On Line Instruction - A new way to improve any aspect of your cross country skiing

By Keith and Heather Nicol

      The best way to learn a sport is to have individual instruction by someone who has been trained to look for areas of improvement and then come up with drills or exercises to build the skills that are lacking.  I usually teach cross country skiing at a few different areas in B.C. in the winter but through my you tube channel  (https://www.youtube.com/user/k2nicol) get a number of requests for feedback on people’s skiing. These skiers live in various places in North America and beyond, often where they may not have regular access to good ski instruction. 

Want to glide longer when striding?

Improve your skating

     Often with lessons or clinics, skiers are presented with a variety of techniques that they try to learn in a short period of time. Usually change is slow and unless the skier comes back periodically for lessons through the winter they will invariably revert to their original ski errors once they leave the lesson.  Even if they practice the areas they need to improve , without guided feedback they often won’t know if they are improving or not. 

     With my new on line instructional programme the skier shoots video (using their smart phone or tablet) of the techniques that they would like to improve and then emails these to me for analysis. I review the video and provide video drills and other written feedback for how they can improve. A week or 2 later after more practice they send off some more examples of their skiing for more feedback. Then gradually over time they can begin to improve their skiing through this on line programme of feedback throughout the ski season. If you are interested in learning various aspects of cross country skiing from classic to skating to downhill technique including telemark skiing – contact Keith Nicol for information on how to sign up for this on line ski programme  and current pricing at k2nicol@gmail.com  Keith Nicol holds Canada's highest ranking in both as a cross country and telemark instructor and has taught 1000's of skiers since 1985. He has taught at Supercamp at Silver Star Ski Resort and Sovereign Lake in BC's  Interior for many years and also represented Canada at 4 Interski events.He was the CANSI Technical Board member for the Atlantic Provinces for many years.

Improve your ability on corners and hills

Try these tips to stay centred on your cross country skis

by Keith and Heather Nicol

Being centred on your skis is a key aspect of cross country skiing since it will keep you in balance when descending hills, classic skiing or skate skiing. In my lessons I often see many beginner and intermediate skiers who are not centred and this causes them to be inefficient when they stride or skate and they may fall on downhills. In my lessons we start with feeling centred and I do this by simply flexing our ankles, knees and hips over our skis feeling our weight just behind the ball of the foot. A quick way to feel this is to jump in place on our skis. I next get the skiers to lean back and forward to feel  what being out of balance feels like. When students go back on their heels their ankle joint straightens and this is probably one of the beginner-intermediate skiers biggest problems . By not flexing at the ankle they end up getting off balance, putting too much weight on the heel and falling backward.  You can see in the first photo below how I stay centred by flexing at ankle, knee and hip and this keeps me balanced in this skidded turn. Also putting my arms out helps maintain my balance. In the second photo below I can balance on one ski while skating- flexing at ankle, knee and hips to stay centred.  See this video for more information on staying centred on cross country skis-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfi0fqnn_AA&feature=youtu.be

 

Tips for Double Poling in Cross Country Skiing

By Keith and Heather Nicol   

 The double pole technique is technically a classic skiing manoeuvre but is also important for skate skiers as well since it is used in the one skate and 2 skate or V2 and V2 alternate for our American viewers. The double pole in classic skiing tends to be used where conditions are a bit too fast for diagonal stride and is a great technique for maintaining momentum. When I teach double pole I start by showing skiers the arm position  - with elbows at roughly at 90 degrees. (See photo below).  You want the arms to be held high to start and shoulder width apart with the poles angled back. You want to feel your abdominal muscles first and then back and shoulder muscles and finally pushing with your arm and wrist.  It really helps to get your hips and torso forward at the onset of the double poling action as you can see in the first photo below. You can see by the blue lines how both my hips and torso are forward.  That way you can use your body weight to help propel you down the track. As you follow through with the poling think about finishing with your shoulder, arm and wrist muscles as seen in the second photo. Note how I extend my arm and release the poles at the end of the poling action. The following video shows many common errors that I see when I teach double poling and how to correct them- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDJPH27giUo&feature=youtu.be   Like many techniques in cross country skiing, double poling appears to be easy to do but in fact is difficult to do well. Thanks as well to our sponsors Auclair gloves and Infinity Ski Poles.