| The Parallel Turn (or Christie as it used to be known) | | | | pole. The pole plant, which is important, goes in |
| is the final turn that most beginners learn in ski | | | | between the front of his boot and the tip of the ski, |
| schools. Although not used a great deal by people | | | | thereby encouraging him to get his weight forward |
| who have discovered the Bog Standard Plough | | | | at the start of the turn. As he turns across the fall |
| Parallel and stuck to it, it is nevertheless excellent | | | | line the skis brake by side slipping on the snow. |
| grounding for more advanced technique. Its simple | | | | Plenty of weight is kept on the lower ski. This should |
| difference to the aforementioned turn is that there is | | | | also be practised on the other traverse. |
| no initiating stem*. The skis are parallel all the time | | | | The last exercise is alternate pole plants while |
| and are unweighted by a slow down and up slow | | | | stationary. The pole plant is crucial; it makes the skier |
| motion. | | | | go down and come up in order to unweight the skis. |
| *It is possible to turn your skis while straight running | | | | Some teachers also try to make their pupils jump the |
| with a rotation of first one thigh and then almost | | | | backs of the skis off the ground as they come up. It |
| immediately afterwards the other thigh. For example, | | | | is quite energetic and hopefully does not last for |
| you want to turn left so you rotate the right thigh in | | | | longer than an initial exercise. |
| the direction you want to go, ie: anti clockwise, and | | | | The parallel turn can now be tried on the move, |
| then the left thigh in the same way. To turn right, | | | | going down to plant the pole, up and round it, and |
| you would rotate the left thigh to the right | | | | then down to plant the other pole to prepare for the |
| (clockwise) and then the right thigh. In theory this is | | | | next turn. A few turns should be linked together to |
| an initiated plough (or stem), but it looks and feels | | | | provide a basic rhythm. The major fault is not |
| like a parallel turn as there is the barest minimum of a | | | | weighting the lower ski enough at the end of the |
| stem. | | | | turn, as most pupils tend to lean too much towards |
| Let's now get back to three preliminary exercises for | | | | the pole plant and somehow stay there. This should |
| an unweighted parallel turn. The first is the parallel | | | | be discouraged! |
| traverse with the skis alternating between flat | | | | There is also a tendency for the upper body to |
| running with the skier standing upright, and slight | | | | remain square over the skis. I don't consider this |
| angulation of the knees into the slope to put the skis | | | | worth correcting until a skier begins to turn his upper |
| on their edges. This is quite difficult for a beginner, | | | | body into the slope. It is worth encouraging a skier |
| but gives him the feel of the snow sliding under the | | | | to keep his uphill ski a few centimetres in front of his |
| skis as he goes both sideways and forwards with | | | | downhill ski on a traverse as this does discourage the |
| the flat running, and a basic feel of edging when he | | | | upper body from turning inwards. |
| angulates. If the edging is too difficult it can be | | | | This rounds off the early learning process. Hopefully it |
| overlooked at this stage. | | | | has reminded you what it was like at the start, and |
| The second exercise is the christie stop, which | | | | given you some idea of what you are doing now. By |
| involves a slow straight run down the fall line. The | | | | analyzing the basic movements learnt by a beginner, |
| skier angulates directly over the skis as he goes | | | | you will be well briefed for what follows in other |
| down to put the pole in, and comes up around the | | | | articles. |