ifyouski.com has teamed up with Sally Chapman to offer some expert advice and tips. She will regularly be contributing tips from her new booklet 'tips, tactics and techniques' throughout the season.

Have you reached that 'Plateau' but do not fancy standing around in a foreign ski school waiting your turn? Do you need some tips to help you gain more control and confidence on those steeper, bumpier and harder slopes?

There are now many experienced British and European set ups in Europe who can offer you this expertise and push your expectations higher giving you more confidence to really ski and explore the mountain as possible.

So why do we reach such a 'plateau'... and how do we exit it !
Many skiers are often overly concerned with 'how they look' when they ski but this really should not matter. Enjoyment in skiing comes from having; control over your descent, flowing down the mountain with confidence, floating effortlessly through powder, meandering through the moguls.

Stop trying to pull those feet together or 'face down that hill'!
Trying to look 'right' when you ski often leads to stiff, awkward looking positions and shapes. On the other hand trying to ski effectively produces natural flowing movements. For example, a classic fault of many skiers is skiing with their legs and feet very close together thinking this is what they should be aiming for. Or trying to face their body in a certain direction, which again can lead to very awkward, twisted movements.

It is useful to know how these ski instructors learnt to ski themselves. Most of them began as children in the local 'club des sport' racing around slalom poles. They would adopt a very stable stance to cope with the rigours of slalom racing. Once they had become very, very experienced skiers, after countless years of skiing, did they then become ski instructors and choose to ski with their legs much closer together.

It is a good idea to look at these instructors when they are performing in difficult conditions as opposed to skiing on easy slopes in front of their groups. If you had the opportunity to see these instructors really performing you would see them adopting a very different stance. A stance that enables them to 'be ready', to react and move.

'Getting Ready' To Perform
All expert skiers appear to have similar elements in their skiing stance when they are performing, you can particularly see these elements in racers.

• They generally ski with their legs about hip width apart.
• They balance against the centre of their feet (not utilising the boots to solely support them)
• They use their arms to aid their balance.

Points To Remember

• Find a stance that is effective
• Think of the 'goal keeper' image
• Ski with your legs hip width apart
• Balance against the centre of your feet
• Move between the front and back of your boot and find your centre point where are are supporting yourself and the boot is not supporting you.
• Use your arms to aid balancing
• Be ready to move and react
• And remember looks should not matter

The development of more radically designed, cut and sized skis has given skiing a further boost towards a new more 'fun & freeride' approach, encouraging skiers to experiment and gain more confidence at speed, at turning and at edging. Most importantly skiers have the opportunity to become more versatile on the mountain rather than sticking to cardboard cut-out, highly stylised techniques.

Once your perception of the 'parallel turn' has been established as 'just another tool to get you around the slopes' and not the 'be all and end all', then hopefully you will start to explore all the 'tools & movements' that can move you towards a more improved, confident and versatile skier.

So start making changes in your skiing by focusing on different movements that may help in the vast array of conditions that you are confronted with on the slopes. By challenging yourself to be more adaptable, your skills will increase, your confidence with it and your style will look natural and not contrived.

Remember - skiing is like a gym - you need to vary exercises to strengthen all areas rather than repeat a few favourite movements. Here are just a few of the great ways to start to become more versatile on the slopes, giving just a few 'tips and techniques' that can be thought about in different conditions because that is what skiing on a mountain is all about!!!

• Play around with skiing with the feet wider if you have them too close and closer if you have them too wide. Explore the range and become more independent with your legs.
• Don't try to work both legs as one unit, work your legs and feet independently of one another.
• Feel through the feet and legs and let the upper body follow but think feet upwards not brain downwards!
• Try not to rely on those boots for fore and aft support. Think about standing more on the instep towards heel of the foot, rather than on the balls of the feet. This does not mean lean on the back of the boot but means you may use all balancing joints, ankles, knees and hips to actually stand over your feet and not rely on the boot for support.
• Think Curves - try and always be making your signature in the snow, smooth arcs, no straight lines (they are only there to get you to the restaurant!) e.g. no traverse, turning, but more change of direction and steered curves using your legs, feet and the skis. SMOOTH!
• Take a lesson or course to really give you some sound input from people that know what they are talking about.

For more information about Sally Chapman, her 'Tips, Tactics and Techniques' booklet or Inspired to Ski, click here.

Other articles from Sally: Making Curves