Lesson 1: Stand like a skier

Ask any ski instructor what fixes the most problems and you'll hear the same answer: your stance. Before edges, before turns, before speed, there's how you stand on your skis.

The athletic stance

Picture a tennis player waiting for a serve, or a goalkeeper before a penalty. That's the shape:

• Ankles flexed into the front of your boots, so your shins rest against the tongues.
• Knees soft, bent a little, never locked.
• Hips over your feet, not hanging out behind them.
• Hands forward, where you can see them, as if you're carrying a tray.
• Eyes up and down the hill, looking where you're going, not at your skis.

The most common mistake is sitting back: bum out, weight on the heels, tips light. It feels safer because the hill is down there and your body wants to lean away from it. It's the opposite. Sitting back takes the steering out of the front of the ski, and the skis run away with you.

How it works in Ski Bums

In Ski Bums you don't have to hold your skier up. A proper ski position is a given: let go of the sticks and your skier stands in a good, slightly forward stance and runs straight down the hill. The game keeps you balanced fore and aft on its own, a little forward over the boots, just as an instructor would want.

What you control is everything that happens from that stance: each stick is one leg. Push a stick sideways and that ski rolls onto its edge; push it forward and you press through the boot. Because forward and back is handled for you, most falls come from side to side, which is exactly where real skiers fall too.

Try it

Next time you're on a real slope, do a run where you think about nothing but your shins on your boots. Next time you're in the game, watch your skier from the chase camera: that's the shape to copy.

In Lesson 2 we'll roll those knees and make the skis carve.