"yunlong" wrote in message


Actually, I use the terms differently, though they may reflect the
same predicament. The "Wedge" remains the same old Wedge as you
described, however, the "Stem" takes on a different meaning.

Imo, the wedge turns are the fundamental/foundation of downhill
skiing.

I'm going to throw up another post about the relationship
between the wedge and the slipped parallel turn. I have
to agree with you on this point.

Some may claim that they learn how to skiing begin with
parallel skiing, and that "seems" to be very cool; however, as for the
"all terrains" capability goes, a good knowledge on how the wedge
works is indispensable, as the wedge stance and wedge turn maybe the
only techniques to get one out of a tight spot such as in the high
sierra boulders and glades.

Figure that we all know how the wedge turn works; let's now take a
look the problems that hold back the beginners, the "Stem."

The "Stem" happens mostly at the half way through a wedge turn when
the

(I remove "uphill" here from "uphill/outside").

******/outside ski exhausts its turning power and yet the

(I remove "downhill here from "downhill/inside").

I so remove so I can understand this a bit more easily :)


********/inside ski refuses to take over the responsibility of
supporting the skier's weight (due to fear, maybe?),

which causes the
**/outside ski heavy and traveling faster than the /inside
ski, which distorts the V into asymmetric shape and causes the
**/inside ski gets caught on the inside edge--the skier is
"stemmed." The "stemmed" edge wedges vertically as well, thus prevents
turning, and with the straightened inside knee pushes the ski
downward, the skier only ends up crash.

The "stem" is the worst offender to prevent the beginners to progress
into parallel turn, methinks.

It's garbage. It should die a deserved death just like any
further mention at all of "uphill or downhill ski".

The solution? Un-stem it, that is,
flatten the stemmed edge so the edge would slide outward and downward,
which is actually the proper curved path of a l/outside ski.
How? By bending the uphill/inside knee slightly while still
maintaining the proper V, let the whole "platform" slides and turn to
where the V point points. If the balance were maintained, the skier
would have turned it.

One more tip, when "matching the skis," always bring the **/inside
ski back on the **/outside edge, which would prevent you from
getting caught on the **/inside edge, or get "stemmed."

Then of course, I imagine that you would be referring to what in
modern terminology would be "pinky edge" and big toe edge"?