A Christiania is any turn in which the _outer_ ski does _not lead_,
and the skis are _not_ held _convergently_, _i.e._ the skis may be
either parallel or _di_vergent, and either held level or with the inner
leading.
This swing is, according to the purpose for which it is used, and the
state of the snow, either an extremely difficult or the very easiest
way of turning or stopping.
It is easiest on a hard icy crust (not a breakable one) either with or
without a shallow covering of loose snow, and therefore for learning it
one should find snow of this sort. Most practice-grounds, trodden hard
by ski-tracks, are just the thing. The gradient is not so important,
for it is quite as easy to learn this swing on a steepish slope as on a
moderate one. I have already shown (p. 138) how an uphill Christiania
may be started from a traverse by side-slipping, and also how a
stemming turn may be finished as a Christiania (p. 143). The following
method is more generally useful, and a steadier way of making the swing
at a high speed.
_Uphill Turn to the Right._--In the normal position, run across the
slope at a gentle gradient with the hill on your right, your weight on
the left ski, the right ski about a foot in advance.
[Illustration: FIG. 38.--Uphill Christiania swing to right (A from a
traverse, B from a direct descent.) The blackened parts are those which
should be weighted.]
When fairly under weigh lean well forwards, bend the front knee, shift
most of the weight from the left foot to the right _heel_, and slide
the left ski about six inches farther to the rear, turning its point
slightly outwards, _i.e._ downhill, so that it takes the position shown
in Fig. 38, A, _1_, and at the same time _flattening_ it by bending
the left knee and ankle well outwards (Plate XXXIV.).
Owing partly to the steering effect produced by the relative position
of the two skis and partly to the pressure on the heel of the right
ski (a very slight momentary flattening of which will help the turn
to start if it hangs fire at all), you will instantly begin to turn
uphill. Immediately after beginning to turn press the left ski quickly
inwards and forwards again to the normal position. As it again comes
parallel to the other it may be edged and its left heel receive half
the weight; _until then it must be kept flat_.
If you do all this correctly you should come to a standstill with the
skis pointing more or less uphill, in the normal position, right ski
leading (Fig. 38, A, _3_).
The difficulty in this, as in all the turns, is, at the start, to keep
most of the weight on one ski only. When, at the beginning of the
swing, the weight has once been shifted on to the right ski, it must be
kept there until the skis are brought parallel again. It is in order
to ensure doing this that it is necessary to lean forwards, and keep
the right knee well over the foot. This may appear likely to throw the
weight on the toes, but the tendency for that to happen is really less
when the leg is in this position than when it is straighter. A slight
lifting of the left heel will lessen the tendency to throw weight on
that foot.
If much weight is put on the left foot it will be difficult to hold
the skis at the narrow angle shown in the diagram, especially if the
left ski has not been flattened, but is still on its inside edge. The
skis, then, instead of turning together, will probably run apart in the
directions in which they are pointing (Plate XXXVII.).
In this swing, as in the Telemark, the tendency of the beginner is to
lean too much inwards, towards the hill. What I said in this connection
when describing the Telemark swing is equally applicable here, and to
save you from referring back I will repeat it.
As explained on page 82, a ski can never cut round like a skate, but
slips sideways, in turning, as well as forwards; and the shallower
the snow, the steeper the hill, and the higher the speed, the greater
is this side-slip. In making this turn to the right, therefore, your
right foot, instead of moving at once to the _right_ of the line of
your previous course, will at first move to the _left_ of, and below
it; and, if the hill is steep or the snow shallow, may still be on its
left even at the end of the swing, though the fact that the points of
the skis remain on the other side of the line prevents this from being
apparent at first (Fig. 38).
It is obvious, then, that if you are to remain properly balanced on
your right ski, very little inward lean is necessary, and the usual
directions as to leaning the body inwards while making the swing are
most misleading.
In fact, although one really has to lean inwards when the turn has
begun, the instinct to avoid an outward fall makes one overdo it to
such an extent that at first it is better to try to throw the weight
rather to the left and downhill--but _forwards_, not backwards, on to
the left ski--in order to get the proper balance.
