You may have heard the word stacked used in ski technique, now what that means is lining
everything up, your skeleton, your ligaments, your muscles and it's going to be by far the
strongest position. Now as I'm standing here I could say I'm stacked, so there's a line
at the toes, ankles, knees, hips, shoulders and the hands and everything is lined up.
It's going to be much stronger than if I was to twist into the hill or even really twist
down the hill. Especially when those speeds start to pick up.
Watch me skiing down here, I'm not twisting at all, my whole body is lined up and I'm
stacked.
A good exercise to encourage this position, you can get rid of the poles for a few runs.
It's going to involve your arms. You're going to place your left hand, if I'm turning to
the left, on the inside ski, the left leg, the thigh area and the right arm is going
to point where the right ski is going.
So as that's turning my right arm is going to follow the direction of the ski. Now you
don't want to be pushing it across the ski, it just simply wants to follow. Now as you
release the end of the turn, both hands will go up nicely in front, now don't force and
rush this, and then gently let it drop down and build it up through the next turn.
It isn't about holding a position in a kind of very jerky way, it should be very smooth
and progressive. Don't rush it, hold the position, hands in front, and then let it build up the
next way, and it's really going to encourage that good stacked position.
This arm is actually on that leg to stop you over sort of rotating and twisting, so that
should help to block that position and the other arm is going to follow the ski. Release
the turn, hands in front, and then repeat the same exercise. Nothing's forced, nothing's
rushed.
My inside hand is staying on the inside leg, my outside hand is pointing and following
the direction of the ski. Both hands then come in front at the start of the new turn
and I repeat the same movement in the other direction.
So even once you've got the poles back keep that same position. But be careful not to
overdo it, you're not trying to push massively round, remember that arm is just following
the ski. And it's really for medium to long turns, don't try and do it in the short radius
turn because you'll be swinging all over the place. And it doesn't just apply to piste
skiing, it will help you when you are off piste. It's a good strong position.