How to keep skis parallel

I went out yesterday for the first time since last year and I continued to have a problem where my legs constantly wanted to turn in and my tips ended up crossing.  This didn't happen at higher speeds (I don't ski that fast) and when they crossed, I lost balance and almost had to jump to get them uncrossed but then lost all momentum.  I found that I was looking at my skis more than the hill and when I changed that behavior, things god a little better but even still, my skis just wanted to point inward (tips together.)  I'm sure this came from my first time ever skiing and learning to stop and slow down in the snow-plow position.  How can I help learn to change this?  I'm sure that this will help me to make nicer turns and feel more confident.  Thanks in advance.

Do you mean when you are going straight or when you're trying to turn?

 

If going straight (assuming that you are on gentle slope), it's easy. Try getting out of your backseat (hands in front, knees and ankles bent forward), then close up your exaggerated A shape. From your description, it sounds like you may have too much of a wedge and you weight may be way back. Once you get comfortable with that then just point your two skis in the same direction of where you want to go. To stop without a wedge (or preferrably even with a wedge), you need to know how to turn to stop. Ski across the hill until gravity stops pulling you down hills.

 

If you're trying to keep your skis matching up while turning, things get a bit more involved.

I'm talking about while turning.   When going straight, this isn't an issue.  I'm not a true beginner either, I just didn't know where else to post.  I'm able to do most every run at my local hill but would really like to improve.  Thanks.

bgraves. I am suspecting you are aft in respect to your balance on your skis. When we weight the tails by moving our body that way it makes it very difficult to control the tips as they seem to have a mind of their own unless we place ourselves in a better position of balance over the length of the skis .  My suggestion would be for you to work on moving your hips forward and get your shoulders in front of your knees a bit by using your spine to adjust your fore or aft position. 

Do you see your hands when you ski  ? Are your elbows in front of your spine ?  

 

Play with these small but effective suggestions towards getting yourself in a better balanced position.

Good luck and good skiing to you.

In addition to the previous suggestions, you should have your boots checked by a competent boot fitter to determine your alignment. If you have alignment problems it could result in difficulty releasing your ski edges as you begin to turn resulting in the ski tips crossing.  

I enthusiastically agree with checking your boot alignment.

To prevent crossing tips, both skis must have the same orientation. By that, I mean that if one ski is flat, the other must be as well. This is probably the reason that you do not cross the skis when going straight. If you are turning, if one ski is edged, the other must also be, and at approximately the same angle. This becomes extremely important in crud and in powder.

Bear in mind, like most things, your skis will tend to point where you look, try looking further away maybe?

Yea, dont look at the tips of your ski's going down the hill, That is a good suggestion.

And it sounds like your in the back seat on your skis like the others have stated here. Gotta get your weight off the heals.

 

Learning to get down the hill in a wedge is like a bad habit that you cannot break. That's my .02.

I have to consciously keep my skis' parallel the first run. Like a pre flight check. Go down and make sure everything is working right.

While I believe boots could be the issue here as well like others are saying. I don't think that it is that big of a factor. I had the urge to wedge when I first started skiing due to improper weight balance.

You have to consciously keep them parallel until it's natural. That's my opinion though. Others can feel free to slap it out of me. But I'm speaking from my experience as a newer skier.

It might feel weird but they will try and point towards each other until you get a feel for controlling their direction. Its to do with the position of your knees if anything, not so much what yo do with your feet; if you point you knees together the skis will follow, and vice-versa.

Hope this helps.

Alignment......will do wonders for your skiing.  Have that checked.

But if you are really not having any issues while keeping a flat ski....no inner knee pain/fatigue etc.  Then technique...balance is prob. the culprit....from my personal experience.   A good instructor can prob help you with that.  Video can really help you see your errors.

It's easy on hardpack; just tip them over, keep shins nearly parallel and the slope will keep the skis as parallel as they need to be.