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Skiing Skeletally
There is a physical logic to good skiing technique that is rooted in our skeletal system.

Movement comes from within the center of the body and its axis of alignment.
When the head, neck, spine, pelvis w/sacrum and hip sockets, legs and ankles transfer lines of force without any major breaks, this is skiing skeletally.
Max Blardone's position is instructive, especially if you look at the skeletal image below. The  spine, lumbar vertebrae, sacrum, pelvis and legs are aligned with the line of force created by gravity and the the centrifugal force of the turn.

Although not the same posture as in this alpine snowboard image, the postural principles are the same: 1) The spine is long and relaxed. 2) It retains its normal curvature. 3) The entire body moved here from an upright position aligned near its ideal axis. As in the snowboard image, Blardone is stable, yet mobile.

The parts of the body work in concert keeping Max steady over the undulating snow.

This is not to say that the body is stiff, rigid or static in its alignment during a turn.

On the contrary, alignment allows the body to be fluid and dynamic, moving into each phase of the turn with atheltic ease, as we see in the photo sequence of Rainer Schoenfelder below or in this video sequence of Anja Paerson.
Skeletal rendering by John Petersen of JP Graphcs
Alignment Through a Full Range of Motions
Photo sequence courtesy of
Youcanski.com
and Stan Petrash
Friend of SnowSportMoves.com, Greg Gurshmann, demonstrates the modern World Cup turn.

Greg bases his technique on:

          Inclination - images 1-4 & 8-10
          Downunweighting - 5-7

Greg is aligned skelletally throught this sequence of complex interrelated movements that reveal that ski alignment is not at all "static."

Although he may appear "in the backseat" in Images 6-8, he is not.  He has not moved his body and hips backwards. Instead, he has brought his knees up in front to downunweight.

So, at these points in the turn, he is still centered and aligned, with his knees, as Greg explains, articulating forward.

In reality, there is much less weight on his legs at this moment than before and after since he has so strongly downunweighted.

Above all, Greg possesses both strength and flexibility, both of which are enhanced by his proper dynamic alignment!
A Master at Work
One of the finest sequences you'll ever see, with master World Cup technician Frederic Nyberg, just retired from the Swedish National Team.

Perfect technique, perfect inclination, perfect line .....

Click here to see a video of Nyberg skiing.
Photo by A. Pomazkin, courtesy
of Youcanski.com