Ski Television:

Planting the Poles for Short Turns

To be a good skier you've got to have a good pole-plant. To a great extent, the quality of your turns or your footwork are dependent upon the quality of your handiwork. To make effective short turns, you just gotta have a pole swing that moves the basket forward, and puts it in at an angle. And one way you can get that pole swing is to put your thumb right over the end of the pole like that, there's the end of the pole, move your thumb from down there and put it over the top, and now pull the thumb back each time you go to plant the pole. Pulling the thumb back will cock the wrist and swing the pole forward.

Look at that again. I've got my thumbs over top of the end of my pole, and each time I want to plant my pole I simply pull back on my thumb. So for a better pole swing, get those thumbs up, get them over the ends of your poles. Each time you want to plant your pole just cock the wrist, like that, by pulling back on your thumb. I've got to thank my colleague Heather Robinson for that tip -- it sure worked for me, I hope it works for you. Try it!