Time Machine, 1930's -The Pure Stem

Let's learn to turn the skis. The turns are as follows.

The pure stem.
The telemark.
The open christiania.
The pure christiania.
The jump turn.
The step turn.

These are the cardinal turns, other turns are formed by a
combination of these. For example, the stem christiania is
a combination of the pure stem and the pure christiania.

A steered turn is performed by holding the two skis at an
angle to each other. If you place two skis at an angle to each
other, they cannot run straight, but must begin to turn until
they reach a state of equilibrium. The pure stem, the telemark
and the open christiania are steered turns.

First, the pure stem.

From a traverse,

Lower the intended inside shoulder and lean well out from the
hill in order to weight the intended inside ski (now the downhill
ski).

Slide the intended outside ski, now unweighted, uphill to the
widest possible stemming angle, keep the knees together,
press the heels outward.

Bring the inside shoulder back and up, and the outside shoulder
forward and down. This will begin to weight the intended
outside ski.

At the point when you are facing straight down hill, the shoulders
should be level with each other and square to the slope so that
your weight is equally on both feet. The inside ski should point
straight down the hill, and the outside ski at an angle to it.

With the shoulders as they are, most of the weight will be on the
outside ski, and you will be prepared to resume the normal
traverse position as you finish the turn.

The real difiiculty here is switching the edge of the inside ski.
You start on the inside edge (big toe edge to you and me of
today) of the inside ski, but must end on the outside edge.
(pinky toe edge) of it.



Golly, even back in the thirties, they faced the same question
that beginners and instructors face today, and have wondered
about for a long time. How do you match the inside ski?



To continue:

Changing skis from inside to outside edge is normally
done by keeping the ankle stiff and moving the knee
over, but in this case we must keep the knees together
and bend the inside ankle. This is impossible if you
make the mistake of wearing boots that are too stiff.

When you have brought the inside ski to it's outside
edge, you must skid it parallel with the outside ski, swing
the inside ski over from it's knock kneed position and
press it into the hill, and also bring the inside ski
forward.

Thus, bring the skis parallel again.

Guard against the following faults:

Stiffening the inside leg as you slide the outside leg uphill to
start the turn.

Attempting to hold the angle between the skis by pressing the
knees and not the heels outward.

Hanging back as soon as your skis point downhill. This can
result in backward collapse, or divergent tips.You must keep
your shoulders hunched forward.

Keeping the inside ski on it's inside edge throughout the turn.
The ski will not ski round throughout the turn.

Allowing the inside ski to lag behind at the end of the turn.
This can result in crossed tails, which causes you to spin
round into the hill and fall backward and outward. This is
known as a toe spin.

Next, the telemark.