Arlberg Technique - Later Developments

Later Developments

The Arlberg technique remained essentially unchanged into the 1960s. This was due largely to the limitations of the equipment of the era. Ski boots were stiff only in the sole, and offered little or no support laterally above the ski - moving the legs to the side would simply cause the upper portion of the boot to bend, it would not transmit this force to the ski. The only forces that could be transmitted were those that were parallel to the top of the ski (or more specifically, the bottom of the boot), namely rotating the toe in or out, or pushing the entire foot to one side or the other. As the ski can only be pushed inward until it meets the other ski, most of the control movements were accomplished by pushing the skis outward to the sides - the stemming motion.

During the 1950s and 60s, several developments in downhill ski equipment dramatically changed the sport. These changes were first introduced by the Head Standard ski, the Look Nevada ski binding, and the Lange and Rosemount plastic ski boots. Each of these further, and dramatically, improved the ability to transmit rotational forces to the ski, and from the ski to the snow. This allowed the ski to be turned by directly rotating it onto its edge, exposing the curved sidecut to the snow, bending the ski into an arc, and causing it to naturally turn along that arced path. The parallel turn developed from what was essentially a weight-balanced version of the stem Christy into a much less athletic version, today known as carving.

Early versions of the parallel turn can be taught as modifications of the stem Christy, and this became a popular addition to the Arlberg technique through the 1960s and especially in the 1970s. By the late 1970s, the upper echelon of ski technique was based on a series of short, rapid parallel turns with the upper body remaining alined down the fall line as long as possible, similar to modern mogul skiing technique. Turn initiation was based on weighting and rotating the ski, like carving, but the power of the turn remained in the skidding. However, as equipment continued to improve, especially the introduction of the "parabolic" skis in the 1990s (today known as "shaped"), the ratio of skidding to carving continued to change, and techniques along with it. Modern technique is based largely on carving, adding skidding only as needed to tighten the turn.

Modern skis make carving turns so simple that the Arlberg technique of gradual progression is no longer universal. Many ski schools graduate advancing students directly from the snowplough to the carving turn. These are taught as two entirely separate techniques, one using stemming and the other using the movement of the knees, so the progressive connection emphasized in the Arlberg technique is no longer maintained. This is by no means universal, and many schools continue to follow the classic Arlberg progression.