, 3 min, 571 words
Tags: national-ability-center teaching
I've discussed the beginner ski progression before. One of the hardest parts to teach is transitioning from wedge turns to partially-parallel turns. These are known as the wedge Christie. The idea is that a student is still using a wedge to control their speed as they point downhill, but is approaching parallel skis on the traverses. And it is hard to teach. That's because we're asking students to control their skis independently for the first time. It can be a lot to keep track of.
From teaching and watching others teach, terminology can be a big tripping point. We talk about the inside or outside ski, but with reference to which turn? What about uphill/downhill? Again, this changes from turn to turn. In this post, I'm going to use uphill and downhill. I find it easiest to keep track of. That's because at first, most of the movement towards parallel will happen on traverses rather than during the turn.
Here are the rough mechanics when we transition from a wedge to parallel skis:
As you can see, there's a lot going on. And with a lot of students, you really don't want to describe all this. Instead you want a one- or two-step instruction that will help their body do all these things without their realizing it.
For weight shifting, games like the reverse airplane or basketball turns (dribble on the downhill side, shoot on the turn) can help a student feel the weight shift. Plus basketball turns can encourage flexion and extension throughout the turn.
For flattening the uphill ski, I like thumper turns. Basically as you turn, you lift the uphill ski a few times and thump it down. It makes a satisfying noise, and it forces the weight into the downhill ski. And as you shift it, the uphill ski typically flattens out as well. Similarly, shuffle skis back and forth during a turn – it's astonishingly hard to do this and maintain a wedge!
For rotation of the leg, talk about moving the uphill big toe uphill. That's a fine-motor skill, but you can also talk about the gross-motor "knee flashlights" that you want to point in the direction of travel. In most students this will naturally turn the whole uphill ski.
As mentioned before, basketball turns can contribute to flexion and extension. Other games include jumping on the turn, inhale-driven turns, roller coaster turns...
And of course, all of this can happen in the course of a single "follow the leader" session, by adding a new dynamic or game every five or ten turns.
I should note: this barely scratches the surface of techniques for the wedge Christie. Every student is different, and the heart of adaptive skiing is adapting to the abilities of the student. Come on out to a lesson if you want some more ideas!