One must try to encourage the side-slip, not to check it; and the only
way to do this is to try to throw the weight slightly outwards, or,
at any rate, to guard against the least tendency to lean in, as one
instinctively is inclined to do when the side-slip begins.
At the end of the swing the edging of the skis stops the side-slip,
rather suddenly if one makes a sharp turn in soft snow, and it is only
then that any conscious effort should be made to lean inwards, _never
at the beginning of the swing_.
It is useless to try to hasten the swing by turning, leaning, or
swinging the body; in fact, as I have said before, if you try to turn
at all you are almost certain to fall. If, however, you _try to go
straight on_, simply holding the skis, and distributing the weight as I
have directed, you will probably turn without difficulty.
When you can make the swing to the right, learn to make it to the left
in the same way, of course substituting left for right, and right for
left in the directions. When you can do this, practise it to the right
again, this time running more steeply downhill than at first, and then
in the same way to the left, until you can at last turn to right or
left when running _straight_ downhill (Fig. 38, B). But do not, at any
stage, run far before beginning to swing; get fairly under weigh and
make the swing, then run on and do it again, and repeat this until you
get to the bottom of your practice slope. To run far between each swing
only gives you more climbing in proportion to the amount of practice.
There is one thing to be noticed about making the swing when running
straight downhill. When running _across_ the hill the skis are edged in
the normal position, and the inner ski, which has to be slightly edged
at the start of the swing, is therefore already about right. In running
_straight_ downhill both skis are flat in the normal position; it is
therefore necessary, when turning to the right, to edge the right ski a
trifle in order to begin the swing (Plate XXXV.).
The left ski is already flat; but to make sure that it keeps so as the
turn begins, slightly bow the legs, turning both knees--especially the
left--rather outwards.
When running straight downhill preparatory to swinging, always lead
with the ski of the side to which you mean to turn.
_Downhill Turn to the Right._--So far you have used the swing to make
an _uphill_ turn, in order to bring yourself to a standstill.
When using the swing in order to make a _downhill_ turn, the skis are
held in exactly the same relative positions as before, and weighted in
much the same way, but it is necessary to notice carefully one or two
details.
Suppose you are running across the slope with the hill on your left and
wish to turn downwards to the right and make a fresh tack. Your weight
in the normal running position is then on the right ski, and the left
ski is advanced.
[Illustration: FIG. 39.--Downhill Christiania swing to the right at
various stages. The blackened parts are those which should be weighted.]
In order to start the turn it is not necessary to shift the weight,
which is already on the right ski; you have merely to turn the right
knee and ankle slightly outwards as before, and to put the weight on
the _toe_ of the right foot, at the same time sliding the left ski to
the rear. The right ski will now begin to point away from the other
and turn downhill (Fig. 39, A, _1_, _1_). Take care to bend the right
ankle only _slightly_ outwards, so that the ski is not actually _edged_
outwards, but only partially or completely flattened, according as the
slope is steep or gentle; if there is any outward edging--or if the
weight is on the _heel_--you will fail to start the turn.
As the right ski begins to turn downwards, take care that the angle
between it and the other one does not become too wide, but that the
left ski also begins to turn downhill (pressing on it with the toes
and partially flattening it by bending the ankle _inwards_ will enable
it to do so) before the right has assumed the position of 2 in the
diagram. If you put much weight on the left ski it will refuse to
follow the other one round, and will either get across the heel of it,
or run away from it and upset you.
The _right_ knee and ankle are held in the same position throughout the
swing, and this will bring the right ski on to its outside edge as soon
as it is pointing directly downhill (in a sense, indeed, the right ski
may be said to be "edged" throughout the swing if that expression is
merely used to signify _the depression of its outer edge_ and _not_ its
_relation to the surface of the snow_).
