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Wedge to parallel

In all my training clinics I hear at in our teaching system the movements in beginning and advance sking are more of less the same.  So what separates wedge, wedge chrisite, basic parallel and dynamic parallel skiers?  How can the same movements create vastly different outcomes?

Picture a hot skier. “The edges are released and re-engaged in one smooth movement,” according to the Visual Cues to Effective Skiing cards. There’s no bracing, dead spot, quirky stuff or corrective movements.

Now picture a wedge turner. Do they change edges? No. Why not? You can’t change edges without flattening or releasing the edge.

Once the ski is flat you can steer it to a match. The earlier you flatten the ski earlier you match until the skis become flat at the transition between turns. Then you’re skiing parallel all the time. The timing makes all the different between a wedge christe and parallel turn.

Duration - Length of time you do something
Intensity - Power or force of the movements
Rate - Speed of the movement itself
Timing - When you make the movement

As a side note, this is how the Diva taught me to do wedge chrisite demos. I just wait a little bit to move across my skis to flatten them and a little wedge opens up naturally.

Add some intensity and that parallel turn just became a dynamic parallel turn.

So here comes the hard part, what activities do you do to help your wedge or wedge christy skiers release/flatten their skis?

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