I had an accident today where one ski detached where it wasn't supposed to, I intentionally lay down to not crash into a tree and almost broke my leg as the other ski ironically didn't detach when it was needed. When I can start skiing again I will practice this to be able to stop safely on one ski if it happens again. Thanks for the video!
This is an outstanding progression. Took it to the hill today for practice, followed the sequence and now have a base to build and improve on. Outstanding sequence and instruction.
Thanks for posting such a clear well explained video. Admire your great skiing style Janus. I love skiing on one ski and even though I have completed whole runs on one ski I have always done it only by lifting the other ski. I commend you for recommending this balance exercise for advanced and expert skiers. Unfortunately I have seen instructors at Perisher in Australia have students attempt to this during their first week of skiing. These beginners risk injuring themselves and also have witnessed them collide with other skiers as they attempt to complete this task that is well beyond their capabilities. .
Thanks for your kind words, PATRICK Purcell. I totally agree with you. This exercise should only be tried, when the skier is technically ready for it and has healthy and fairly strong legs. Lifting the other ski is a great way to do this exercise with a bit more safety. I have never visited Australia, but I would love to go skiing there sometime. I hope you will enjoy the upcoming southern skiing season. I just visited the European glacier, Kitzsteinhorn, for 4 days of skiing, and will go to another European glacier, Hintertux, in a few weeks for some more summer skiing. /Janus
Thanks, Marshall! Yeah, this one is really good at that, and it is a great exercise for improving your balance. It is simply awesome, so I thought I would share it with you guys. /Janus
Firstly thank you so much for this amazing channel ! Your videos are very instructive. Techniques and tips that you give are very helpful. Looking forward to seeing your new videos
Thanks for your kind words, Kültigin Demirlioğlu! I really appreciate them, and they encourage me to keep putting in all the hard work to make these videos for your guys. Have a nice day! /Janus
This is a USAA junior racer drill. I saw my son's team trained on this a lot. But I am too old and too clumsy to do this. Stoke turn is the best all I can do.
Thanks for your comment, Wenyang Sun! I think it makes good sense that the junior racers train this drill. I do this drill with my junior students who practice for their ski instructor exam as well. It is also very beneficial for your skiing balance to do the outside ski exercise. /Janus
Skiing on the ‘wrong’ edge is my next challenge. Will be taking it slowly to practice this once sports are no longer illegal in UK... Hoping to build to a point where I feel comfortable skiing with one ski,
Thanks for your comment, sunday162! Yes, that would be awesome! Great idea to build your one ski skills slowly, and getting comfortable skiing on the 'wrong' edge is very important. Building strength while waiting to get back on snow will definitely make learning skiing on one ski easier and safer. Developing the ability to ski with confidence on one ski often takes years of practice. But the journey is SO much fun - and your two skis skiing will benefit from it! And it never ends. I certainly have some one ski goals I work to achieve and some skills I practice to improve. I hope this video helps on your journey. /Janus
@@InspirationalSkiing yes you are very right Janus. Whatever the level of skier there are little challenges we can set ourselves to improve. Sometimes it is not always obvious how it will help but we become better by pushing out of the comfort zone. I did a lot of outside ski drills and I feel a difference. Enjoy the rest of the season in Norway and thanks for the videos.
@@__Steph Thanks, the video was recorded last winter, and we haven't been able to travel outside of Denmark this Northern winter due to travel restrictions. But we are currently rearranging our travel plans to later this year, when things hopefully have lightened up. I am sure we will find a good solution and catch up with the lost skiing time, so we can make some new videos for you guys. I also hope you will get some skiing in soon. /Janus
@@Osnosis Good point, Osnosis! On one ski you will struggle a lot if you get into the back seat. I find that I adjust my position naturally into a good balanced position just to make things work. When I get back on two skis I find my position has been tuned in. This is one of the things I love about this as an exercise to develop balance skills. Have a nice day! /Janus
muchas gracias por el video, desde chile viendo! suscrito para mas videos saludos! Thank you very much for the video, from Chile watching! Subscribed for more videos greetings!
Excellent video! Would you say that we should practice this at a slow speed on a gentle slope or at a higher speed on a moderate slope? I think speed helps movements because it hides not so ideal movements.