The left ankle, however, after being bent a trifle _inwards_, to start
the swing, must, with the knee, be bent more and more _outwards_ as the
swing proceeds, in order to keep the left ski perfectly flat until it
can be brought back to the side of the other one and edged inwards as
the swing ends.
As soon as you have turned so far that you are facing straight
downhill, shift the weight from the toe of the right foot to the heel
and finish the swing as before. If you make a downhill turn very
sharply while running fast you can shift the weight from toe to heel
before you are facing downhill--in fact almost immediately after the
turn has begun. In trying to put the weight on the toe at the beginning
of the swing, take great care not to poke the foot forward, but to keep
the knee well over it, otherwise you are sure to put some weight back
on the left foot.
Be on your guard also against trying to start the swing by _leaning_
to the right, for, if you do this, you will either fall downhill, or
will find that the right ski refuses to turn downwards. Simply lean, as
before, towards the tip of the right ski, look in that direction only,
and don't think of trying to turn, but rather try to go on across the
slope.
As you turn downwards, of course, the pace increases, and you must
therefore lean more forwards; the great thing is to keep the right
knee well forward over the foot, to try to lean over the front of the
ski, and to keep your eyes on the ground at your feet, endeavouring to
imagine it flat, as I advised in the case of the Telemark and stemming
turns.
You will find this downhill turn of very little practical use on a
steep slope until you can make it quite shortly and sharply, for, if
you make a long curve, the pace increases so much in the middle of it
that you are almost sure to lose control and fail to finish the swing,
even if you do not fall down.
When performed in this way the Christiania swing can be used for making
either up or downhill turns on practically any slope and in any kind of
snow except breakable crust. The deeper, however, the skis sink into
the snow, the greater is the difficulty, not only because they skid
round less readily, but because it then needs more force to hold the
outer, back ski at a narrow angle with the other owing to the increased
outward pressure of the snow. Unless this ski is then held _perfectly
flat_ it will instantly run apart from the other.
In the method just described the turn is started by sliding _back_ the
ski which is to be the _outer_ one and pointing it _away_ from the
side to which one is about to turn. Another way of starting the turn
is to slide _forward_ the ski which is to be the _inner_ one and point
it _towards_ the side one means to turn to. This practically amounts
to the same thing looked at from another view; the relative position
of the skis is exactly the same, and there is very little practical
difference in the making of the turn.
As I find that beginners learn the swing more easily if told to do it
in the first way, I have given these directions first, but I should
have thought myself that the swing was easier to understand, and
therefore to perform, when considered from this second point of view.
Before going any further let me warn the reader, if he is a beginner,
that the next three pages or so are not strictly practical, but are
rather meant to elucidate the theory of the swing. If after glancing
at them the reader does not feel very hopeful of enlightenment, he may
safely skip them.
I have so far talked about _steering_ action starting the turn. When
the swing is looked at from this second standpoint, one can say that
_stemming_ action starts it--or rather _prepares_ for it.
Suppose, for instance, you are traversing to the right at a gentle
gradient, and wish to turn uphill in this way. You are in the normal
position, left foot weighted, and right foot leading; in order to
prepare for the turn keep the left ski edged normally and weighted,
slide the right a little farther forward, turn it rather away from
the other, _i.e._ point it about horizontally across the slope (the
gradient of your course being very slight), and nearly flatten it by
keeping the right knee and ankle a little inwards. What you are now
doing is actually stemming--_di_vergent stemming, not _con_vergent like
ordinary or Telemark stemming, but still stemming; Christiania stemming
if you like to call it so. As long as you hold this position with the
left ski edged and weighted and the body facing towards its point you
will go straight ahead at a reduced pace. You can now stop either by
stemming alone or by stemming and turning.
(1) Keep the left (running) ski normally edged, and gradually edge
and weight the right stemming ski more and more until you come to
a standstill without a change of front--a true stemming stop, but
awkward, because the skis tend to run apart as the upper ski receives
the weight.
