Hockey stop when skiing

Most people are familiar with how an ice hockey player makes a quick turn, sliding sideways to stop his skates. The same concept is applied to a hockey stop in skiing. A parallel turn is made to slide sideways until momentum is stopped. The hockey stop can be performed only at a suitable speed. If the skier is traveling downhill too fast, he or she must do a turn to create resistance and slow down before being able to execute the hockey stop.

Assuming a skier is going straight down a slope and only has room to turn right to make the stop, the downhill ski will be the left ski. From going straight down the slope, she puts all her weight on the left ski to initiate the turn into the hockey stop. Shifting all the weight to the left ski enables maximum resistance when braking. Once all the weight is on the downhill ski, let the skis turn, but keep the body pointing down the slope.

Once the skis have become sideways, keep the body pointing down the slope but lean up the slope slightly to dig the edges of the skis into the snow. Depending on how fast one is going and the conditions, one will adjust how much one leans up the slope. As speed is lost and the skier comes to a halt, one has to bring the weight back over the downhill ski so that the skier does not fall.