Stem Christie

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The Stem Christie in skiing is a development of the stem technique, where the uphill ski is stemmed or pushed out from being parallel with the downhill ski to form a V shape.

The turn was named after Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway, where the name Kristianiasving was used for the parallel turn, differentiating it from the Telemark turn.

The technique was introduced to central Europe in 1910 by the Austrian ski guide Johannes Schneider. Along with the other two stem techniques, it formed the basis of his Arlberg technique and instruction method.

[edit] Terminology

Uphill ski refers to the ski that is in a position higher up the hill.

Downhill ski refers to the ski that is in a position farther down the hill.

The outside ski is the ski farthest away from the center of the circle the skier is turning about.

The inside ski is the ski closest to the center of the circle the skier is turning about.

At the completion of a turn, the downhill ski is the outside ski, and the uphill ski is the inside ski. When a new turn is initiated, the old inside ski becomes the new outside ski.

[edit] The technique

Having brought the skis into the V shape mentioned above, more pressure is applied to one of the skis, so causing the skis to start to turn (to the left if applied to the right ski, or to the right if applied to the left).

Once the turn has commenced, the downhill ski is gradually brought parallel with the stemmed ski as the turn is made so that at the end of the turn both skis are parallel and pointing in the desired direction of travel.

[edit] See also

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