(2) You can stop more neatly by shifting the weight _all at once_ to
the stemming ski, facing towards its point as you do so and instantly
bringing round the lower ski--lifting it if you like, or at any rate
flattening it--to the side of the upper. This is something between
stopping by stemming and stopping by a step round. There is no swing
about either process, and although the last may be called a turn
because there is a change of front, it cannot be more than a slight
one, because one cannot safely point away the upper ski at more than a
slight angle.
Apart from the question of speed, with the increase of which the
insecurity of any sort of stemming always increases, you cannot, of
course, stop in either of these ways if traversing steeply enough for
the divergent upper ski to be no longer pointing quite horizontally.
You must then do so either (3) by _flattening_ the lower ski, putting
half the weight on the upper, _holding_ the divergent position until
the consequent steering action brings the upper ski horizontal again,
and _only then_ putting the whole weight on it and bringing the other
parallel to it--a pure "steered" turn, with the inevitable accompanying
drawback of the tendency of the skis to run apart; or (4) by shifting
the weight _all at once_ to the stemming ski--_facing towards its point
as you do so_, bringing the other (flattened) quickly parallel to it,
and _instantly weighting the heels of both_ (see p. 131), when they
will turn upwards in side-slipping and come to a standstill. If before
you make the turn you only point the stemming ski at a _very slight
angle_ away from the other, and if you throw your weight on it and
face towards its point _as_, and not _after_, you point it outwards,
you will, by the method just described, make what, for the sake of
distinction, may be called the "steered" Christiania in the best way
that it is possible to make it.
In coming to a standstill on a gentle slope from a slow traverse by
any of the methods just described, you will find that the practical
differences between them are very small indeed; but if running very
fast you would find that the first two were impossible, and the third
awkward and unsafe, but that by the last (which, as I have said, is
practically the same as the method described at the beginning of the
chapter) you could, if your balance were good, turn and stop with
perfect ease and steadiness. What I have called Christiania stemming,
though possible, is of so little practical use that, in that respect,
it is hardly worth considering; but to understand how it may be done,
and its exact relation to steering, side-slipping, &c., makes it so
much easier to master the difficulties of the swing, that I have risked
exasperating the reader by describing it at length.
The upshot of all this is that when the Christiania is made in either
of the ways so far described in this chapter, whatever steering or
divergent stemming there is in it should be reduced to a minimum.
In this turn, by whatever method it is made, the main difficulty--apart
from the question of balance--is in getting the turn _started_. If once
the heel of the leading ski can be got fairly outside the track of its
point, it is easy enough to keep the turn going. It is the _starting_
of the turn that is the main object of the divergent position of the
skis; in fact, although this position produces _some_ steering effect
as long as there is any forward motion at all, it produces less and
less as the skis move more and more broadside on, and is only really
efficient as the turn begins. This divergent position, indeed, although
on the whole, I think, the best possible way of starting the swing,
becomes more hindrance than help as the turn proceeds, owing to the
accompanying tendency, if most of the weight is on the _inner_ ski,
for the outer one to run away from it; or, if the _outer_ ski is most
weighted, for the inner one to whip round at right angles and cross
the other's heel (Plate XXXIX.). You should be careful, therefore, not
to let the skis point much apart, and not to let them do so _at all_
for a moment longer than you can help, but as soon as you are sure the
steering has done its work thoroughly, and the heel of the front ski
has fairly begun to side-slip, should quickly bring the skis parallel,
and carry through the rest of the turn simply by weighting both heels.
In the case of an uphill turn made while running fast, you will
generally find that the skis can be brought together again almost
instantly. The separation of the skis is then almost imperceptible, and
no doubt many runners do it quite unconsciously. The skis merely make,
as it were, a quick snip, like a pair of scissors.
In order to get the skis parallel, some people find it easier, instead
of keeping the outer ski unweighted and pressing its _point inwards_
again, to shift most of the weight back and out on to it, and so thrust
its _heel outwards_. The latter method puts the skis parallel a little
more quickly than the former, but is apt to get them rather wide apart
in doing so.
