The Austrian School (AS) teaches beginners a hip width stance:
For traversing there's nothing wrong with that, and for schussing at high speeds the stance should even be wider. However, the instruction "Widen your stance" has become an indiscriminate mantra, as this instructor-author and this instructor-vlogger confirm.
The learner in the below video shows that that causes a problem. She has the movement pattern that many semi-advanced skiers have: apart from staying 'in the backseat', her stance is substantially wider than that of her instructor throughout the whole turn:
There are many more circumstances under which a (somewhat) wide(r) stance is appropriate, but here we are talking about the skidded short turn, the most important turning art for all recreational skiers. And the instructor in the above video is totally correct to keep her feet quite close together; all ski instructors themselves do that for said turns (even though they might verbally echo the mantra):
The short turn as taught in the AS. Producer: NOESLV.
It's not the closed stance that mogul and powder skiing require. But there's little or very little space between the feet, depending on the teacher (personal preference plays a role as well). And on occasion, that's the instruction on Pro Ski Instruction.
References
- Wiener Ski- und Snowboardlehrerverband/Snowsports Academy. Ski Lehrer Buch, 2nd edition. Austria, 2016.
Change log
- V. 1.1: changed the title.
- V. 1.2: changed the order of the sections; edited the text; added section about the history.
- V. 1.3: changed the title; edited the text.
- V. 1.4: added 'Skier's balance' to the list of determining factors.
- V. 1.5: added video to Introduction.
- V. 1.6: shortened and edited text.
Continue to Improvement 7 →
