PARALLEL TURNS

Parallel turns are turns where the skis always stay parallel to each other (ideally hip width apart). This is generally considered to be the point where proper skiing begins, as up until now all the turns have used the snowplough which is rarely used once you don't need it. What makes the real difference when you get to parallel turning though, is that as there is no snowplough as you turn through the fall line, you will pick up a lot more speed than with the stem turn. So you have to be ready to go a bit faster.

The Technique

The technique to making a parallel turn has many similarities with the stem turn, but because parallel turns can be performed through a very wide range of speeds, there are many aspects that can be added to the turns which we have not come across so far. A big difference with parallel turns, is how much easier they are to make when you are going a bit faster. With your skis parallel and hip width apart, you have less balance than with the snowplough as you have to keep your weight within a smaller area. As with riding a bike, it gets easier to keep your balance as you start to go faster. To initiate a turn still requires you to lean forwards to get the front of the skis to start falling down the slope, then moving the weight across to the outside ski. It can take time for the skis to fall when you are traveling slowly though, and as your weight must stay between the skis while you do this, it can be hard to keep your balance. At higher speeds we change our weight to the outside ski earlier, and if going fast enough, we don't rely so much on leaning forwards to initiate the turn either, and can put our weight on the outside ski almost straight away. It's when we get to the point where we don't rely on leaning forwards so much that parallel turning becomes easier. This is because then we have very little time when we don't have anything to push sideways on to keep our balance. Because of this parallel turning is better to be attempted when you are good and confident enough to ski at a medium pace, and are starting to feel you want to be leaning into the turn a bit. Many skiers start to parallel turn by making the snowplough used in stem turns smaller and smaller, until the skis end up parallel throughout the whole turn.

How Far Apart Should The Skis Be?

Although most skiers will have their skis considerably further apart than hip width when they first start trying to parallel turn, it is important not to have them too far apart. In the snowplough we have our legs wide apart, but we only use the inside edges on the skis, this is stable because the skis are always traveling in a forwards direction, so that the snow always goes under the base of the ski and then hits the edges. With parallel skiing though we use the same edge on both skis (either both right edges or both left edges). If the skis are too far apart the downhill edge on the uphill/inside ski will catch in the snow as you slide sideways, tripping you up or sending you off balance. Having the skis further apart also makes the body's weight needs to be moved further in order to make a turn, which means that it will take more energy to make turns and the turns will take longer.

At the same time though we do not want to have the skis too close together either. Having your skis hip width apart also leaves enough movement to be able to roll the knees so that the skis come onto their edges. This is also very important when we what to dig the edges in to slow down, and when we want to start carving. If the skis are too close together there is not enough room for movement in the knees.

Changing Edges

Parallel turning also differs from the stem turn in that as we are always using the same edges on both skis (either both right or both left edges), there is a point where we have to bring the base of the skis flat to the snow, and change over to the other edges. This never happened with the stem turn as the edges were changed one at a time while initiating or taking away the snowplough. This edge change needs to be made as the skis stop sliding sideways and are travel straight forwards, before the skis start sliding sideways in the other direction. Unless making an extremely slow turn this point will always be before the skis point down the fall line, due to your initial momentum (as explained in using resistance). It is important to change the edges at this point or the wrong edges will catch in the snow, and stop the sideways movement dead (as explained here in edge effects), which will generally throw you to the ground. Although this sounds a bit daunting you will find that you generally do this naturally at the correct time anyway.

Leaning Over

As parallel turning deals with increased speeds from the stem turn, the forces that the skis produce while turning are greater as well. When parallel turning at higher speeds it will be the first time that the turning forces have been great enough to noticeably bring our weight away from over the skis. We still put our weight onto the outside ski as before, but now it gets transferred through the body at an angle. The diagram on the right shows the forces when leaning over. The amount we lean over will change depending on our speed, and how much the skis are pushing sideways into the snow. When leaning over in turns, we keep the body more upright than the legs to keep a more adaptable stance, and transfer the weight more efficiently. The shoulders are also kept flat to the skis, from the point where we change the edges on our skis, to the point where the skis point down the fall line, from which the shoulders then stay at the same angle as the ski tips into the traverse position.

