How Do I Turn?

[zonca]

I’m adding this as tip 124 to the back of Allen & Mike's etc

The knee below ankle position of the back foot in this illustration is not good. Sure one might go there in extremes but it is certainly not recommended in a standard turn.

[bauerb]

years ago I tele skied wearing knee pads. in bumps my trailing knee regularly hit the ski. given how burly my gear is today, its no longer necessary for me.

[greatgt]

Fcoast, don't know if this is what you want....If trying to teach the turn I go where they will be skiing....If it's at a ski area will tell them to get a lesson and within a short time I'm in the forest cruising....If they are into BC around here will take them to a place where the trees are not tight....Big openings and a moderate slope.....decent amount of powder the kind that won't let you go in deep.....TURN OUT TELE......Have them angle their skis down but mostly across the fall line.....Have them practice the FEELING of Big Toe and Little Toe.....Turn to the right little toe on your right foot has some degree of pressure on it....Your left foot has pressure on the big toe....push off and the ski will slowly turn to the right....Only problem is to get enough speed to come around....If your going to BC ski then learn it out there....Do this a zillion times then reverse and do it the other way (left)......Repeat till it's no deal at all....At that point you have the turn and the next gigantic TURN-ON will be linking them...Don't know if that helps but doing the turn is a blast....TM

[Spiny Norman]

"How do I turn my skis without my heel locked down?"


Parallel and stem turns work great.

[bauerb]

aha. the return of the "Stem Christy". raise your hand if you are old enough to know what that is !!
when I was a kid teaching myself to tele on nordic skis, I kept a note card in my pocket to remind me of the basics of a turn, and yes, the stem Christy was part of how I taught myself to tele.

[Spiny Norman]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Matt

[Krakus]

Well, I learned alpine skiing in 1980s, and there were "upper stem" and "lower stem" christies. Still very usable on NNNBC setup.

[John Dee]

Do telemark turns become difficult in old mushy snow? I've been having a harder time lately with nnn bc and especially with narrower skis.

[jyw5]

Do telemark turns become difficult in old mushy snow? I've been having a harder time lately with nnn bc and especially with narrower skis.

yes. i usually do step turns or little jump turns instead. or if possible, just dig in and drive a hard parallel turn.

[Stephen]

My experience trying to turn narrow, cambered skis is that:

- In soft snow, the skis will bend more easily into an arc for the turn, and that it’s also possible to steer a flatter ski by skidding the tail by pushing hard on the heel;
- On firm snow, that you stay on top of, it’s possible to skid the ski through a turn;
- And that in any kind of snow that is heavy / dense / thick, the ski will not bend or skid very well, is locked in, and pretty much wants to go straight.

More speed and skill allows for more options, skiing slow makes it harder.

That’s pretty condensed and I’m sure there are other thoughts on this.