Thanks for your questions, Jole Private. Yes, there is additional risk of knee injury. I only recommend this exercise if you have strong and healthy knees. I am not sure if a knee bandage will help, but with strong and healthy knees additional bandage will not be necessary. It is up to people to decide for themselves whether they want to take the additional risk based on their own circumstances, and they are of course also fully responsible for any consequence of that choice (for example potential injury). If the full version of skiing on one ski is too risky, you can start out by lifting - or maybe just tapping - the other ski. When both skis are still on, the slightly lifted ski functions as support if necessary. This version will give some of the same balance benefits, but with less risk. Also speed and terrain matters. Easy terrain (but not completely flat, you want an appropriate bit of downhill drag) with even snow and few people gives the best conditions. Never go too fast, but keep just enough speed to help with turning. I hope this helps. /Janus
Thanks for your comment and suggestion, Damir Peric! I would love to do a video about how to carve. I have put it on the wish lis for future videos. Have a nice day! /Janus
This is a great question, Kambiz Khosrowshahi! You are right: we should balance primarily on our outside leg. When skiing on one ski, this ski will only be the outside ski in half of the turns. So where does the improvement in your balance skills come from? I see five main areas: 1. You will simply learn to balance 100% percent on your outside foot. Once you are back on two skis and you have your inside foot to support again, you will have a better inside-outside foot balance ratio. 2. Increased awareness of the inside foot and the role it plays. This will encourage a more efficient use of the inside ski and hence also encourage a better inside-outside foot ratio, I believe. 3. The fore-aft balance needs to be really good to make the turns work on one ski. If you are not well balanced on your stance foot and/or you are too much back or forward it will become really difficult to turn. So skiing on one ski will force you into the middle and make you move around a good middle position, just to be able to turn and not fall. 4. Skiing on one ski might also increase your awareness of where the pressure is and how it moves under your foot. Because when you have a good connection to the ski-->snow with your foot, your balance will improve, which is necessary to make it work on one ski. This awareness will hugely impact your skiing in general. 5. The ability to balance on the inside foot also gives you a bigger movement-balance repertoire which gives you some security in rescue situations, where you might need this ability (try to search for Bode Millers run where he loses one ski in the middle of the course and skis the rest on one ski). I hope this clarifies! /Janus
Non ski question, do you have to be able to do 'single leg squat' well in order to do this? I feel like you must have strong leg muscles in order to ski on one ski.
Thanks for your question, SkyHermit. You for sure have to have strong, healthy and stable legs, but I wouldn’t say you should be able to do a single leg squat. I have had many students mostly 16 year old sports enthusiast who were able to learn single leg skiing without being able to do a single leg squat. But I recommend you start out carefully with both skis on before you leave one ski in the valley and go all in. I hope this helps. /Janus
Thanks for your comment and request, @umz21. I would love to go to Gulmarg Kashmir someday, it looks like an amazing place to ski. That would be quite an adventure for me. /Janus
Wait a minute … is that why I occasionally find a single ski at the bottom of the lift? I have been collecting them and taking them home assuming they were unwanted. I have been doing it for so long now that I have finally started getting doubles that make a pair and have been selling them on Craigslist. Nobody checks that the serial numbers match anyway. People should put signs on their ski to say that they are coming back for it. That would make a lot more sense.
If someone is to the point of doing one ski drills, why skid them? CARVE CARVE CARVE. Go watch "Burke Mountain One Ski Drill" and "4 Steps How To CARVE ON 1 SKI" to see the difference. It literally has NOTHING in common with doing a skidded one ski drill. PLEASE DO NOT ONE-SKI THE WAY THAT IS SHOWN IN THIS VIDEO. It is actually more dangerous on your knees as well, as you are steering the skis off axis after the fall line. Also, you need to understand what it means to "balance" on one ski. Balance is about corrective mechanisms. When you start to fall over (out of balance) the most important corrective mechanism is to use the adjustment of the ski edge angle to "catch yourself". The stronger your corrective mechanisms are, the easier it will be to learn balance. When edging on one ski, a critical factor is hip leveling, or pelvic bone tilt. This movement in the pelvic bone REALLY amplifies the responsiveness of the ski when you need to adjust edge angle when carving on one ski. Watch this video of Mikaela practicing it. Especially watch from 14-20 seconds into the video: ua-cam.com/video/DG_Dg7_NIt0/v-deo.html
I had an accident today where one ski detached where it wasn't supposed to, I intentionally lay down to not crash into a tree and almost broke my leg as the other ski ironically didn't detach when it was needed. When I can start skiing again I will practice this to be able to stop safely on one ski if it happens again. Thanks for the video!
broke my binding on the hill and i’m watching this so i can make it down 🤣💪🏻
I had never thought that the video would be used for this purpose 🤣 I hope you made it down safely! /Janus
Man, you are one of the best instructors in UA-cam, the other one is Deb Armstrong (US Olympic 🏆)
Thanks, buddy! It means a lot! I love Deb Armstrong as well, she is an amazing person and ski instructor./Janus
This is an outstanding progression. Took it to the hill today for practice, followed the sequence and now have a base to build and improve on. Outstanding sequence and instruction.
This is the best video I could find in youtube to train skiing in one leg! Love your videos.
