just wasn't working. Now, what I expect Joe finally felt when he got out west was how he could use his ankles in this fashion and his feet in this fashion. We've got to be able to flex the ankles for balance. That's the joint that’s closest to the ski. And then we want to add subtle little steering movements with the feet, as we roll the feet and turn the feet to steer the skis. That's where the suspension and the steering are -- in the ankles and feet.
The flexion and extension starts in the ankles. Not at the waist and not just at the knees. It starts at the ankles. And the steering is a function of turning and rolling the feet.
Another idea that may help you is that you extend, and that feels like you step on a gas pedal. Or you may want to extend and roll your feet over so that you actually contact your arch of your foot . Sometimes I think when I'm doing short radius turns that it's like running down a streambed, and I'm putting my foot on this rock or that rock or that rock. And it's all done with the feet and the ankles. Whatever it takes for you to get that feeling should be okay. I'm glad my friend Joe finally did.
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