How to Control Speed & Stop: Skiing Tips

by Expert Village

Summary: Control speed and stop when skiing by controlling the size of your wedge, or the position in which the tips of your skis come together. Learn how in this free beginner skiing lesson on video.

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Transcript for: How to Control Speed & Stop: Skiing Tips

"Hi! This is Dave Smith with Hillcrest Ski and Sports in Gresham, Oregon on behalf of Expert Village. In this tutorial we will cover beginning skiing. In this clip we'll cover controlling your speed and stopping. Controlling your speed and stopping on skis are both products of the wedge, the position in which you have the tips of your skis together and the tails apart. By controlling the size of this wedge you can control your speed and ultimately stop. The skinnier the wedge, the faster you will go. The bigger the wedge, the slower you will go. As you're doing the wedge it's important to remember to keep your knees apart as if you had a basketball between your knees. Don't let them come together so that they're touching. That'll make it difficult to use your edges. For beginners, sometimes the easiest way to think of this position is pizza. Smaller slices of pizza means you'll go faster. Bigger slices of pizza means you'll go slower and come to a stop. Once you're comfortable with controlling your speed with the wedge, you can use another position to gain more speed which we refer to as French Fry position, in which your skis are pointed straight downhill and parallel to each other. In this position you'll pick up speed very quickly so be careful at first. From French Fry position, gradually work yourself into the wedge position to slow down and stop completely."

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