World of Skiing:

Feet Placement

Well after a great but rather late night in Whistler village I’m out here this morning on the saddle and we've got hard snow. And I’m trying to find where to put my feet. A little lighter maybe? A little narrower, a little farther forward, a little farther back. It's all about just trying to find the balance point. So here's one way we can practise it.

Look, I’m opening my feet way apart like that. Just getting the feeling of moving my feet around. Here's another one, I do a series of little hops. I’m moving my feet while I’m skiing, not just pressing down and holding. Let's see now, I’m down here on the flats. I want to show you some of those things I was doing.

See, I opened my feet right up. I got them closer together. See that? Like that and then like that. Try to find the placement of the feet that works best for balance. And you know it's different up on the steeps than it is down here on the flats. But the point is you've gotta be in the habit of moving your feet around. Forwards and backwards like so. Out and in like so. One forward, one back. We call it a mobile base of support.

A ski pro will tell you that we achieve balance by moving the base of support, or the feet, around so that it's somewhere underneath this part here, the centre mass. Leaves the support in the right spot relative to the centre of mass and that's how you balance.

So you got to start with mobile feet. That's the point of this tip. Especially if you've had a late night in the village like I did. Hope that works for you.