5 simple tips I learned at Copper Mountain to improve my skiing
My three favorite sporting activities these days are tennis, biking, and skiing. I study tennis like crazy and often write about tips and tricks for improvement and biking is easy and simply needs very little study, but skiing is something I’ve mostly just done and slowly over time gotten better at through repetition.
Of course, that kind of attitude can build in questionable habits. I’ve typically not cared that I’m much less fundamentally sound than the rest of my family. Sure, I can ski the black diamonds and some of the most challenging runs, but when they go into deep-tree powder and steep windy cliffs, I wisely leave myself out of the fun.
And I’m mostly fine with that, but on this past week’s trip to our favorite mountain, Copper in Colorado (where a scene in Dumb and Dumber was filmed), I started to take to heart some tips from my wife and our 80-year-old new friend Howie (pictured with me above). I found that even just a little bit of fundamental improvement made the skiing even more enjoyable.
Their top four tricks that I worked hard on:
I said at one point, “why do I even have ski poles? I almost never use them?” Howie didn’t know I had said that, but soon thereafter he said I should practice planting my poles and swinging my skis around them on each turn. That way, I would gain better maneuverability. Sure enough, I was feeling more confident in my control, and my arms were pretty sore the next day to prove that I had been putting in the time.
My thumbs were the next body part to get sore, as I was instructed to head downhill and focus on always having the thumbs pointed up at the top of my poles and to always have them in my peripheral vision. This improved my downhill speed, keeping my turns nice and crisp while avoiding my habit of turning my shoulders too much from side to side. Keeping my chest pointed downhill has always been a fundamental that I frequently break.
While carving downhill, I was instructed that it would help my control if I push down on my big toe and pad of my foot with my front-turning (or downhill) ski, and sure enough, that was a big help towards truly feeling more in charge. That too made my toe and foot a little sore but should build strngth and control in the long run.
Unless I’m in a really steep spot and need to lean a little more back in my skis, I need to remember to lean more forward, with my shins pressed into the front of my boots. This helps in a variety of ways, including helping support my weight on turns, applying effective pressure on the skis, enabling better control and balance, and simply allowing me to better relax into the skis.
I’ve had an irrational fear that if I get my skis too close together while I speed downhill, they will get crossed up and I’ll violently crash and rip the joints out of my knees. So I tend to keep them parallel but not too close. But in reality, I could much more likely injure myself with that space between my skis. It’s not coming naturally to me, but I’m working to keep my skis close as a way to improve my form.
Now I’m ready to keep going forward on my journey to better skiing. After all, if Howie can be as amazing as he is at the age of 80, I should have plenty of room to work on my growth!