Cross Country Skiing Lesson One

Once you've looked at cross country skiing gear (see the article here) and chosen your first rental set, it's time for a lesson. You really will benefit from a lesson, especially if it's from a pro and not your significant other (a lesson from a significant other in any sport is just asking for trouble), so take one.

The first thing you'll do is take off your skis if you've put them on. Yes, if your teacher is good, you'll start off without skis and just in your boots. He should have you walk up a hill in a "duck walk" style, on your heels with your toes pointed out. Swing your arms, left arm with right foot, right arm with left foot. Then walk back down the hill the same way. You'll realize that you're using your entire body to do this, and you'll have a rough idea of how awkward it's going to be when you first try to ski.

There are three basic types of cross country skiing: classic, skate style, and Telemark. Classic style is the oldest and the first type to learn; once you know it, you can ski anywhere, groomed trail or not. You'll start by moving straight down the groomed trail, in the same way you walked the hill -- right foot moves with left arm and pole, and left foot moves with right arm and pole (although your instructor may have you try it without the poles first, so you'll get a better idea of how your skis will glide). This is called a diagonal stride because it looks like you're scissoring, not because your skis are moving at an angle.

Your body position should be slightly flexed at ankles and knees, with your upper body forward. You'll start the motion by putting your heel down on the forward ski, and use that pressure, along with the opposite pole, to push off with the other ski, so it glides forward, then shift your upper body weight to the forward-moving ski. As you practice you'll find that there's a bit of a pause at the end of the glide, where you put your heel down. The movement is push, glide, push, glide. Add in the poles, and remember to alternate sides. As your right ski moves forward, place your left pole at the farthest point of the right ski glide and push off. The left ski then moves forward as the left pole moves, or stays, back.

If that sounds complicated, don't worry; it's a lot easier to show and do than it is to describe. Once you get the one-two, push-glide movement down, you'll be ready to learn how to turn, and how to go up and down hills. Not to mention how to fall safely.

Lastly, a brief comment on skate style and Telemark. Skate style is done on a groomed track but not in tracks; you glide each ski outward as you move, just as you move your feet outward with skates (hence the name). Skate style can move much faster than classic style, and you probably saw it in freestyle racing if you watched the winter Olympics. Telemark skiing originated in mid-19^th Century Norway as a way to turn the era's stiff wooden skis; today's Telemark skis have side-cuts (angled sides) that allow your skis to turn in parallel (and do a "hockey stop"), and is mainly used for downhill and back country skiing, away from groomed tracks and in mountainous terrain. Learn classic style first, and the others will come much more easily.

(Sources: http://www.halhigdon.com/beginningskier/beginskiintro.htm, http://www.halhigdon.com/beginningskier/movingforward.htm, http://www.abc-of-skiing.com/cross-country-skiing/techniques.asp, http://www.seattlepi.com/getaways/54670_xcountry17.shtml,http://www.telemarktips.com/WhatsTele.html)