| Book Excerpt
From: Skating On Skis by Dick Mansfield Contents
Getting Started The one basic skating leg action common to all variations of the skating technique is this: you step out on a ski and keep your momentum going with your poles, then bring your non-skating leg in, and step out on the other leg. It all comes down to those familiar terms: weight transfer and balance on a flat ski. Anyone who has ice-skated or skated on alpine skis will recognize the rhythmic body shifts at once. After gliding on the ski, you edge it a bit as the speed slows and push off to transfer your weight on to the other ski. One of the best ways to get started with ski skating is to try it without ski poles. Start the first practice on an open area that is well-packed and which has a shallow slope nearby. We will start on the flat and then skate down the slight hill later on. Here we go. Start by spreading your skis into a slight open position, like a herringbone, and edging your left ski slightly, step on to the angled right ski. Balance on the right ski as it moves and then step back on to the left ski. Don't worry about a lot of glide at first, stay loose and get comfortable shifting weight from ski to ski. Try for a thrusting action that gets your upper body out over the leg. As you glide on a flat ski, the hips should be forward and your chin should be right over the gliding leg. Imagine that you have a crease in your ski pants. You should be able to look right down the crease from the knee to the ski. Body position is one of the keys to success. You want to aim for a relaxed position between sitting back too far on your haunches and crouching too far forward. The goal in skating is to get up and forward, in front of the center of gravity, so that you can take advantage of the momentum that you've already got going, sort of "riding the wave." You'll feel uncomfortable with an upright forward position at first it requires good balance. Once you get it down, it's like catching that wave, things feel right and you start to get a feeling of how easy skating can be. There are a number of ways to move faster. First, before you step out on to a ski, turn your body in the direction the ski will be traveling. The body should follow the eyeslook in the direction you'll be gliding. Bring your recovery leg (the ski that will skate next) in close to your glide leg just before you start your next glide. Transfer your weight so that your hip is forward (racers talk about "high hips") and your chin is right over your glide leg. Some instructors call this the "TOE-KNEE-NOSE" lineup, or if you prefer, Tony Knows. The glide phase is the time to really work on keeping the skating ski flat on the snow. As the glide ends, transfer your weight by rolling on the inside edge of the ski and pushing. At the same time, thrust your leg out with energy and get the knee out over the other ski. Keep it fluid, the gliding segment on one leg should start just before the thrusting phase ends on the other.
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