World of Skiing:

The Hands

Well what to do with the hands? That's the thing, eh? When you want to have a good efficient pole plant. And regular viewers will know that this is something that i struggle with from time to time because i drop this hand down here sometimes.

But just an idea. What if it was like this? Suppose when you go to plant your pole, look at this. It's kind of like bringing your hand up, getting a drink off the bar, looking see what's inside it and then you put it back down on the bar. You might want to check and see that your double martini has two olives in it, then you put it back down. And you know you need to have an efficient pole swing and pole action if you want to have fun doing short turns.

We have our hands out front and it's done with the wrists. Less so with the elbows and certainly not sort of from the shoulders like that as some people do. You see that? Really the small joints. And doesn't it look like this? Look, see you reach for the glass, you look what's in it and you put it back. Tip it up and put it back. See? Tip it up and put it back.

'Cause to have fun you need to be able to link turns and you'll be able to link turns more efficiently if you've got your hands and your poles in the right spot. And to get your hands and your poles in the right spot you've got to just have a feeling of where they should be and avoid that mistake i make of dropping this one back there.

So take another look. You reach for the drink, like the boilermaker or a shirley temple. You check out what's inside it and then you put it back on the bar. Just like that. Hope it works for you.