The Ball and the Box

The Ball is intended to give you an image of how a tipping ski creates a tight parallel turn. You can try this at home, but not on the slopes. If you tip and tuck (see Master Key in Keys to the Kingdom in The Book), you keep the ball. If your initial move for a turn comes from a stem (movement of a ski away from center), you lose the ball.

Anyone who loses their ball when they initiate a turn has what we call the "skier's flu."

The box gives us an image of the dance floor "stage" for great all-mountain skiing. You'll notice the dance floor "stage" is quite small. If you pay attention to a great skier's feet when they're skiing a great run, you'll notice neither foot will fall off this small "stage". The good news is that the technique of great skiing is not a "tango" and therefore, isn't that difficult to learn.

Of course if you stem, you fall off the "stage".