The two methods just described are, as I have said, identical in
principle; the divergent position of the skis, with its accompanying
steering effect, being the main characteristic of each. In each method,
moreover--apart from the question of balance--the only muscular effort
necessary (which should be very slight) is that of checking and
reducing the divergence of the skis; the runner, as soon as the skis
are parallel, being carried round without any effort whatever.
A third method--the one usually taught--is quite different in
principle, being precisely similar to a skating turn; that is to say,
the runner uses the inertia, or rather momentum, of his upper body as
a purchase from which, by a muscular effort--though not necessarily
a great one--he throws both skis simultaneously more or less athwart
the line of his course; the skis remaining parallel throughout and
acting practically as _one_. I said a muscular effort--I ought rather
to have said "_two_ muscular efforts," for the movement which causes
the skis to turn, though it may be very slight, and may then appear to
the onlooker--and even feel to the expert performer--quite simple, is
really a compound one that consists of two distinct parts, and should
be learnt as such.
Supposing you are running straight downhill and want to make a turn to
the right in this way, the preparation is as follows: either slightly
advance the right ski, or hold both skis level, place the weight
equally on both, edging them very slightly to the right, bending the
knees a little, keeping both them and the skis in close contact, and
leaning well forwards. These relative positions of the skis and legs
are, if possible, held unaltered throughout the swing.
You can now make the double movement that produces the turn.
(1) Without letting your head turn or straightening yourself up,
_swing the arms, shoulders, and upper body well round to the right_.
This swinging movement should be easy yet decided, starting gently and
increasing in force as it proceeds--in fact, as Mr. Richardson says,
it should be made "crescendo," not "sforzando." It should bring you to
the position of Fig. 40, A, right arm well back and left well across
the front of the body, which should be leaning more to its right than
in the drawing, with the hips, therefore (to keep the centre of gravity
exactly over the skis), projecting more to their left. At the instant
that the swinging movement of the arms and shoulders brings you into
the above position--_i.e._ just before the movement reaches its extreme
limit and while its force is still increasing--make a sudden effort
to reverse it--that is, simultaneously _make a vigorous stroke to the
left with the arms, and jerk the hips and knees round to the right_ by
suddenly twisting the body at the waist.
[Illustration: FIG. 40.--"Jerked" Christiania swing, A before, B after
turn.]
[Illustration: FIG. 41.]
This reverse twist of the body has practically no effect upon the
shoulders--being there neutralised (though this may not be obvious at
first sight) by the back-stroke of the arms--but acts almost entirely
on the _hips_, turning them until they face even farther to the right
than did the shoulders at the end of their previous swing. The result,
therefore, of the whole double movement, if made with force and
precision, should be that you find yourself in the position of Fig.
40, B, or Plate XLIV.--the skis having whipped round to right angles,
or thereabouts, with their original direction--and that, after more or
less side-slip, according to your speed and the quality of the snow,
you come to a standstill.
In saying that this double movement should be made with force, I do
not mean that it should be made _violently_. If the turn is to be made
very suddenly, so that the skis whip round instantly to right angles,
some force is certainly necessary, for then the _whole_ of the turning
movement of the skis is carried out by the double muscular effort of
the body and arms. But this double effort--the swing of the shoulders
and the immediately following jerk of the hips--may be, and indeed
usually _is_, used merely to _start_ the turn by getting the heels of
the skis outside the track of their points; the rest of the turn being
carried through by the weighting of the heels, in the same way that,
as I have already explained, the greater part of a steered Christiania
can so be carried through. In this case the "swing-and-jerk," which
takes the place of the "snip" of the skis in the other method, may be
an almost imperceptible effort, the most obvious part of which is a
slight twisting of the hips. As absence of effort is of the greatest
importance in ski-ing, one may perhaps say that in a sense this is the
best way of making the turn. But even though you may seldom want to
make the turn fully and instantaneously it is extremely useful to be
able to do so in case of need, and if you have learnt to _complete_ a
turn forcibly you will find it all the easier to _start_ one gently.
