On Thu, 13 Dec 2012 12:23:51 GMT, Mike Clark
wrote:

In message
Ace wrote:

[snip]
Aye, and that, of course, was why there were so many variations of
tern involving lifting one or both skis to turn them off the snow,
either by jumping or the famous "Stem Christiana" and its variants.
Sadly some of these are still very much used by some people to this
day.


Don't knock the Stem Christi, it can be an excellent turn when touring
off-piste, tired at the end of a long day, with a heavy rucksack, and on
difficult snow and terrain conditions.

OK, so the 'sadly still used' was clearly tongue-in-cheek, and I agree
that there's a place for any technique that can work. I often stem the
start of a turn in a narrow steep gully, for instance, when I can't be
confident of what the snow's going to be like when I commit to it. Bit
of a wuss-out though, and often gets your weight in the wrong place
for the next turn, but still useful.

Not so good in breakable conditions though, where you're often better
doing something much more like what we teach nowadays as 'plough
parallel'. Getting something of a plough shape before changing
direction allows much of the force of the turning ski to be directed
across the surface of the snow, rather than down through it, so
reduces the risk of breaking through, then by rotating the inside ski
around to match the outside one, rather than stepping it as in the
Stem turn, you can keep the load more balanced between the two skis.


--
Ace
Ski Club of Great Britain http://www.skiclub.co.uk/
All opinions expressed are those of the poster and in no way reflect those of the Ski Club or its members