How To Ski and How Not To

by Vivian Caulfeild

Stopping.	Going.
L. Weighted and edged.	R. Weighted and edged.
	L. Unweighted and flattened.

Fig. 28.—Single-stemming or half-snow-plough.

Now lean towards the upper leg, and bend it until your weight is on it, facing towards the point of the upper ski and edging it. Then, keeping the lower leg in exactly the same position, bend its ankle outwards, and almost, but not quite (see [p. 83]), flatten the ski. The flattening of the ski will release you, and you will slide off in the direction of the upper ski’s point, pushing the lower ski, which must still remain horizontal, forwards and sideways through the snow—stemming with it in fact. You can go as slowly as you like, or as fast as the conditions permit, according as you keep the stemming ski more edged and weighted or less. You can stop suddenly by throwing your whole weight on to the stemming ski, facing round towards its point, and quickly bringing the upper ski beside it and forward to the normal position.

Now make a kick turn (a downhill one for choice), and repeat the process in the other direction, stemming with the other foot.

Practise this in both directions until you have complete control of your speed, and can stop yourself almost instantly when moving at a fair rate, remembering always to face round and bring the upper ski smartly into the normal position as you stop. Then practise it with the upper ski pointing more and more steeply downhill.

It is, of course, possible to start stemming in this way when running freely across the slope with the skis together, and when accustomed to doing it from a standstill you should also practise this, but only when running at a moderate pace, as there are steadier and easier ways of stopping when running fast.

You must, as I have said, hold the lower foot exactly below the upper one, because in that position you can push along the stemming ski with least effort, and most quickly throw the weight on it if the other ski side-slips or you want to stop suddenly. This means that the more directly downhill you go the farther forward you will have to hold the lower foot, and the more, consequently, you will have to bend the upper leg (in order still to keep the weight on the upper ski), eventually having to lift its heel and finally to sit on it, if you are to stem almost or quite directly downhill, as it is quite possible to do.

If you find you can do all this fairly comfortably, by all means do so; if, however, you find that at a certain angle your position on the upper leg becomes very tiring or unsteady, leave this manœuvre and try stemming with both skis, which is also called

Snow-ploughing.—Start straight downhill, where the slope is quite gentle, in the normal running position. The moment you are moving bring your feet level, put the weight on both, raise the outer edges of the skis by bending your knees inwards a little, and, without letting the ski-tips separate, push their heels as wide apart as you possibly can. The legs must now be absolutely straight at the knees.