Its Almost Winter You Should Be Skiing Right Now

Winter has finally decided to show up this year and you know what that means? The snowmobiles will get revved up, the hot chocolate will have little floating marshmallows and across the globe crazy people will zoom down hills. I am not talking about sledding or tubing, its all about the skiers!

Skiing can be dated back to around the 26th century BC when a caveman was kicked out of his cave and had to go find food in the middle of a snowstorm. Why this poor chap had to go out and face the weather? I’ll give you one guess why. Below is most likely what this cave dude looked like:

Like all things, over the course of the centuries skiing has evolved from simple wood planks to skis made of carbon fiber, titanium or steel. I personally have been skiing since I could walk and for your information I wouldn’t have it any other way.

But lately the skiing lifestyle has drastically changed. Before the introduction of the X-Games skiing was all about the moguls!

This so called X-Games ’sport’ is only about the pizazz of doing cheap tricks. Honestly isn’t going to the summit of a mountain and going as fast as you can without getting hurt isn’t enough anymore? But I digress for me to continue to be an avid skier and most importantly to be able to hang out at the bar and talk with the cute snow bunnies(I am talking about #7) I had to learn a few ‘tricks’ to keep up with the younger crowd.

But luckily for us it turns out they’re pretty simple and easy to learn. Just follow my advice here and we’ll be getting those snow bunnies all liquored up in no time.

First start with a 180 spin (get use to landing facing uphill) and then a 360 spin. The 360 spin use to be called the Helicopter if you like sounding retro. Here is a quick video on how to do a 360 spin:

Once you are able to do that then you can start adding up to 540s, 720s, 900s, etc. Another easy trick you can work on is some grabs. You need to be comfortable with taking jumps, obviously the more intricate the trick the more altitude you will need. Here are a few descriptions of the more basic grabs from huckzone.com:

Mute Grab:
Grab your left ski at or just in front of the toe piece and pull up completing the grab, the more air time you have the more you and pull and arch your back to get the tweak in there.

The Japan Air:
At take off be sure to pop off the lip evenly. Tuck your right ski up under your butt, reach down with your left hand behind your left thigh to meet your ski just behind the binding. Your right hand will go out and up to counter.
Grab your right ski under your butt just behind the binding heel piece. Kick out your left leg, the straighter the more style the trick has.

The Safety Grab:
At take off be sure to pop off the lip evenly. Begin to tuck up both legs. And your right hand down to meet you ski.
Grab your ski under your butt right under your boot, be sure to allow your left arm to counter, it is sometimes tough to stay even in the air while tucking both your legs up.

Now go work on your spins and grabs and you should be able to slightly impress the ladies. One of the most important parts of doing these tricks is the landing. Land it and keep going like you have done it a million times.

This is one of the sickest tricks ever!

Even if you can’t nail every skiing trick you’ll still bring people joy by seeing you fail. LOLOL.

If you want more instruction on how to pull off these tricks and other tricks check these guys out or just find me on the slopes.

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