Skiing switch

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noggin_buster

Member
I guess I'm a dork but I can't ski switch well....and I'm not talking off a jump, I'm talking just down the hill. Instead of setting my edges correctly to turn I put both skis on the inside edge and end up spastic. I can do 360's and 720's all the way down the hill but I can't ski switch without being a spaz. Advice?
 
lead with one ski

and look over ur lead ski's shoulder

i spin left so i lead with my left ski and look over the left shoulder

it takes i while to get used to

im still gettin used to it
 
Make it a point to ride some greens switch at the end of your day. Just focus on staggering your feet. If you keep your down slope ski farther out you'll feel the turn come naturally. Keep riding around switch and playing with it and you'll get it.
 
Thanks....its all helpful advice. I screw up when I stop looking over my shoulder and instead look down at my feet. I spin left too so I need to remember to lead with that foot downhill.
 
I find it helpful looking over the opposite shoulder to the leading foot. i.e. Left foot forward, looking over right shoulder, turning right. so I can see what i'm turnng into

i spent most of a day skiing switch, after that, it came naturally
 
i think its a little easier to practice on runs that have a little steepness to them. its easy to fuck up the turns and catch an edge when you are on a flat run.

but i'm not that great at either. I have lots of problems taking off switch.
 
Good point....yeah, I catch edges easier on greens too. Mentally, greens are easier for practice but the steeper ones may actually work better so I'll try that. I also gotta get used to keeping my head craned around for more than a few seconds to watch out for the little snowboarder kids who plop down on their butts for a coffee break in the middle of the run.
 
If you want to carve more (you have to go fast to do this) sit back a bit, you'll feel your edges catch more.

watch over your right shoulder if you turn left and left shoulder if you turn right.

Unconsciously, I put my opposite wrist/hand of my leading foot's thigh.

and don't be scared to go fast and carve hard, normally you just wash out if you're carving too hard.
 
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You have to train yourself all over again...lean back like you are in the back seat to get more pressure on those tails, try not to bend at the waist...if you know what a wedge christie is, work on that riding switch...then really work on coming all the way across the hill and then slowly move your ski pattern back into the fall line...oh and rater than using your toes to apply edge pressure...use your heel...
 
Ive also noticed that when I ride switch, or the others around me ride switch, we tend to bend our knees a little bit more ( helps so you dont lean too far backwards, which could be the root of your problem ). And just like everyone else is saying, stagger your feet, and lead with one ski.
 
im still learnin too and its kinda hard for me to make my unnatural turn but ive learned its better to learn by just sorta leadin with one ski and kinda slidin ur turns at first instead of just goin into straight up carving cuz ive tried and i end up tryin to get to much speed and eat shit at the end of the run
 
your gonna feel like your goin way faster then you think you are. tell yourself that and believe

ski switch every easy run all the time. pratice practice pratice
 
ski switch as much as i can down regular trails its helps so much and soon it will feel natuaral to you.
 


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here you go

 
Choose a good run, dedicate the day to skiing it switch smooth. Drop your poles, its a helluva lot easier for me to ski switch without em. Get used to doing a turn looking over both shoulders, both directions.
 
Hey, thanks a lot! It helps to visualize what to do.

I appreciate all the advice everyone gave. I'm gonna go practice, practice, practice tonight!
 
yeah, i have trouble with switch too, i spin right and look over my right shoulder, but when i also lead with my right ski, i start to automatically turn left, like i cant ski straight. so i end up spinning right and looking over my right shoulder but leading with my left ski to counter the turn and ski straight... is that bad?
 
yep very true. lately i have been getting good as shit skiing switch, cause i have been teaching my friend to ski so i just ski switch the whole day with her. stagger feet, and look over your shoulder for every turn, switching which shoulder to look over for each turn. really though you just need to dedicate some time to it, and you'll get the hang of it.

i'm still too much of a pussy to take off switch off of bigger jumps, and i think i can ski switch really good. i gotta get that down this week...
 
stagger one ski a good ways in front of the other one depending on which way you're turning. stagger your skisi!!!! remember that, this weekend my switch skiing got a lot better because of that one little thing. once you get comfortable with the stagger you can also see more of where you're headed.
 
it sucks cause i can ski switch looking over my right shoulder really well, but when i look over my left(cause i spin left) shoulder i like cant see anything, like mabye 1/4 of the edge of the jump, while i can see the whole thing looking over my right. like looking over my right shoulder my feet are all over the place and when i try and stagger my stance, i fuck up and eat shit. its the most annoying thing ever skiing up to a jump switch looking over your right shoulder to get aligned right, then looking over your left as you approach the lip and not being able to see anything and having to guess where the lip is.
 
OK, I was out practicing a lot tonight, taking everybody's advice from this thread. Amazingly, all the advice is pretty consistent. You guys are great. I'm getting the hang of it; it's fun, but I've still got some problems. When I lead with whatever foot, the turn initiates pretty quickly and I have to quickly try to put both feet even a bit to get down the fall line a little before switching my lead foot to turn the other way. Because the turns seem to happen fast, I'm switching feet fairly quickly - I feel like I'm doing a little dance. The other thing is, the illusion of speed is greater when I'm going backwards and though I try to tell myself it's really not that fast, I'll end up doing a stem christie to scrub speed and turn that way. Not as pretty, but it works. I'm trying to rid myself of that habit.

But, anyway, I did this A LOT tonight, despite the sketchy springlike conditions due to our crappy East Coast rain and warmer temps. I was comfortable looking over both shoulders. It also helped that a lot of people left the hill to go to the lodge to watch the Super Bowl, so I didn't have to worry about running into anyone. :-p
 
......which meant that there were also fewer people on the chairlift above to laugh at me....although I'm sure I provided some comical entertainment for some!
 
i had a different approach to learning switch. i learned the same way i learned how to ski foward. i did a switch snowplow down the mountain, turning by puttin pressure on either ski. once i got the hang of it, i slowly straitened my skis out. this will help with your speed problem you mentioned and might ease you into switch skiing.
 
Yeah, I think you're right about the speed thing. I am finding that its very fun and makes a boring run much more interesting. I'm hoping to soon get the the point where I do it a lot. I like to do 360's down the hill so I'm looking forward to turning the 360's into 540's and going switch.

 
I still turn a little hard a lot too. I think it just takes more practice to overcome that and learn how much pressure and stuff to put on the skis as you're turning. does anyones neck get sore after a day or two of skiing switch all the time? mine hurts so bad right now.
 
just don't tense up your neck so much. also I fnd stretching beforehand helps tons. grab bth hands behind your back and pull down as much as you can while tilting your head from side to side
 
like I said before...transfer your pressure through your heels...this will allow you to scrub speed by doing "squishy" sliding turns...this is how most people turn anyway...just make sure to stand upright and focus on keeping your weight downhill...when you lean uphill this causes you to spin back around downhill much like putting the weight on the back of a snowboard....
 
also if you find yourslef turning too quickly, just let off some pressure onthe leading foot. ie don't dig in as hard almost even pressure on both skis
 
true that, I'll have to remember to stretch beforehand. it's so stiff and sore right now, it finally got better from last week and now it's hurting again haha.
 
somehow i got worse at skiing switch since last year and keep going into the switch snowplow (i watched the video though). i can only look over my right shoulder too, which is kind of annoying...

 
shut up ...................................i cant ski switch very well ether thats why i normally ski switch on easy runs
 
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