ARMS: Hold ‘Em High and Wide 

Beach Ball Arm Position  (Excerpt from A Weekend Warrior's Guide to Expert Skiing)

If you watch films of expert skiers ripping it up, you will notice that a large beach ball almost always will fit between their arms, and they will be holding it about chest high, with an erect upper body (not hunched over at the waist). This holds true regardless of the type of skiing or snow conditions. 

If you have not spent a lot of time watching ski videos, you may not see this unless you play it in slow motion. Yeah I know, the beach ball won’t always fit between their arms. But, look closely again and you will see that when their arms are out of position it is only a millisecond before they return them to the correct position, where both appendages are circumnavigating that imaginary beach ball at a chest high position.   If you hold your arms at chest height as if you were grasping a large beach ball (think 25-35 inch diameter, depending on your height and reach) you now have your arms correctly positioned for all types of skiing. Again, holding the beach ball against your chest illustrates the correct arm position when skiing; with your arms at chest level and wide apart, your palms facing each other, and your elbows held high. It’s that simple!

            Your arms are correctly positioned when your elbows are about 9-11” wider than your body on each side.

Many practitioners of ski theory discount the importance of the arms in the overall picture of becoming a great skier. Don’t think that for a single minute. Arms are one of, if not, the most important element of achieving a correct stance on skis. Do you know why? It’s because a correct arm position keeps you centered over your skis.  When you are leaning back on the tails of your skis or you are too far forward, your arms are always out of the “beach ball” position.  If you are leaning back, your arms are probably held down by your waist and it won’t be long before you can’t see one or both of your hands. Once in this position on difficult terrain, you will fall. If you are bent forward on your skis your arms are most likely out in front, but too low and/or too close to your body. 

Imagine you are skiing down the run and you are leaning back or bending forward over your skis. If you consciously and quickly return your hands to the beach ball position you will return to a centered position over your skis and you will also immediately stand taller on your skis. Both are very good things. 

Turn Blocking

Keeping your arms in the beach ball position avoids turn blocking.  If you allow an arm to come across your body while you are skiing, you are essentially blocking the next turn. To correct this situation you must move your arms back to the beach ball position before you can initiate the next turn.

This delay usually causes you to ski out of control or fall when on challenging terrain.  Think of it this way: Skiing is about reacting to the ski run in a way that allows the skier to control their travel over irregular terrain.  For this reason, it is important to realize how quickly things happen on skis.  If you are going 20 miles per hour, you will travel 30 feet every second.  At that rate you will descend a two mile long ski run in about six minutes. Obviously, even at this moderate speed, events happen in a hurry and it is imperative that you are able to react quickly to stay in control of the terrain. If the terrain controls you, you will be in for a bumpy ride; frantically trying to catch up with your skis.

Next time you are on the chairlift, spend some time watching other people ski and you will see many examples of people moving their arms across their bodies and blocking the next turn.  Watch closely and you will see that they must first move their arm away from their body before initiating the turn.  This works on intermediate groomed runs, but try this on a steep bump or crud run and you will be penalized immediately.  In the following two photographs the skier is demonstrating an open body position and a closed body position.  The skier with their hands in the beach ball position is instantly ready and will not have to make an arm adjustment before the next turn.    

Beach Ball Arm Position	Arms blocking the next turn

      Figure 3.2 Turn Blocking: When your arms are in the correct position, you can quickly react to terrain changes, with no delay in setting up the next turn.

 

 Beach Balls and Bed Time Visualization

To help you complete the mental portion of the arm position engram try the following exercise.  Right after you have retired to bed for the evening, relax and close your eyes while imagining you are skiing down an intermediate run. In your mind, picture yourself making slow relaxed turns with you arms in the beach ball position and your hands in the teacup grip as you hold your poles. Imagine making a few short runs before you fall asleep, focusing only on the arm position and the hand grip. This should consume about five or ten minutes. Repeat the exercise in the morning before you get out of bed.  The first few times you do this it may seem difficult, but with practice you will become proficient at this exercise.

 Don’t try to visualize other parts of your body, just create a rhythm while holding your arms high and wide, and flicking your wrists back and forth to make imaginary pole plants before each turn. Continue this exercise until you add the next body position discussed in this section. If you are progressing quickly, you may only need to do each visualization for several nights. Ingra development is less effective if you skip ahead and start doing the more involved visualization exercises, as would be the case if you were visualizing the entire body stance before practicing this segment. It is widely believed that any visualization learning experience is enhanced if it is the last thing you think of before sleeping, and the first thing you think of right after you wake for the day

As you practice this new arm position you may feel awkward and suspect you look stupid. You don’t; you look like an expert!