Knowing you can slow down and stop when you choose is what makes the slope feel safe. You have three beginner tools: the braking wedge, stopping from a traverse (a wedge change-up or stepping your skis uphill), and turn shape, where you keep turning out of the fall line until your skis point across or slightly up the hill. PSIA teaches turn shape as your main speed control and the braking wedge as the emergency option; hockey slides come later, once you can skid your skis. A camera can read your wedge, whether your turns finish across the slope, and whether you stay centred while you slow down; edge grip and actual speed are not measured.
Stop with the wedge
Practise on a gentle slope that runs out onto a flat or a slight uphill, so the terrain will stop you if you need it to. Keep runs short so speed stays low.
no worry about stopping, because the flat will do it.
From a narrow gliding wedge, flex your legs and push both tails wider into a braking wedge. Keep the tips about 3-4 in (8-10 cm) apart. Feel pressure on the inside arch and big toe and the inside of the boot cuff; your knees roll in a little as part of the wedge.
the inside edges brushing harder against the snow.
Stay centred over your whole foot as you brake. A wide braking wedge tends to pull your hips back behind your feet. If you can only stop by sitting back, the wedge is the wrong tool for that slope: turn across the hill instead. Treat the braking wedge as your emergency brake, not your everyday speed control.
hips over your feet, shins lightly on the tongues.
Stop from a traverse
Glide across the slope in a wedge. Keep more weight on the inside edge of your downhill ski, with your upper body over your feet and facing slightly downhill of where you're going. Let your uphill ski, knee, hip and shoulder sit slightly ahead of the downhill ones.
a solid platform under the downhill foot.
To slow and stop in the traverse, use a wedge change-up: go from a narrow gliding wedge to a larger braking wedge, keeping most of the weight on the downhill ski. Practise both directions; most people have a good side and a weak side.
the skis slowing as the wedge grows.
Or step uphill to a stop from a parallel traverse: lift the uphill ski and point its tip a little more uphill with a small step, then step the downhill ski next to it. Repeat until your skis point straight across the fall line and you stop.
each small step bleeding off speed.
Control speed with turn shape
Control speed by shaping your turns: keep turning your legs out of the fall line while your weight moves from both skis to the outside ski. Finishing each turn across the slope slows you without breaking your rhythm, which pushing the tails out does.
each finished turn quietly shedding speed.
To stop, keep turning to one side until you stop, even if your skis end up pointing slightly uphill. This works without sitting back, so it is the stop to rely on as the slope gets steeper.
the hill doing the braking for you.
Stay in control
Follow the Responsibility Code. Always stay in control: you must be able to stop or avoid people and objects. People ahead or downhill of you have the right of way. Stop only where you can be seen from above and aren't blocking traffic, and look uphill before you set off again.
always within a speed you can stop from.
If you find yourself off balance to the rear with your hips below your knees, don't keep pushing on the tails. Get back to arms forward, feet together, hands over skis. If you fall, don't fully straighten your legs and don't try to get up until you've stopped sliding. Leaning back with the hips low is part of a known ACL injury pattern.
hips above knees, arms in front.
Feel it
Good speed control feels calm: you finish each turn across the hill and your speed stays the same from turn to turn. The braking wedge feels like the inside edges biting under your arches while your hips stay over your feet. You know you can stop at any moment, either by turning uphill or by stepping across the slope, without sitting back.
Fix-its
- You can't come to a stop Don't just widen the wedge. Keep turning to one side until your skis point across or slightly up the hill, or step your skis uphill from a traverse.
- Your hips drop back when you brake A wide braking wedge tends to put you in the back seat. Use a smaller wedge and stop by turning across the hill, keeping your weight over your whole foot and your arms forward.
- Speed builds in the fall line and you keep pushing the tails out Keep turning your legs while your weight moves from both skis to the outside ski, so each turn finishes across the slope.
- You can't hold weight on the downhill ski in the traverse Roll the downhill knee inward for more edge, and keep your upper body over your feet rather than leaning into the hill.
- Your wedge falls apart while traversing Set the uphill ski, boot, knee, hip and shoulder slightly ahead of the downhill ones, with your upper body facing slightly downhill.
Drill
- Straight run: on a gentle slope with a flat run-out, glide in a narrow wedge, then brake to a stop before the flat. Repeat until it feels routine.
- Wedge change-ups in a traverse: cross the slope in a narrow wedge, change to a wide wedge to slow and stop. Do it in both directions.
- Step to a stop: from a shallow parallel traverse, take small parallel steps uphill until your skis point across the fall line and you stop. Both directions.
- Turn to a stop: link a few wedge turns, finishing each across the slope, then keep turning the last one until you stop without widening the wedge.
- Film from the front, from below the skier on a gentle slope, to check wedge width, that your turns finish across the slope, and that your hips stay above your knees.
Sources
- PSIA Education Foundation — Alpine Level I Study Guide, Steps 5, 6 and 9: Wedge; Wedge Traverse and Stop; Linking Wedge Turns in the Fall Line (1996)
- PSIA-NW (T. McLeod, J. Taggart) — Conversation About the Wedge (2009)
- National Ski Areas Association — Your Responsibility Code (2022)
- Vermont Ski Safety — Tips for Knee-Friendly Skiing
Last checked 2026-10-26.