Walk Through Explanation

Below is a walk through explanation to make a parallel turn, assuming that we start from going across the slope from left to right, standing in the correct stance with our skis parallel.

From traversing across the slope, when we want to start the turn we start to bring our weight evenly onto both skis and lean forwards so that the skis start to turn left into the fall line, while making sure the ski edges are released and will slide sideways as with stem turns. As the front of the skis drop down the slope our speed increases and our sideways sliding decreases. We wait until the point where the skis come to sliding straight forwards, and then change the edges on the skis by leaning across to the left slightly (depending on how fast you were going to start with, how steep the slope is, how much you leant forwards etc, the time you have to wait will change). We then put our weight onto the right ski (lateral weight distribution), and bring our weight back to the middle of the skis lengthways (longitudinal weight distribution) so that we turn through the fall line and start to come across the slope. Keeping our weight on the outside ski, we change our stance as we come around the turn so that our body is always angled towards the fall line as explained in the stance section. As we come out of the fall line we also have to bring our body weight slightly forwards as well, this is because when the skis were pointing straight down the slope, the steepness of the slope meant our position had to be further back to keep our weight over the middle of the skis lengthways. As soon as we start turning sideways across the slope the skis effectively start to flatten off, and we need to bring our weight forwards to keep it over the middle of the skis. Once we have come across the fall line to the direction we want to continue in, we adjust our weight distribution between our skis a bit, so that we keep the desired angle going across the slope (lateral weight distribution). This brings us to the same situation as we started with but in the other direction, so to make the next turn we just have to do the same again but the other way around.

The two graphics below show the major steps of a parallel turn from 2 different angles, with arrows to show where the weight is in each position.

Parallel Turns Animation

In the animation below the 3D skier does 2 parallel turns, one each way. Notice how the skier brings his weight back to the middle of the skis and across to the outside ski, to finish the turn off.

Note as soon as we get to this stage in skiing, the learning process slows down and we need a lot more practise to improve and move on to trying other skiing manoeuvres/styles. Also from here on all styles of skiing use parallel turns, although they are tailored to different conditions, or styles.

There are also techniques where we unweight the skis as we come round the turn, so that the skis turn more easily and make the turn quicker. Sections on these will be added in the future.

Common mistakes:

• Leaning back - In parallel turns the body's weight needs to be brought forwards and backwards, but it always stays over the middle of the skis, or further forwards. The body's weight should never be behind the toes along the ski.
• Hesitating for too long while changing edges - The longer it takes for you to change edges and finish off the turn, the faster you will go in the meantime. You need to commit to the edge change before your speed frightens you from making the decision.
• Not leaning forwards enough to start the turn - The more you lean forward to initiate the turn the quicker the first stage of the turn will be. Although it can be scary to lean down the slope, if you do not lean forwards enough you can pick up more speed than you wanted, which can frighten you from actually making the turn.
• Having the skis too far apart - As explained earlier the skis can not be too far apart or the uphill ski will catch causing you new problems.
• Not leaning on the outside ski enough at the end of the turn - The more you lean on the outside ski at the end of the turn, the quicker you will come back to sideways. Therefore it is important to really lean on the outside ski if you want to come around the turn quickly.

More general common mistakes can be found in the Common Mistakes page of the Learning to Ski section.

Tips:

• Use a gentile slope for parallel turns until you are more confident, then slowly progress onto steeper and steeper slopes. If you try and go to steep too soon, often fear brings the snowplough from the stem turn back, and you will be left not actually making parallel turns.
• Taking ski lessons will introduce you to skiing exercises based on how people learn to ski in real life, so that you learn to parallel turn with the correct technique.

On to the Hockey Stop section.