The athletic stance is the balanced, ready position every turn starts from and returns to. PSIA's first skiing fundamental is controlling where your center of mass sits over your base of support, so the goal is simple: keep your body stacked over your feet, with ankles, knees and hips softly flexed and your hands forward. It is a position you move through and adjust, not a pose you freeze in. From the side, a camera can estimate your joint bend, whether your hips sit over or behind your feet, and where your hands are; from the front, how even your stance is. Boots hide the ankle, so treat those readings as a rough guide.
Flex and get athletic
Stand with your feet about hip-width apart and your skis parallel. Weight both feet evenly.
a stable, even base.
Soften your ankles, knees and hips together so every joint is slightly bent. Not locked straight, not sitting down low.
springy, ready to move.
Lean your upper body forward until your back is roughly parallel to your shins. This keeps your hips over your feet instead of behind them.
back angle matches shin angle.
Center your weight
Move your shins forward until they touch the front of both boot tongues. Light, steady contact, not a hard lean.
shins resting on the tongues.
Check that your weight is over the middle of your feet, not on your heels. The aim is your body's mass over your feet; shin contact is a guide to get there, not the goal itself.
neither toes nor heels doing all the work.
Hands forward, eyes ahead
Bring your hands forward, slightly wider and slightly lower than your elbows, where you can see them. Elbows sit forward and a little wider than your shoulders.
hands in your side vision.
Look forward, where you are going, not down at your ski tips.
eyes up and ahead.
Keep moving. Flex and extend a little as the snow changes. A stance you lock in place can't absorb bumps or recover your balance.
a base you move from, not a statue.
Stay out of the back seat
Keep your hips above your knees and your arms forward. Vermont Ski Safety links a common recreational ACL injury (the 'phantom foot') to a fall where the skier is back, hips below the knees, uphill arm behind and weight on the inside tail of the downhill ski.
hips over feet, hands in front.
If you feel yourself falling back, go: arms forward, feet together, hands over your skis. Don't fully straighten your legs as you fall, and don't try to get up until you've stopped sliding. Any knee pop or giving way: stop skiing and get it checked.
reach forward, not back.
Feel it
Feet hip-width, ankles, knees and hips softly bent, back roughly parallel to your shins, shins lightly on the tongues, hands forward and in view, eyes ahead. You should feel balanced over the middle of your feet and ready to move in any direction. If your hands drift behind you and your weight sinks into your heels, you're probably sitting back.
Fix-its
- Sitting back (the 'back seat'): hips behind your feet, weight on your heels Move your shins to the tongues and your chest forward until your back is about parallel to your shins. Hips over feet, not behind them.
- Standing stiff and tall, legs nearly straight Soften all three joints, ankles, knees and hips, so your legs can absorb the snow.
- Bent at the knees and hips but upright in the boots Bend at the ankles too, so your shins move to the tongues and your hips stay over your feet.
- Hands dropped or trailing behind Carry your hands forward and slightly wider than your elbows, where you can see them.
- Frozen in one 'perfect' pose, over-flexed Don't crush the tongues. Use the stance as a base and keep making small flex and extend movements.
Drill
- Standing on flat snow, run the checklist: feet hip-width, shins on the tongues, back parallel to shins, hands forward, eyes ahead. Hold about 10 seconds, stand up, repeat 5 times.
- On flat snow, make small bounces through ankles, knees and hips together for 20 to 30 seconds, ending each set back in the stance.
- On flat snow, practise the fall response: from the stance, say 'arms forward, feet together, hands over skis' and do it. 5 reps.
- Glide straight down a gentle slope with a flat runout, holding the stance. If you feel yourself sitting back, stop, reset, and go again.
- Film one glide from the side and one from the front. Check: hips over feet or behind, back angle vs shin angle, hands in front, stance even left to right.
Sources
- PSIA — Skiing Fundamentals, from the 2014 Alpine Certification Standards (PSIA-NW handout)
- PSIA-AASI Northwest — The Elements of Awesome Stance
- PSIA-NW (B. Jacobson) — Early Season Training with PSIA-NW Divisional Staff
- Vermont Ski Safety — Tips for Knee-Friendly Skiing
- Spörri, Müller, Kröll — When you're down, stay down: ACL rupture measured in vivo, J Sport Health Sci (2022)
Last checked 2026-10-26.