How to Stop on Cross Country Skis Going Downhill in Deep Snow
- 1). Manage your center of gravity. Keep your body weight above your hips, bend your knees and ankles and position your hands and poles in front of your body and above your hips.
- 2). Bend down onto your legs. By lowering your position on the skis, you'll be improving your center of gravity. This will help you control your stopping as you hit the deep snow on the slope.
- 3). Place increased pressure on your inside edge of your skis. To do this, squeeze your knees together--as if you were holding an item between them--to make the "snowplow" form with your skis.
- 4). Raise your poles off the ground and hold them against your body with the spikes pointed directly behind you, almost as if you were in a crouched position like a downhill skier. If you catch your poles on the downhill, you could be sent awkwardly out of position and risk falling.
- 5). Increase the pressure on your inside edges of the skis as you approach the downhill slope. You'll know you're slowing when your skis disappear beneath the deep snow and the "snowplow" starts sending drifts of snow off to each side of you.
- 6). Lean back gradually. Too much at first will send you onto your rear end. Continue the snowplow technique.
- 7). Make a full 90-degree turn as you come to a complete stop. Similar to downhill skiing, you'll need to be standing perpendicular on the hill to remain standing upright. Right before you stop entirely, throw your hips hard either to the right or left. Your skis will follow your hips.
- 8). Shift your weight so that you are leaning slightly into the hill as you come to a complete stop; this will keep you on your feet.
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