How To Turn PARALLEL (Quick Guide) 

Wow, thanks! Cheers, Tom

Definitely!

Totally agree. My kids ski race and this channel has been instrumental in my kid's improvement along with their coaches' input. I did not grow up ski racing so putting vocabulary around the movements has really helped me relate to my kids better when they train and when they race.

Great to hear! Best of luck. Thanks for watching. Tom

Thank you too for watching!

Thanks a lot. Tom

I appreciate that, thanks. T

Coming soon! How nice with requests like this. Thanks for watching and see you at the race track :)

Thanks!

Noted! Will do :)

Yeah, skiing is not that easy at all. Still, it all boils down to a few fundamentals that are a must. What you are talking about is one of them. So much talk about how to carve has lead the focus away from the classic parallel turn including up-unweighting and rotary skills. Without this kind of technique and refined skills you will never be able to ski properly. Harsh but true. Cheers, Tom

Thank you so much for such good verdict on our channel. We are using two cameras: Sony AX53 and AX700. They are both so called camcorders. We are also now shooting with a Insta360 which has endless possibilities it seams. The AX53 is currently out of order so we are shooting everything with the AX700. It is a much better camera but has less zoom and the stabilizer is not as good. So we shoot primarily from a high quality tripod. Sometimes we shoot with our Samsung Galaxy phones. Cheers, Tom

@@Triggerboy62 Perfect thank you a lot. And thanks also for the great content you make.

Absolutely!! I have to do that! Cheers, Tom

Thank you

@@Triggerboy62 and also is there an age you’d think is too late to start as next season (when I would start) I will be 15 yrs old I’m already an advanced skier and by starting slalom and all my objective isn’t to go pro or anything but to try learn a new type of ski…

Thanks :) and thanks for watching. Cheers, Tom

Hard to say if ski racing is right or wrong for you specifically but from what you tell me it sounds like you have great passion for the sport and you have motivation. Yes, look for a club. And you do not have to invest that much money to start with. Just start light with one pair of skis. Tune them well and feel your way ahead. Start small. It is one of the nicest sports there is. Ski racing will develop your skiing better than any other kind. After skiracing you can do whatever you want on skis. Cheers, Tom

Yes, you need an up-move but it is embedded into the previous turn. I bet if you shoot a video of yourself from straight ahead making short turns down in the fall line your head would not be going up and down. It would remain leveled. However, if it does not remain level but is going up and down then you could maybe work on making it more level. Level up so to speak. Check my other videos on short turns. Here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ah8Eya_8H2U.html Cheers, Tom

Thanks for watching. The steering actually refers to turn initiation. It is not actually totally true as in short turns there is a bit of foot steering involved but in most brushed parallel turns I don't use steering. I also doubt many do even if they think they do. Have you seen my video on steering? Here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qCS6OlxcHRE.html Check it out and tell me what you think. Cheers, Tom

Thank you! And by the way, I have learned so much from you! Skiing is my greatest hobby and you helped me improved my skiing the way no other ski guide helped me over 5 years. You emphasize the small details in a clear way, which makes you the best skiing channel on RU-vid.

Thanks for your message. Im so glad you wrote what you wrote. I have been expecting someone to ask this question. Because it is not easy even if it looks like the simplest thing in the world. You need to progress step by step. I have many beginner videos that show the progression from wedge turns to parallel skiing. First watch 3 Levels of Wedging and try to nail those drills. Even if you can wedge, doing it correctly can take some practice. We wedge all the time with Chris and our racing juniors to brush up on the fundamentals. Then watch 3 Levels of Parallel skiing. How to continue from the wedge to parallel. Also, there are many more videos on basic parallel skiing on my channel. It's all in the up-move. Up-unweighting. By extending up you are able to give your skis a small pivot at edge change. As you see, my movement is quite small but it needs to be much bigger in the beginning. Here are some videos on parallel skiing: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8Gyd0pRKNPY.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VnuUREw4Nb8.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wmYkVxBUcPg.html If you have any more questions, please ask. Here to help you. Cheers, Tom

@@Triggerboy62 I know all your videos for beginner-intermediate. I think there is much more than an up-unweight movement. First of all there is a small projection of the body center of mass toward the internal of the new turn (sorry for my english, I'm italian :). This is the most scary/un-natural movement. It's like doing a curve on a bicycle; you use the handlebars a little, but it is essential to tilt the bike towards the inside of the curve, and the inclination must be the proper one. If your brain learns this inclination when you're a kid, then it just comes naturally and you don't even think about it, but when you're an adult it is very difficult learning how much inclination is needed.

I think you use boath depnding on what conditions you run in to.

