I can’t tell you how many times I have heard this from a girl’s mouth when I ask her what her goals are for her lesson. I can also say that I too was this girl when I was younger. Now I don’t care – I’m happy skiing peacefully at my own pace if others want to fly by me. But for many this is the goal! Speed! Keeping up! Fitting in! Being able to be a part of the group! So, here’s my secret sauce. We are in control of our skis, and not the other way around. Yes, there’s gravity at play and we are sliding on slippery equipment, but if we truly know how to stop and put pressure on our skis and on the snow for when we want to go faster or slow down then we will, in fact, be able to keep up, speed up, slow down, and be awesome! Additionally, from my experience, most skiers rely more on the break at the end of each turn than on controlling the turn from the get-go. Did you know that we can actually ski faster and in more control if we start our turn at the top of our turn rather than sliding and breaking at the end of each turn so that we don’t crash and fall.
Now, this principle obviously applies to all skiers, and not just girls. For some reason, though, us girls tend to sometimes be more cautious or think we are slower when, in fact, we’re in control of this! We can adjust our turn shape too! So, girls, we can do this! We can put pressure on the tip of the ski, edge, and then turn. We can manipulate our turn shape. We can keep up with anyone! Let’s goooooo …. girl power!
Jen Bookman is a certified ski instructor with Park City Mountain Resort.