Stem Christie

This skier is performing a right turn using the classic stemming technique. The left (downhill) ski has been stemmed out from the body, and their weight shifted onto this ski (note the position of the hip relative to the skis). This drives the inside edge into the snow, generating forces to their right (uphill). Note that their upper body is rotated, driving the downhill arm and shoulder forward, a natural motion that balances the forces of the turn.

Stemming is a technique used in skiing for turning. The modern version is usually credited to the Austrian Mathias Zdarsky who developed it in the 1890s by combining stemming with a variation of the Christiania[lower-alpha 1] technique, producing the stem Christiania, or stem Christie for short. Its variations gradually replaced the telemark technique in alpine skiing.

Basic stemming consists of rotating the back of one ski, the tail, so it is at an angle to the direction of movement. This causes sideways forces that push the skier in the direction opposite of the motion of the ski. For instance, if the skier pushes the tail of the left ski outward, they will turn to the right. The Christie variation has the skier wait for the turn to commence and then lift the non-turning ski off the snow, or simply lift their body weight off of it by stepping harder on the turning ski, and rotating it to match the original turn, resulting in the two skis once again being parallel.

The stem Christie was the primary skiing technique into the 1960s, when greatly improved skiing equipment led to the widespread adoption of the parallel turn for intermediate and expert skiers. Since then the Christie has been used primarily as an beginner and intermediate technique, and was an important step in the progressive Arlberg technique that dominated ski schools until the 2000s. The introduction of parabolic skiis and new carve turn teaching methods have greatly reduced the importance of the stem Christie, but it remains common on the ski hill and is still taught at many ski schools.

History

The technique was introduced to central Europe in 1910 by the Austrian ski guide Hannes Schneider. Along with the other two stem techniques, it formed the basis of his Arlberg technique and instruction method.

The technique was popular and widely used up until the late 1960s, when its use diminished in favor of the parallel turn, inspired mostly by ski racers. Radical side-cut skis, developed in the late 1990s, have accelerated the obsolescence of the stem Christie.[1] It is still occasionally taught to intermediate and advanced skiers to demonstrate the difference in efficient movements with less efficient movements.

Terminology

Technique

From a physics standpoint, the stemming turn is a variation on the snowplough turn, which is sometimes considered to be a variation of the stem instead. The basic idea in the snowplough is to keep both skis stemmed at all times, so the skis form an upside-down V shape as seen from above. To turn, the skier relaxes pressure on the side they wish to turn towards. The pressure from the movement over the snow causes that leg to automatically move inward, leaving the V asymmetric, with the opposite ski thus dominating. The turn ends when pressure is re-applied to the ski and the equal angles are reestablished.[2]

The basic stemming technique can be thought of as an active version of the snowplough, where the V shape is only maintained momentarily. Instead of staying in the V position between turns, the skier instead keeps both skis parallel, roughly in line with their hips. Whereas the snowplough would start the turn by relaxing pressure on the inside ski and allowing its angle to decrease, the stemmer instead increases pressure on the outside ski, causing its angle to increase. Through the turn the position of the legs is identical to that of the snowplough; one leg is roughly parallel to the direction of travel (and to the skier's natural forward facing direction) while the other is stemmed outward. The difference is between the turns, when the skier relaxes their stemmed ski so it returns to the parallel position. Thus, stemming consists of a series of snowplough turns.[2] The action of stemming the ski can be aided by rotating the entire body, and it is common to see the skier with their arm and shoulder on the outside thrusted forward.

With the Christie variation there is one more motion. The skier initiates the turn in identical fashion to the conventional stem turn, but once the turn is established they step (lift and rotate) the inside ski to be parallel with the outside (stemmed) ski. The result is that both skis are now at an angle to the direction of travel. By reapplying weight to the inside ski at this point, both skis will take part in the turn, which makes it much more powerful, and thus both faster and easier on the legs which now share the turning load.[3]

When properly applied, the leading stem on the outside ski is blended seamlessly into the lifting of the inside ski. In this case the skis will remain parallel throughout the turn. A perfect stem christie is thus difficult to distinguish, visually, from a true parallel turn. The techniques are very different in action, however. The stem christie is applied largely by shifting weight onto the downhill ski to start the stem, while the parallel turn is started by moving the lower leg to roll the ski onto its edge. Parallel turns are often helped by lifting weight off both skis to help initiate the turn, further confusing the two techniques as seen by an outside observer.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The english version of Kristianiasving, the Norwegian name for the nearby town now known as Oslo.

References

  1. ↑ Johanna Hall (Winter 1997). "All Mixed Up? - How To Make Sense Of The Multi-Shaped Lesson". Archived from the original on April 11, 2003. Retrieved 2013-12-14.
  2. 1 2 "Stem Christie". Retrieved 2008-08-18.
  3. ↑ "Better Skiing - Chapter 2 - Snow Plow Turns, Stem Christies, Skiing Parallel". Retrieved 2008-08-18.
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