MrArunasB is correct. Depending on the conditions. But not only that, it also depends on what kind of turns you want to make. There is a common misconception that you can carve all your turns. Tip the skis and use the design, just as you mentioned. You cannot. For example if its steep, if its narrow, if its crowded, if you want to ski slow, in crud, in powder, in bumps, in trees, many times in ski racing etc. etc. Carving is actually quite limited. To be used only on very nicely groomed slopes that are not too steep. Or crowded. In the video clip in this video I would have made only a few turns if I would have carved. And my speed would have been dangerously fast. If you check out my Stay Low video you will see how to loose that up motion when carving. In this or the How to ski Crud video I explain how to make classic parallel turn. Please ask more if you need. Cheers, Tom

@@Triggerboy62 Thanks for the response and I very much enjoyed your stay low video. When skiing well, however, I feel that I can initiate either a carved or a skidded turn by tipping the skis and avoiding the early extension of the outside leg or an "up" motion. Indeed, I've had more success controlling my speed on steep slopes, bumps, trees, etc. when initiating turns by tipping rather than using an "up" motion.

@@joelchernov5342 I agrre with you. I notised the same,that instead of going up even on steep or some bumps you get better speed control and more rounded turns when you extend forward in to new turn in stead of going up. But still going up technic has its time and place and must be mastered too. I use boath.

For down unweighting you need speed and rebound from the ski. Not everyone gets that. Up unweighting is a classic Austrian skiing technique that definitely has its place as very well explained here. No need to stand up tall is a movement from the legs only not from the upper body.

Lighten one of your feet, drag it back to the other foot (heel to heel) and hold it there, then immediately tip that same foot to its little toe edge to create a turn. Repeat this with the other foot when creating the next turn. This creates the illusion that the feet are always close together. And it makes for easy, efficient, and fun turns which are then used to control our speed. Remember to finish your turns in big round arcs across the fall line to keep speed in check. Each turn should be an arc shaped like a big "c". Now link your "c"'s together to look like an "s". Look where you want to go, not down at your skis. Do this about 10,000 times and you will be an expert ! Happy and safe turns to you!

Good question XQ. Please watch my 3 Levels of Parallel skiing for a good progression. As a beginner you first need to learn how to wedge and make wedge turns. This because in a wedge you learn how to balance over your outside ski. Be sure to also watch my 3 Levels of Wedging video. When you know how to balance over your outside ski it is easier to move your feet closer together when your skis are parallel. It is not something you instantly learn. It takes time but foremost, you need to have the fundamentals ingrained. Hope this helps. Please ask further if in need for more advice. Cheers, Tom

Shelter, are you really using that technique to turn parallel?

@Triggerboy62 yes. It works great to have students go directly to parallel without the wedge. I enjoy your videos and appreciate what you do. But our methods differ in this regard.

Hi! Ski club GAGARIN from Minsk here. Shortly, I would advise you: 1) unlock all buckles on your boots to let your feet and shins move freely. Set your feet a bit wider then you shoulders. Bend your knees a little. 2) feel on a single foot on spot how you can use the pressure on your metatarsal joints (MJ) under big and small toes to manage the ski rotation from inner edge to outer edge by moving the your knee side to side like a metronome. 3) after that try to press on whole MJ-s and feel how you can rotate your foot like DJ rotates vinyl disc by moving your heel around your MJ-s. 4) try to wedge. Initiate the turn with p.2, while reaching the fall-line continue the turn by adding p.3 and smooth bending your anke, knee and hip joints. To turn parallel: 5) move your upper foot forward a bit and point your upper body and sight down the hill. 6) rotate your feet down the hill like in p.2 to put the pressure on whole MJ-s on both feet. 7) unbend your knees a little and fall with your body down the fall-line + rotate your feet like in p.3 8) do not rush. feel how you slide down the hill. Skis become parallel to fall-line. 9) only after reaching end of p.8 start to continue the p.2+p.3 rotation inside the turn. 10) Feel that you become a better skier. 11) repeat p.5 to p.9. 12) add it all in carving. That's the most important things to know but not all. P.s.: Skis shouldn't be too narrow. The best is to set your feet under hip joints.

Yes, this happens. Tom

What a brilliant question. It is quite complicated. Unweighting that is. In classic parallel turns (lets call skidded/brushed up-unweighted turns that) the up-move to unweight is intentional with the purpose of easing the pressure under your skis to turn. In carving that is not necessary because we just tip to turn and let the skis arc clean tracks in the snow. Extending up or letting us vault up and over as in a cross-over transition is un-necessary. It can even mess up our carving totally. The initiation quickly becomes sloppy and not clean. However, the technique displayed in the video you linked, How to carve low, the slingshot effect shoots us out of the turn with lots of up-ward force and momentum as gravity is pulling us down the hill but we are turning away from that direction and vaulting over and doing a bunch of other movements to boost this movement up. This upward movement we then down-unweight as much as necessary in the transition. Not to have any side effects such as flying up in the air to high and missing a gate or crashing. Im scratching the surface here.... just ask me to explain more if needed. Cheers, Tom