Skip to main content
Blue — Level 5Groomed

One-Ski Drill

Any turn where your weight was on the wrong ski will become impossible to ignore — this drill exposes and fixes the problem in one run.

Skiing entire turns balanced on a single ski with the other lifted — the most direct drill for forcing correct weight transfer and outside-ski dominance.

Watch & Learn

Not clicking? Try a different teaching style below:

via Ski School AppClear drill instruction with technique focus
Subscribe

Key Moments

0:30Which ski to liftStep 1

Lift the inside ski — the one toward the center of the turn — and ski the arc on the outside ski only

1:15Keeping the lifted ski stableStep 2

Hold the lifted ski parallel and at boot height — it should not swing or touch down

2:30Full turns on one skiStep 3

Complete the entire arc from initiation to finish before switching to the other ski

3:45Both directions equallyStep 4

Most skiers have a dominant side — the weaker direction needs more reps

What It Should Feel Like

  • Instantly obvious when you are on the wrong ski — you wobble or tip over with no warning
  • A locked, grippy, confident sensation when weight is correctly centered over the single ski
  • Your ankle and knee working harder to maintain edge angle on one leg

Common Mistakes & Fixes

Touching the lifted ski down when it gets hard

Let yourself struggle — the wobble is information, not failure, and it corrects the weight placement

Leaning the whole body instead of tipping the ankle

Edge from ankle and knee — leaning the torso causes balance loss on a single ski

Rushing the arc to get off the single ski

Slow down, even ski slower runs — the slower you go the clearer the balance feedback

Practice Drills

1

Scooter warmup: push along flat terrain on one ski like a scooter, then switch — builds single-leg balance before adding a slope

2

Touch-down permission: allow yourself to touch the ski down once per turn, but try to reduce that to zero by the end of the run

3

Video check: film yourself skiing the one-ski drill — it is often surprising how much your body leans compared to what you feel

Your Progression