HOW TO SKI STEEPER SLOPES | 3 Tips For Better Balance

Skiing with good balance is a trait of all world-class skiers!

We’ve all heard the "you need to lean further forward" tip, however, there is much more than meets the eye when it comes to maintaining good stance and balance.

In this lesson, Tom Gellie shares his expert knowledge with 3 actionable tips to help you ski steeper slopes, and short turns with better balance.
These tips should help you ski with more confidence on steeps, prevent your skis washing out at the end of your short turns and keep you focused on small fore-aft movement shifts that make a big difference.

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For more how to ski content make sure to check out our other ski improvement videos:
- How to ski in tough terrain:

- How to ski on ice:

- How to ski with flow:

- Carving with early edge angles:

- 4 Advanced skiing mistakes and how to fix them:

- How to increase your edge angle:

Timecodes
0:00 - Epic skiing in Aspen
0:30 - Introduction to Tom Gellie
1:41 - The Diagnosis: The importance of Fore Aft balance
3:16 - Tip 1: Pushing vs Pulling
4:55 - Tip 2: Posture adjustment
7:10 - Tip 3: Foot pressure
9:48 - Lesson recap
10:21 - More awesome ski content
10:31 - Want more instructional ski content?

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Ski resort: Aspen Highlands, Colorado, USA
Music Licensed by Music Bed: MB01HI9HENMDGDL

[CarvSki]

Do you find these balance tips useful❓
Please write a comment and let us know ⬇️

[McQzv]

This is the best ski instruction I’ve ever received. Was able to try this out on the slopes yesterday, and it completely leveled up my skiing. This is what I was missing for years

[hbgap]

Thank you. This was very enlightening. I tried it yesterday and it worked. Been struggling with upper body rotation for years and I think excessive tail wash was the cause. This is my fiftieth season....it’s never too late!

[Jiggy]

That first tip about adjusting weight on the turn is exactly what I needed! I was always falling on black diamonds because I gained too much speed while turning with a forward lean. Thank you!!

[nathanielhancock]

I love you’re toppling concept. It describes the sensation very well. I used to call it falling into the turn, but it’s the same idea. Agree it sounds counterintuitive but it feels great when you get it. My tip has to do with your toes and ankles. People would be surprised that your toes and ankles are important to early initiation. In the beginning of the season I do easy flat runs and turning literally just by concentrating on lifting say my right daddy toe and pushing on ball of my left foot and letting my ankles and knees follow for a right turn and do the opposite for left turn. It helps me concentrate early initiation and gets my ankles and knees engaged. You’d be amazed that you can turn that way on flat terrain.

[DynamoKevin]

That was totally me at 6:15 with the tails washing out with the weight forward all the time. Too many instructors say "get to the front of the boot" and "lean forward." While that advice was fine on greens and blues, once I hit steeper slopes, I didn't feel nearly as in control. This totally helped to modulate that front and back pressure and get those tails to grip. Why didn't any other instructor say this? It totally makes sense once explained. Thanks!!!!

[laurengood]

Lifelong east coast skier and first time instructor this year - this video was great! Thanks so much!

[azikara]

Thanks for this! I think one issue is that the idea of adding downward force to the tail of the skis as you transition to the exit is counter-intuitive to most people. BUT we know via physics, that increased pressure will cause more grip (if the ski is appropriately using the edge). It's the same issue with why drivers spin a car in the rain when in a turn and experiencing an issue: the human tendency is to lift off the accelerator or apply brake. This decelerates the car putting more force on the front tires and causing them to grip more, while the rear tires have less downforce and therefore grip less. Then the tail of the car starts to lose grip and the car initiates a spin. Will try adding force to the rear via pulling up next time I'm out there. Great lesson. Thank you.

[JanosKoranyi]

An excellent video. You understanding of the mechanics of carving is on a high level! Much better than usual!
However there are other very important elements you do not talk about. One is the boot-tongue pressure. Moving your COM backwards and forwards over the skis is very well explained by you. But the boot-tongue pressure is even more important. Moving your COM forwards to the direction of the ski-tips creates a boot tongue pressure, increasing the your ankle flexion, but when your COM moves backwards, just before the edge change you need to press your toes and ankles upwards (dorsal flexion of the ankle). If you do not use a forceful dorsal flex of your ankles at this point, you will feel much less safe and you can even lose balance, by pushing your skis ahead of your COM.
This CARV sensor does not sense the boot-tongue pressures!

[theschoolagency]

I’ve very keen to try this technique out, next month on the slopes. I’ve struggled for years with wash out from leaning too far forward, this is the first ski clip I’ve seen addressing fore and aft balance. Thanks to the instructor.

[Esbenowitch]

Probably one of the best explanations, really understandable

[DrMarvinLara]

I'm a beginner and have been watching a lot of videos and THIS is the best explanation.

[StephaneFitch]

This is absolutely fantastic. Best explanations of for fore-aft pressure I've ever heard, and I say that as somebody with a world-class coach who is wonderful at explaining things. Well done!!

[vipahman]

I'm a double diamond skier that always wants to improve. I find that while I ski with ease, I'm nowhere near perfect and this video was a fantastic guide to improving it. Will look into purchasing Carv.

[Boardriderx]

Thanks a lot. I've always had problems with washing out towards the end of my turns, now I know why (pushing, not pulling ;) ). Very well explained and illustrated! Have a great winter season and all the best!

[therocket]

Seen countless videos on doing short turns and continued to struggle. But your method is the one that clicked. Purposefully pulling the feet thru on each turn was the missing ingredient. 🙏💯

[LucyInk]

Thank you! I always felt like the tails of my skis were skidding out at the end of turns and could never figure out why I had no grip. This has answered that for me!
I'm off to the slopes in 2 days so I'll put this drill into practice!

[craigsmith]

One of the best ski videos I've seen! I really liked how you broke the turn down into small segments. I'm almost looking forward to skiing a groomer.

[petergodley]

This is the first video I've watched which clearly demonstrates the back & forth movement of balance on the turn. I learned something today. Excellent 👍😊

[robertcowart]

Thanks for the concise information, and this explains why I took a nasty fall on a very, very steep slope in Vail last week. It seems counter-intuitive to put weight on the tails of your skis, but in this case it makes sense. I will give this a go next week.