A few weeks ago I wrote about how I teach a wedge turn, the primary fundamental input I focus on, and some reasons why a student might struggle. You can read that post here. Following on from that, how do we make wedge turners into parallel skiers? There's a little step in-between called a wedge christie. This is when the inside ski of a wedge turn spontaneously matches the outside ski and is parallel. The key word here is spontaneous. It is not forced by the skier and can happen at any point during the turn. It will only happen if the skier is making effective and efficient movements that allow the skis to perform on the snow.
Due to the fact that wedge christies happen spontaneously, you can't directly teach them. You can, however, teach other movements that will allow the wedge christie to happen. A wedge christie will happen when your student is in an athletic stance, balancing against the outside ski, and using leg rotation to turn the skis. So don't put the cart before the horse. If your student isn't doing one of these things, take a step back and (re)teach them the skill(s) they are missing.
A big reason why some students struggle to make a wedge christie is that the inside ski gets 'railed'; this is when the inside ski is still tipped on its inside edge. If this edge angle is too high, the ski naturally wants to travel along its length in a straight [curved] line instead of turning across the hill with the outside ski. The student gets stuck in a wedge and the christie can't happen.
If I see one of my students doing this, I introduce them to the concept of tipping the skis from edge to edge through a little bit of angulation of the lower leg. I show them this stood stationary in a wedge; as the edge angle of one ski increases, the edge angle of the other ski decreases. If they can flatten the inside ski while maintaining an athletic stance, balancing against the outside ski, and turning the skis through leg rotation, the christie should happen naturally. This is because as the inside ski flattens against the snow, it won't 'rail', and the student can steer it to match the outside ski. More specifically, the inside hip moves from being inside the turn to directly over the inside foot, which aligns the leg in a way where the ski can easily be rotated.
Side note for those working on their wedge christie demos for exam prep: the match happens because the inside ski is actively being steered to match the outside ski. Stance width does not change and the inside ski tip should move away from the outside ski tip, NOT the tails moving closer together. This will happen at different points in the turn depending on the terrain and the speed you are traveling at.
When your student is consistently doing a wedge christie on easy green terrain, increase the pitch of the slope and the speed that they're traveling at. You should see the skis start to match earlier in the turn, and they are well on their way to parallel skiing. Nice job coach!
Thank you for pointing out about the inside tip goes away during the wedge Christie. That will make rotary much easier. Bingo!
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