If, however, you never try to do more than _start_ the turn with a
_gentle_ swing-and-jerk, it is quite likely that you will never do even
that with real certainty--the subtlety of a gentle movement making it
more difficult to learn correctly than a forcible one. You are still
more likely to be unsuccessful if you leave out half the movement, as
is sometimes directed, and only try to swing the shoulders, or to twist
the hips, or if you try to move both round simultaneously, or if, as
I myself used wrongly to direct, you treat the double movement as two
quite separate ones--a merely preparatory turn of the shoulders with
a pause between it and the hip-jerk. Not that the turn _cannot_ be
made in either of these ways; it can in all, but only awkwardly with
the help of a good deal more force than would otherwise be necessary.
An expert making a "jerked" Christiania--as this sort may perhaps be
called, since the jerk round of the hips and consequent thrusting
forward of the ski-heels is the crucial part of it--whether he makes
it powerfully or gently, will do so with just the force needed and _no
more_; in other words, he will do it _gracefully_. The essential points
of the movement so made are--(1) that it is a double one, (2) that the
second part of the movement follows the first without the least pause,
(3) that the force used, however small, is _gradually increasing_ in
the first part, _sudden_ in the second, (4) _that each part of the
movement is made with about the same strength_; for feebleness in the
one part has to be compensated for by undue violence in the other. If
these four conditions are complied with the movement will usually need
very little force.
You had better try this swing-and-jerk movement, first without skis, on
a smooth floor, then with skis, but at a standstill, on the slipperiest
bit of hard snow you can find--slightly convex, for choice, so that
only the middles of the skis rest on it--before trying it while
actually running. The first time you try it you will probably find
that, in spite of the many words I have managed to use on it, it is
just what you would do by the light of nature if asked, without letting
your face turn, to hold your feet together and make them turn suddenly
as far round to the right as possible. You will also find that in order
to do it quickly you will be inclined to make the movement with a bit
of a jump, and this, in fact, is the best way to do it when on skis.
There should always be some dipping of the knees with the swing and the
least suspicion of a spring with the jerk, just sufficient to take most
of the weight off the skis for a moment and enable them to come round
with less effort from the body. This spring may, if the snow makes it
difficult to start the turn, be made strongly enough to lift the skis
clear of it.
This is the only turn on skis in which the arms are used as an aid to
turning. In the stemming turn, the Telemark, and the other variety of
the Christiania, the arms will very likely wave about involuntarily
to help the balance, but as far as possible they should hang quietly
by the sides, a moderately expert runner being able to make either of
these turns with his hands in his pockets or clasped behind his back.
In this form of the Christiania, however, the double swing of the
arms--especially their back-stroke--is the greatest help, for it
practically holds the shoulders at the end of their swing, and enables
the body muscles to use them as a purchase from which to pull the
hips round. You can easily convince yourself of the value of free and
correct arm-action in this turn if, after making it as I have directed,
you try to turn either with your arms tightly folded, or clasped behind
your back, or by swinging them to the right _only_ and then holding
them in the position of Fig. 40, A, instead of bringing them back
again.
It is naturally far easiest to make a turn in this way on a hard smooth
surface which allows the skis to skid round freely. It is only on this
sort of snow, in fact, that the _whole_ turn can be jerked; in deep
soft snow it is hardly possible to do more than just _start_ the turn
by swing-and-jerking; the heel-weighting must then do nearly all of
it. If this heel-weighting is not timed and adjusted quite nicely, or
if the skis are edged at all hard before they have made a considerable
change of direction, the turn is apt to miss fire altogether; it is
therefore, I think, a far less useful one to the average performer than
the "steered" variety, which will almost always get him round somehow,
even if clumsily.
For anyone who can make both kinds perfectly, the "steered" turn
involves just as little effort as the "jerked," and I certainly advise
the beginner to get thoroughly accustomed to starting his turns by
"steering" before he learns to "jerk" them.
