How To Ski and How Not To

by Vivian Caulfeild

If any reader feels that an explanation of these terms is an insult to his intelligence, I can only assure him that such an explanation has been necessary in the case of many of my pupils.

The terms “edging” and “flattening” simply have reference to the relation of the plane of the ski’s sole with that of the general surface on which it is resting, and do not refer to its relation with a horizontal plane, or, in other words, to its position in space.

Thus a ski is “flat” when standing in the normal position on level ground; but, when standing in the normal position on the side of a slope, it is not “flat,” but “edged,” for in this case the edge nearest the hill cuts deeper into the snow than the other although the plane of the sole is still horizontal. ([Fig. 20], a and b.)

Fig. 20.

Edging and flattening.

The case is altered when the ski is inclined sideways; on level ground a ski that is inclined sideways is “edged” (c and e); but on the side of a hill a ski when inclined sideways so that the plane of its sole becomes parallel with that of the surface of the slope, is not “edged” but “flat” (d). When inclined to the opposite side, however, it is, of course, “edged” even more strongly than in the normal position (f).

The inside and outside of a curve mean, respectively, the sides nearest to, and farthest from, the centre of the circle of which that curve is an arc; that is to say, that in speaking of a swing or a turn to the right, the right ski, foot, and so forth are the inside, and the left the outside ones, while in the case of a turn to the left it is just the reverse.

This is simple enough. A shade of ambiguity, however, may lie in the fact that the edges of a ski are generally called “inside” and “outside” with reference to their relation to the foot, in the same way as those of a skate. In speaking, then, of swings or turns, the right edge, say, of the right ski may be referred to as its “outside” edge, even when the right ski itself, and the right leg, shoulder, and so on are all the inner ones in relation to the curve of the swing.