Before learning to play tennis, golf or cricket, you need to know how to hold the racquet, club or bat correctly. Before playing football, you must master the art of kicking the ball. And even Formula 1 drivers had to learn where the clutch, brake and accelerator pedals are, once upon a time. When learning to ski, before making a single turn, you need to pick up the basics of how to stand on your skis. This will be the position that you'll use when just going straight down the hill, known as the "neutral position".
Only if you have a balanced, athletic, neutral position, will you be able to move your body into the correct shapes for turning. Even intermediate skiers often have faults that are caused by problems with their "neutral position", so please don't skip this article just because you already know how to turn!
When you first put on a pair of skis, your instructor will hopefully make sure that you're on a completely flat surface. This way, you can get used to having planks attached to your feet without gravity taking a hand in proceedings. You'll learn to shuffle forwards, or push yourself with your poles. (That's if you have poles at this stage - many ski schools believe that they merely complicate matters, early on.) You'll also learn to step your skis around, pivoting them around their back ends, so that you avoid crossing your ski-tails. This is called the "star turn", after the pattern it leaves in the snow if you pivot fully through 360 degrees.
On the flat, you'll also learn to lift one ski and stand on just one foot - and then to swap feet. This skill of shifting your weight from foot to foot will become invaluable as you progress to more advanced skiing. Good instructors will also show you how far forwards and backwards you can lean without falling over, because of the fore-aft support given by long skis and high, stiff boots. At first, it'll take you a while to realise how much support you get. But many intermediate skiers come to rely on it all too soon, and ski around leaning permanently back against their stiff-backed boots. It's important to remember that this fore-aft support is there to help you if you happen to get a little off balance.
Normally you should be standing as much in the middle of the ski as possible. (Intermediate skiers can give themselves a "refresher course" in this by occasionally using ultra-short "ski-boards", thereby removing the usual fore-aft support.) Once you've climbed up the hill a short way, you'll be ready to try some "straight running". Ideally, your instructor will have chosen a slope with a slight uphill run-out at the bottom, so that you won't have to worry about stopping. (All beginner slopes at dry ski centres are designed this way.)
Let's look at the neutral position you should try to adopt, working our way up the body.
Feet: should be roughly hip-width apart, and relaxed, with your weight slightly on the balls of your feet. Many boot-fitting problems, especially foot cramps, are actually caused by people "clenching" their feet through anxiety - learn to relax from the beginning.
Ankles: the most important joint for good skiing. It is a fallacy that ski boots lock your ankles solidly into place; they should flex enough to give you a fair degree of fore-aft movement. In the neutral position, you should be roughly in the middle of that range of movement. Your shins should be resting firmly against the front of your boots, but with the option to push further forwards, or flex backwards, if necessary.
Knees: need to be slightly bent. Only if they're bent will you be able to use them for sideways edging movements. But if you bend only your knees, without bending your ankles, you'll end up leaning too far back.
Waist: slightly flexed, so that your upper body is inclined forward a little.
Back: should be slightly rounded, with the shoulders leaning forward. Many skiers, even quite experienced ones, believe they're somehow skiing "elegantly" if they keep their back ramrod stiff and completely upright, like a guardsman, but in fact they're limiting their range of movement.
Arms: should be held in front of you, with the hands quite wide apart. They should be nearly straight, with your elbows just slightly flexed. Some instructors will tell you to visualise holding a tray of drinks, others holding a hoop. As long as your hands are where you can see them, just at the bottom of your field of vision, they're in the right place. Too many intermediates ski with "lazy hands" dangling by their sides, which means they're unable to use them to help their balance when they really need to.
Head: your eyes should be level at all times (this applies through all levels of skiing), and you should be looking a short distance ahead of you, depending on your speed. Never look down at your ski tips.
Overall, when in the neutral position, you should resemble a goalkeeper about to face a penalty kick: athletic, and ready to react.
