The person in the white seemed composed and knew what to do when the going gets tough. The person in the blue, though, was only making the situation worse.
Let's start with the obvious. Unless you are jousting (which shouldn't be done on skis, ever) sticking your pole in front of you is dangerous and hurts your ability to turn. While this defensive move will make you feel a bit protected, the only thing you're really protected from is small animals. There weren't any around. You could fall onto the pole or impale someone skiing around you.
The next issue I see is that this person had no shin-tongue contact. The person in the white had the contact in his boots. This contact you have between your shin and the front of your boot is crucial in maintaining control of your skis. When your weight is forward there is less lateral movement of your skis. The person in the blue has their weight back with no shin-tongue contact.
This brings me to my third issue I have with this skier. Her skis are crossed. With her weight back she crossed her skis because she had no lateral control of her skis. Crossing your skis is bad because you can't turn.
The person in the white is able to maintain their form and slide down the intimidating hill safely. If you find yourself in over your head, no matter the difficulty of the hill, its best to slide down perpendicular to the hill and tilt yourself and your skis into the hill. Pizza/snowplow, crossed skis, poor weight distribution, and flailing your poles out in defense will never get you down the hill safely, gracefully, or happily. With that all said, it is important to ski where you are comfortable and able.
I had an awesome day skiing a total of 12,127 vertical feet. It snowed about 7" during the day which made fantastic powder conditions. Stay tuned for more updates throughout the week of skiing tips, critiques, and information.
