Skiing across the slope, rather than directly down the fall line, is called traversing. Traversing is useful whenever you have to cut across the slope in order to reach a specific goal (such as a café). It is also a good way to control your speed: acceleration is greatest when you're pointing straight down the fall line, and least when you ski across it.

Until you can link your turns so that they flow into each other, they will be separated by traverses. You will spend a lot of time traversing, so it's worth getting comfortable in the correct stance.

Traversing is an invaluable technique so make sure you adopt the correct traverse stance

Exercises

• Traverse with your uphill ski lifted slightly off the snow. Because your centre of mass has to be over your downhill ski, you have to exaggerate the lean out from the waist, teaching independent use of upper and lower body.
• Practise traversing at varying speeds. For a slow traverse, point your skis almost across the hill. To speed up your traverse, choose a steeper line.