Thanks for your comment, Jilin Meng! I am happy you enjoy our videos and rate this one in the top on this topic. That is awesome to hear! /Janus
Thanks for posting such a clear well explained video. Admire your great skiing style Janus. I love skiing on one ski and even though I have completed whole runs on one ski I have always done it only by lifting the other ski. I commend you for recommending this balance exercise for advanced and expert skiers. Unfortunately I have seen instructors at Perisher in Australia have students attempt to this during their first week of skiing. These beginners risk injuring themselves and also have witnessed them collide with other skiers as they attempt to complete this task that is well beyond their capabilities. .
Thanks for your kind words, PATRICK Purcell. I totally agree with you. This exercise should only be tried, when the skier is technically ready for it and has healthy and fairly strong legs. Lifting the other ski is a great way to do this exercise with a bit more safety. I have never visited Australia, but I would love to go skiing there sometime. I hope you will enjoy the upcoming southern skiing season. I just visited the European glacier, Kitzsteinhorn, for 4 days of skiing, and will go to another European glacier, Hintertux, in a few weeks for some more summer skiing. /Janus
Janus, you're correct. As you pointed out, it's all about impressing our friends! Excellent video. / Marshall
Thanks, Marshall! Yeah, this one is really good at that, and it is a great exercise for improving your balance. It is simply awesome, so I thought I would share it with you guys. /Janus
Firstly thank you so much for this amazing channel ! Your videos are very instructive. Techniques and tips that you give are very helpful. Looking forward to seeing your new videos
Thanks for your kind words,
Kültigin Demirlioğlu! I really appreciate them, and they encourage me to keep putting in all the hard work to make these videos for your guys. Have a nice day! /Janus
This is a USAA junior racer drill. I saw my son's team trained on this a lot. But I am too old and too clumsy to do this. Stoke turn is the best all I can do.
Thanks for your comment, Wenyang Sun! I think it makes good sense that the junior racers train this drill. I do this drill with my junior students who practice for their ski instructor exam as well. It is also very beneficial for your skiing balance to do the outside ski exercise. /Janus
Skiing on the ‘wrong’ edge is my next challenge. Will be taking it slowly to practice this once sports are no longer illegal in UK... Hoping to build to a point where I feel comfortable skiing with one ski,
Thanks for your comment, sunday162! Yes, that would be awesome! Great idea to build your one ski skills slowly, and getting comfortable skiing on the 'wrong' edge is very important. Building strength while waiting to get back on snow will definitely make learning skiing on one ski easier and safer. Developing the ability to ski with confidence on one ski often takes years of practice. But the journey is SO much fun - and your two skis skiing will benefit from it! And it never ends. I certainly have some one ski goals I work to achieve and some skills I practice to improve. I hope this video helps on your journey. /Janus
@@InspirationalSkiing yes you are very right Janus. Whatever the level of skier there are little challenges we can set ourselves to improve. Sometimes it is not always obvious how it will help but we become better by pushing out of the comfort zone. I did a lot of outside ski drills and I feel a difference. Enjoy the rest of the season in Norway and thanks for the videos.
@@__Steph Thanks, the video was recorded last winter, and we haven't been able to travel outside of Denmark this Northern winter due to travel restrictions. But we are currently rearranging our travel plans to later this year, when things hopefully have lightened up. I am sure we will find a good solution and catch up with the lost skiing time, so we can make some new videos for you guys. I also hope you will get some skiing in soon. /Janus
@@InspirationalSkiing also note that your upper body is well forward (as it should be) when doing this exercise, with arms well positioned in front.
@@Osnosis Good point, Osnosis! On one ski you will struggle a lot if you get into the back seat. I find that I adjust my position naturally into a good balanced position just to make things work. When I get back on two skis I find my position has been tuned in. This is one of the things I love about this as an exercise to develop balance skills. Have a nice day! /Janus
muchas gracias por el video, desde chile viendo!
suscrito para mas videos saludos!
Thank you very much for the video, from Chile watching!
Subscribed for more videos greetings!
Excellent video! Would you say that we should practice this at a slow speed on a gentle slope or at a higher speed on a moderate slope? I think speed helps movements because it hides not so ideal movements.
whether there is an additional risk of knee injury during this exercise and whether an additional knee bandage would be desirable?
Thanks for your questions, Jole Private. Yes, there is additional risk of knee injury. I only recommend this exercise if you have strong and healthy knees. I am not sure if a knee bandage will help, but with strong and healthy knees additional bandage will not be necessary. It is up to people to decide for themselves whether they want to take the additional risk based on their own circumstances, and they are of course also fully responsible for any consequence of that choice (for example potential injury). If the full version of skiing on one ski is too risky, you can start out by lifting - or maybe just tapping - the other ski. When both skis are still on, the slightly lifted ski functions as support if necessary. This version will give some of the same balance benefits, but with less risk. Also speed and terrain matters. Easy terrain (but not completely flat, you want an appropriate bit of downhill drag) with even snow and few people gives the best conditions. Never go too fast, but keep just enough speed to help with turning. I hope this helps. /Janus
Can you please do video: how to carve?
