We ski on a tripod

In this series we go deeper into ski technique to understand what it is really about. This time the source of knowledge is not the laws of mechanics, ski textbooks, gear tests or heated online discussions about racing. It is our own body, the most perfect technology on the planet. The point of the series is to learn how the human body works and what it can do, so that our skiing is as efficient as possible and without the risk of injury: simply skiing we enjoy and that makes us happy.

We already know that skiing starts in the head. But at the start of the season the head often wants more than a body that spent the summer in flip-flops is ready for. After the first few turns the excitement is gone, and in comes the hopeless feeling of lost form, sore legs, bruised feet and lots of sweat. So today let's start skiing from the snow up, from the part of the body that connects us with the snow and with the world around us: the feet.

The human foot is a machine of masterful construction and a work of art, composed of 26 bones, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles.

Leonardo da Vinci

If you want to know every bone, joint, ligament and muscle, you will need an anatomy book, but that knowledge probably won't help you understand skiing. Today it is enough to know three points on the foot. On them our body is in perfect balance while skiing, ready to resist the forces that come from turning, changes of terrain and other obstacles. From today on: the foot is a tripod!

Ideally barefoot, stand up and do a small jump, landing on relaxed, “full” feet about hip width apart. Relax your toes so they only touch the floor and ask yourself which three points carry your weight. If you stand evenly on the big ball under your big toe, the smaller ball under your little toe and your heel, well done: you have just found the tripod of the foot. It gives you maximum stability with minimal muscle effort. The tripod is your base of support.

Let's go skiing!

For the first runs of the season, choose a gentle, ideally blue run and ski boots that are not too tight. Try to ski with a constant feeling of the tripod under each foot, exactly as described above. If you lose contact with one point and the others, or other parts of the foot, start to take too much load, do everything you can to get back onto all three points evenly as quickly as possible. How big is your tripod? Which point do you lose most often?

Skiing is a constant game with balance. Moving on a slippery slope is not exactly natural for the human body, so a moment of inattention is enough and the tripod turns into a bipod at best. We all know it, and it is completely natural. Try standing on the slope with your toes pointing down the hill. After a while, turn around and point your toes up the hill. You will feel completely different sensations in your feet and in the position of your whole body. Which of the two do you think is better for keeping your balance when skiing?

Guaranteed advice like “Get forward onto your toes!” or “Push forward!” won't help you win the game with balance. By deliberately overloading the front of the tripod, the ankle starts to “open” and we end up in the back seat again. Good skiing is not about a constant forward position, but about constant movement towards the centre of the feet.

Take a walk on your heels!

Before you go skiing again after a good lunch, try walking on your heels in front of the restaurant. No, I'm not joking. This is how you learn to control the muscles that keep you in contact with your tripod while skiing, and so avoid ending up in the back seat, the mistake we see so often. It is all about the tibialis muscles, which you can feel between the shin and the tongue of your ski boot. If someone ever told you to push your shins into the tongues of your boots, believe me, you will get more by keeping the shin muscles active, so your ankles stay flexed and active too. A gentle, constant touch of your shins on the tongues of your boots on the way down is the feeling you want to play with. You don't want to lose one of the points of your tripod, do you?

Written by Tomas Mical. First published in SNOW Academy, SNOW magazine 117, October 2019.