Beginner to Intermediate: Body Position, Weight Transfer & Pole Planting

In this full-day lesson I was skiing with Suzanne, who'd travelled over from California. Over the day we worked on the three things that take a skier from beginner to intermediate: body position, weight transfer, and pole planting. Here's how it unfolded.

Spotting the problem: weight on the heels

On the very first slope I could already see what we needed to fix. Suzanne's weight was sitting too far back, on her heels. That has a knock-on effect: when your weight is on your heels, the back of the ski grips the snow and the ski won't turn properly. You can see it in the footage — the tail of the inside ski drags, catches, and flicks around. That's a body position issue, plain and simple.

Fixing body position: bend from the hip, not the spine

Lots of skiers get told "you're too far back" without ever being told why. The usual assumption is that it's all about the ankles. And yes — you want a bend at the ankle, the knee, and the hip. But the bit people miss is this: you have to flex forward at the hip joint.

The way I explained it to Suzanne: your shin sits at an angle against the front of the boot when you're skiing well — and your pelvis and spine should sit at that same angle. Not bent at the spine. Hinged forward at the hip.

Here's a simple way to feel it:

1. Stand up straight and press your shins against the front of your boots.
2. Bend forward at the hip joint — you should feel your weight move to the front of your boots.
3. Keep the spine straight; the hinge happens at the pelvis, not the lower back.

The reason this matters goes beyond staying forward. When you hinge at the hip, you start using your hamstrings and glutes to hold yourself up. That puts you in a far more athletic position — you can balance better and absorb bumps. If your pelvis is "open" (upright), it's harder to balance, and when you go to absorb a bump you're not using those strong muscles at all.

Suzanne found that one really helpful — and straight away it was a much better position.

The jump test: are you really using your glutes?

Here's a dead-simple way to check your body position on the mountain. Rest your hands on top of your poles and do a few small jumps.

If your pelvis is open, you'll only be jumping from your feet. But if you're hinged forward properly, you'll feel your glutes and hamstrings firing. That's the position you want, because those strong muscles let you balance on one ski and give you the power to handle bumps.

What to do with your hands and poles

When we ski, we're essentially trying not to fall over — we're balancing. So where do the hands go? Hold them out roughly to the sides, wherever feels natural — not straight out in front. Your hands and poles aid your balance, and the poles are simply an extension of your hands.

Then every time you go to turn, you pole plant in the direction you're heading — a bit like steering a car. The movement mostly comes from the wrist. As you put weight on the new ski, you want to stand up on the ball of your foot, and the pole plant helps shift that weight across for you.

Committing to the outside ski

As we moved onto steeper slopes, a new issue appeared: Suzanne started to not fully commit to the outside ski. This is really common — on gentle terrain you get away with it, on steeper pitches it catches up with you.

So we did a few exercises to get the feeling of putting the weight over the outside ski. One that works well is exaggerating the movement — stomp your heel and lean over onto the ski, just to feel what it's like to actually be standing on it before the tip points down the fall line. Standing on it early gives you more grip and more control.

One last fix: keep looking down the slope

By the end of the day Suzanne's body position was good, she was pole planting, balancing on the outside ski, and standing on it before the turn started. The final piece was where she was looking. She had a tendency to look across and down at her feet, which can pull your weight onto the inside ski. Keeping your eyes down the slope keeps everything else in the right place.

Well done Suzanne — a brilliant day's skiing and a real jump in level.