A question of balance

A natural sense of balance is another critical talent to be cultivated and developed if you’re really serious about your skiing. Just think about it, you stand on a relatively narrow platform that glides fast on all kinds of terrains. Keeping a solid “balance in motion” is a huge challenge because the entire environment keeps on changing; there are two boards to manage, the slope goes from gentle to steep, the snow quality alters our sensations, speed varies all the time and, to make everything even harder, changing visibility will amplify that roller-coaster ride... The art of developing a bullet-proof balance takes a significant amount of time and practice, which I like to sum up as “mileage” and reaching that level is probably a lot easier for certain individuals than others. If for instance you’re a skater or a cross-country skier, you’ll have a head-start and feel at home on skis much faster.

So, here’s the question; where does a skier’s balance come from and how can it be controlled? The answer is very simple, but the execution is extremely difficult.
First, all skiing sensations come as far as the sole of the foot and the “sweet spot” of balance is around the ball of the foot. This is a skier’s permanent sensor and invisible dashboard.
The next question is how to adjust that balance, and the answer is mostly with the ankles. The other joints are available to accompany the work of the ankle, but don’t show much use.
The main problem with these two areas is that the ball of the foot and the ankle are also the farthest body parts from the brain, and when signals need to hurry, one finds out very fast that communication between these two regions is never as swift as it should be!

Regardless of that difficulty, the ball of the foot and the ankle are “ground zero” as far as skiing balance is concerned; obviously, the goal is to stay balanced without having to think about it. It has to be second nature. One trick is to focus on the feet without looking at them while skiing, record every sensation that goes through them and learn to accept that your skis are just appendages of your feet. Since only your feet and ankle are really in charge, it is essential to remain totally relaxed with the rest of the body and especially with the arms. Don’t hold them “stiff forward” like the racing coach or the ski instructor might have told you; if they’re lose and are needed for a quick balancing act, they’ll instantly act as counterweight. This, in a nutshell is how you will start training yourself to acquiring an instinctual sense of balance. There's much more to talk about, but we'll do it in some future blogs.

When you have a chance in the meantime, try a pair of Salomon Snowblades; these very short skis and their unforgiving “sweet-spot” will quickly teach you to stay in perfectly neutral position. If your balance is already highly developed, you can also try to “ski” on your ski boots, but be very careful; you might experience some bloody “face-plants.” This reminds me of my youth when I taught skiing in Mt. Buller, Australia, and when in the wee-hours of the morning I would literally “ski” an entire beginner run on my slick cowboy boot soles; this perhaps is how I’ve learned so much about balance, but that’s another story...