I have only given directions for making the "jerked" turn from a direct
descent; "jerked" turns, either uphill or downhill, can of course be
made from a traverse in just the same way. Downhill turns are always
rather more difficult than uphill turns, whatever be the method of
turning; downhill "jerked" turns have the added difficulty that if,
as is generally the case, the angle between the two tacks is a small
one, the skis have to be jerked round farther than would usually be
necessary in an uphill turn, and the jerk therefore takes more effort.
In snow which allows you to make a complete jerked turn you can, if
not running very fast, practically stop dead, or change your course
instantaneously, by making the Christiania in this way, for the edging
of the skis, after the turn has been made, stops the side-slip almost
before it has had time to begin.
If, on hard snow, you make a Christiania (of any kind) sharply while
travelling at a high speed, you will often find that, after you have
come round, the side-slip, which will then be very great, will be too
irregular to allow you to keep your balance without holding the skis
at some distance apart. Even a good runner is sometimes compelled to
separate his skis in this way, but you should not do it if you can
possibly help it, and if compelled to, should always bring the skis
together as the side-slip grows less, _not_ for the look of the thing,
but because, though possible, it is difficult, if the skis are apart,
to start a swing instantly in the other direction, as you may often
wish to do.
The Christiania can also be started, as Bilgeri and his school advise,
and as I have practically said already, from a very undeveloped
ordinary stemming turn. In order, for instance, to make a swing to the
left, one can advance the _right_ ski, push out its heel a little,
throw the weight on it, and face towards its point, and can then, by
instantly bringing the left ski parallel and to the front and weighting
its heel as well as the other's, finish the turn as a Christiania.
This is very easy to learn, and, if the preliminary stem is reduced
to a minimum, is quite effective; but it is a much less steady way of
turning at a very high speed than a Christiania started with the inside
ski leading, and high speed is the real test.
Having said that a "jerked" Christiania is like a skating turn, I think
I had better insert the following quotation from Mr. Richardson's
"Shilling Ski-runner," with the sentiment of which I heartily agree.
"The beginner should remember that turns are only a means to an end,
and not, as in figure skating, an end in themselves. The real object
of all ski-ing technique is to enable the runner to cross the snow as
fast as possible, with as little effort as possible, and as safely as
possible."
Any beginner who has followed me through this chapter on the
Christiania swing will probably think that a manoeuvre which takes
so much description must be appallingly difficult. I can assure
him that it is nothing of the sort. Indeed the expert, who does it
instinctively, will no doubt wonder why on earth I have made such a
fuss about it. I do not think, however, that I could have said much
less and yet have given a really complete explanation of how it may be
done.
The only authorities, as far as I know, who have said that there is
more than one way of making the swing, are Richardson and Hoek in _Der
Ski-lauf_; they do not explain the difference in the making of it, but
only in its results, giving a diagram of the tracks of two swings, one
"gerissen," and the other "gezogen," _i.e._ "torn" and "drawn," which,
I suppose, are equivalent to "jerked" and "swung."
Some writers having given directions for one variety of the swing
and some for the other; their instructions at first sight appear so
extraordinarily contradictory that I am almost afraid of confessing
that I agree with them all, lest the reader who knows something about
ski-ing should set me down as an amiable idiot. As soon, however, as
one understands the cause of it, this contradictoriness is seen to be
more apparent than actual. The difficulty in realising the existence
of these variations of the swing is, no doubt, due to the fact that
between the pure "jerked" Christiania at one end of the scale, and the
pure "swung," "steered," "drawn," or whatever one likes to call it,
Christiania at the other, there are an infinite number of gradations,
one of them being a form of the swing that is often seen, in which
the turn is started by a slight jerk _and_ a slight separation of the
ski-points, and is carried through by the weighting of the heels.
When one is running _across_ the hill an uphill Christiania of any kind
can be made with perfect ease on any sort of snow short of breakable
crust; when one is running _straight downhill_ it is less easy, if the
snow is very loose and deep; while to make a downhill turn in deep
loose snow by means of a Christiania is decidedly difficult, especially
if the slope is steep, though on hard snow and a moderate slope this
downhill turn is easy enough and safer than a stemming turn, if the
speed is at all high.
