12. Stem Christie – First Phase

First Phase l Second Phase l Third Phase

By now you should be getting more and more confident, and you probably feel you'd like to learn to execute a turn at greater speed.

The Christiania or 'Christie' turns are ideal for this purpose. The Stem Christie is more or less a high-speed turn, which differs from the stem turn mainly in that the position of the skis at the completion of the turn is different. In order to acquire practice in completing a turn with parallel skis, a stem christie should be learnt in three different phases.

In the first of these the learner should practise running diago­nally downhill with parallel skis, concentrating on rhythm and control.

Ski diagonally down a slope, thrust the outer hip and outer ski forward.  This movement will cause the skis to sideslip easily and naturally.  The movement must be rhythmical, and the weight should be mainly on the outer ski.

12. Stem Christie – Second Phase

The next phase involves ski-ing straight down a slope, over a bump and turning the skis to the right. This involves executing a turn with a larger arc, and requires toned timing of weight-transfer, according  to the speed at which you arc moving.

1.  and 2.  Parallel skis; prepare to transfer the weight; thrust the right hip forward.
3.  and 4.   The  transfer of   weight  takes  place,  and   the  rotation of the hips.
5.   Skis  parallel, weight  forward, and  mainly on  the outer ski.
6. 7 and 8.   Completion of the turn.   Knees bent well forward, outer hip  thrust  forward, outer ski  edged.

12. Stem Christie – Third Phase

In this phase the Stem Christie should be executed in it> entirety, but at somewhat reduced speed. The entire arc of the turn is executed in the same way as in the stem turn. The stem position, owing to the increased speed, will now be less pronoun­ced, and the skis should be brought together parallel at the conclusion of the turn. II you reduce the stem position of the skis in a Stem Christie, you will find the speed increasing. The rotation "I die hips and the transference of weight to the outer ski are especially important, and every movement must be carried out as rhythmically as possible.

1. Skis together and parallel — weight evenly distributed on both skis — easy relaxed position.
2 and 3. 'The weight is-. transferred to the right ski. i.e. "counter-stemming"  takes  place.   The left ski  is  pushed  out   in  the stem   position,   i.e.  "stemming out"   takes  place.
4. The weight is transferred to the outer (left) ski with a swift rotation  of   the  body.
5.    The inner (right) ski  is brought  parallel  to the left  ski.
6. 7 and 8. The turn is completed; knees flexed, weight on the outer ski. The outer ski should be edged by Hexing the outer (led) knee inwards, .mil thrusting the left  hip forward.

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