Most Important Move in Skiing (Part 1): Alltracks Academy

Guy Hetherington here again for All Tracks Academy with some more ideas on how to improve your free skiing. Today we'll be taking a detailed look at what is arguably one of the most important moves in all of skiing, so let's check it out. When we get to the stage where we're looking to increase the speed of our off-piste skiing, we need to be prepared to deal with varying degrees of terrain undulations. The faster we go in bumpy or undulating terrain, the faster the ground will appear to rise and fall beneath our feet. And how we deal with this idea is a major key to entering into the advanced or expert realm. So, let's take a look at how this can play out in a simple straight run before we put it into our turns. So, here we are at one of Whistler Blackcomb's terrain-based learning centres, and I'm going to perform a straight run through a few of these man-made rollers. Notice how I approach the first roller in a very tall and upright position, but then allow the roller to push my legs up towards my chest as I pass over it. The ultimate goal is to absorb a series of these rollers entirely with our legs, while our head remains as level as possible throughout its journey. If your resort does not provide terrain features like this, go out and find yourself a natural roller to practice this move upon. Once you are comfortable allowing your body to compress from the ground upwards, take this move onto the groomers and place it in between some turns. But now, instead of the terrain forcing your feet up towards you, let the pressure of the turn do exactly the same thing. The timing of your compression is critical here. Notice how I'm in my most compact position directly between one turn and the next, as my skis are completely flat to the snow. It is only as the new turn begins that I allow my legs to extend out to the sides. So take that and work on it for a while. Once you have it down, come back for part two of this video, where I'll show you how to apply this move in the bumps and over a variety of different terrain scenarios.