Thanks for your comment and suggestion, Damir Peric! I would love to do a video about how to carve. I have put it on the wish lis for future videos. Have a nice day! /Janus
Great video! Why does skiing on the inside leg improve skiing? Shouldn't we balance on the stance leg only while we're skiing? Thanks
This is a great question, Kambiz Khosrowshahi!
You are right: we should balance primarily on our outside leg. When skiing on one ski, this ski will only be the outside ski in half of the turns. So where does the improvement in your balance skills come from? I see five main areas:
1. You will simply learn to balance 100% percent on your outside foot. Once you are back on two skis and you have your inside foot to support again, you will have a better inside-outside foot balance ratio.
2. Increased awareness of the inside foot and the role it plays. This will encourage a more efficient use of the inside ski and hence also encourage a better inside-outside foot ratio, I believe.
3. The fore-aft balance needs to be really good to make the turns work on one ski. If you are not well balanced on your stance foot and/or you are too much back or forward it will become really difficult to turn. So skiing on one ski will force you into the middle and make you move around a good middle position, just to be able to turn and not fall.
4. Skiing on one ski might also increase your awareness of where the pressure is and how it moves under your foot. Because when you have a good connection to the ski-->snow with your foot, your balance will improve, which is necessary to make it work on one ski. This awareness will hugely impact your skiing in general.
5. The ability to balance on the inside foot also gives you a bigger movement-balance repertoire which gives you some security in rescue situations, where you might need this ability (try to search for Bode Millers run where he loses one ski in the middle of the course and skis the rest on one ski).
I hope this clarifies! /Janus
@@InspirationalSkiing Thank you for an excellent clarification!
@@InspirationalSkiing ua-cam.com/video/LatVt6F8whQ/v-deo.html
👌😎
Non ski question, do you have to be able to do 'single leg squat' well in order to do this? I feel like you must have strong leg muscles in order to ski on one ski.
Thanks for your question, SkyHermit. You for sure have to have strong, healthy and stable legs, but I wouldn’t say you should be able to do a single leg squat. I have had many students mostly 16 year old sports enthusiast who were able to learn single leg skiing without being able to do a single leg squat. But I recommend you start out carefully with both skis on before you leave one ski in the valley and go all in. I hope this helps. /Janus
I did it down entire mountain first try when i was a lifty, with no poles and not touching 2nd foot including a black trail.
Impressive!
wish you could someday come here (Gulmarg Kashmir) for skiing,
Thanks for your comment and request, @umz21. I would love to go to Gulmarg Kashmir someday, it looks like an amazing place to ski. That would be quite an adventure for me. /Janus
@@InspirationalSkiing yea exactlt please do come,always love from our side;
please let me know when you plan to come.
Wait a minute … is that why I occasionally find a single ski at the bottom of the lift? I have been collecting them and taking them home assuming they were unwanted. I have been doing it for so long now that I have finally started getting doubles that make a pair and have been selling them on Craigslist. Nobody checks that the serial numbers match anyway. People should put signs on their ski to say that they are coming back for it. That would make a lot more sense.
Haha, this is hilarious! I will put a sign on mine from now on. /Janus
Brill 👍🏻
Thanks, Bob Coggin! Glad you liked it! Have a nice day! /Janus
What strong feet, 😮😮😮😮
If someone is to the point of doing one ski drills, why skid them? CARVE CARVE CARVE. Go watch "Burke Mountain One Ski Drill" and "4 Steps How To CARVE ON 1 SKI" to see the difference. It literally has NOTHING in common with doing a skidded one ski drill. PLEASE DO NOT ONE-SKI THE WAY THAT IS SHOWN IN THIS VIDEO. It is actually more dangerous on your knees as well, as you are steering the skis off axis after the fall line.
Also, you need to understand what it means to "balance" on one ski. Balance is about corrective mechanisms. When you start to fall over (out of balance) the most important corrective mechanism is to use the adjustment of the ski edge angle to "catch yourself". The stronger your corrective mechanisms are, the easier it will be to learn balance. When edging on one ski, a critical factor is hip leveling, or pelvic bone tilt. This movement in the pelvic bone REALLY amplifies the responsiveness of the ski when you need to adjust edge angle when carving on one ski. Watch this video of Mikaela practicing it. Especially watch from 14-20 seconds into the video: ua-cam.com/video/DG_Dg7_NIt0/v-deo.html