Скачать или смотреть Basic Terms of Skiing, Phases of the Turn

The conversation about the skiing sometimes can be confusing. You ask me about the load of the uphill and downhill ski and I speak about outside and inside ski. We are using phrases like initiation or steering phase, but who can exactly describe, where the initiation is in the turn.

When we want to describe something precisely, is better to use exact, physics-based terms.

The fundamental key phrase is the fall line. The fall line specifies the center line of the turns. We describe the turn using the position of the skier according to the fall line. The beginning and the ending of a turn when the skier crosses the fall line.

When the skier crosses the fall line, the ski tilts to the other edge. This is the transition or edge change. In this short and unbalanced phase, the skier gliding straight to the side, ergo not turning. The skis are flat on the base, the edge angle is zero. Because the essential load in the turn comes from the edges of the ski, the load practically zero. We cannot speak about inside or outside ski, better to use the uphill and downhill terms.

In the first phase, the skier goes to the side, the skis getting on the edge and preventing the side directional movement of the skier and pushing him back to the center. The edging and the load is increasing.

In the second phase, the skis are winning against the impulse of the previous turn. Therefore theoretically the load is highest and the edge angle is biggest at that point. In this phase, we cannot speak about uphill or downhill ski, only about inside or outside.

In the third phase, the skier returns to the center line, the skis has less resistance to fight with, so theoretically the load and the edging decreasing, the skier builds down the turn and prepares for the next turn.