But although at first, when out on a run, you will be wise if you only
use the Christiania for making uphill turns, and that on snow which is
easy for it, you should when practising keep on trying it in deeper
and deeper loose snow, and should turn downhill as well as uphill, not
being satisfied until you can make fairly short downhill turns in deep
loose snow on a really steep slope, as it is perfectly possible to do.
As in the case of the Telemark, the beginner can of course learn to
make an uphill "steered" Christiania from a standstill by holding
himself back with his sticks while he places the skis in the divergent
position, and then letting himself go and swinging round immediately.
This is in fact a very good way for him to begin to learn it, for he
can thus find out in a very short time exactly how to hold his skis
and distribute his weight; nor need he be afraid of contracting any
bad habit by learning the swing in this way, for though he may find it
rather easier to learn the Telemark by making it clumsily at first, he
will find nothing of the sort in the case of the Christiania.
Before leaving the subject of the swings, let me impress upon the
reader that in every swing or turn the runner at first _starts_ the
side-slip by stemming or steering with one ski held at an angle with
the other or by moving both with a jerk--in short, by a _muscular
effort_, however slight a one--and that having started the side-slip he
lets his weight do the rest, and is carried round without any effort at
all. It is the effortless side-slipping that gives a well-made swing
its characteristic feeling and appearance.
The whole difference between a novice's turn and an expert's is that
in the former's the preparatory stemming or steering preponderates,
in the latter's the finishing side-slip; and that, moreover, in the
novice's swing the initial and final movements are seen (and felt) to
be distinct and separate, while in the expert's swing the preparatory
movement merges imperceptibly into the final side-slip. The more the
preparatory steering, stemming, or jerking is eliminated, the more
comfortable--I will not say the easier--is the swing, and the steadier
the balance if the swing is made at high speed.
In the preparatory stemming or steering the weight is for a moment more
equally distributed on both skis than I have intended the beginner to
suspect from the previous directions. Even in the Telemark, in which
the weight is apparently entirely on the leading ski both before and
throughout the swing, it is actually, at the moment the front ski is
turned inwards, half supported by the back one. The same thing happens
at the moment the skis are made to diverge in starting a "steered"
Christiania. But if the beginner makes any conscious effort to put the
weight back--unless, indeed, he tries to keep it well forward--he will
almost inevitably put it _entirely_ on the back ski, and in moving it
on to the leading ski as the swing proceeds will find that his balance
is liable to be disturbed. The fact that the weight is always farther
back than he imagines is one which the beginner must continually remind
himself. In every uphill turn the weight, which is at first, as I have
just said, about equally on both skis, is almost immediately moved to
the _heel_ of the front foot--that is, it is thrown _forward_, and as
the swing finishes it is thrown still _more_ forward to prevent the
ski from turning too far uphill. In the directions for the swings,
therefore, the beginner should remember that to weight first the heel
and then the toe does _not_, as a rule, mean to throw the weight first
backwards and then forwards, but to throw it first _forwards_ and then
_still more forwards_.
_Short Directions for an Uphill Christiania Swing to the Right._--1.
("Steered") for any kind of snow except breakable crust.
Lean forwards and put all the weight on heel of right foot, right knee
rather bent and well forward over foot, right ankle bent slightly
outwards, so as to lift the inner edge of right ski; left ski about 18
inches to the rear, pointed slightly away from the other, and _flat_.
This position starts the swing; as it proceeds press the left ski
smartly inwards and forwards, so that it returns as soon as possible
to the normal position again, parallel to and touching the right ski.
As it does so, _but not before_, it may be edged and receive half the
weight; unless parallel with the other, it must be _absolutely flat_
and almost unweighted.
Fix your eyes on the point of the right ski and try to lean in that
direction only, not inwards.
_N.B._--A downhill turn is made in the same way, except that to _start_
the swing the _toes_ of both feet must be weighted for a moment.