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Wheels To Snow
Wheels To Snow program is all about the making the transition from roller skiing to cross country skiing on snow, with advice about roller skiing and how this can transfer to snow.
We will look technical errors on roller skis that can also show up on snow, we will look at how we can correct these faults, use training drills on roller skis and also on snow, and a lot more useful information to improve your skiing.

Each month we will look at adding a new fault, and build a full list of possible correction drills used on roller skis, which can also be used on snow.

Send in a video of your roller skiing, and we will send back a list of errors and suggest correction drills  Video Feed Back
Ski Not Flat - Side to Side
FAULT 1
WHEELS
Fault 1 (Not able to maintain a flat ski side to side) glide ski.
Roller skis are difficult to balance on, due to height of the ground, thin wheels compared to the width of a ski.
SNOW
Result (Not standing / gliding on a flat ski)
Ski on snow are going to always be unstable, with the snow conditions never consistent unlike for roller skiing. This can result in error in roller skiing multiplying when on snow  
​Faults On Roller Skis
  1. Typical error is placing the ski down on the inside edge
  2. Ankle strength, not able to hold the roller ski flat
  3. Placement of the ski to the outside of the body
  4. Hips and shoulders not in the direction of travel
  5. Skate boots to loose / too big / old
  6. Poor side to side balance
  7. To much pressure on the toes 
Result On Snow
Not placing a flat ski down side to side, will result in the following errors. 
  1. Ski will slip out to the side
  2. Ski will pivot/ spin out
  3. Will not track in a straight line, 
  4. Length of glide phase will be short
  5. Weak and short kick phase
REAR WHEEL FIRST
FAULT 2
WHEELS
Fault 2 (Rear Wheel Landing First) Skating
When roller skiing it is very common to see the rear wheel landing first this causes a number of issues on roller skis, we will look at what we can do to correct this problem. 

We can say that the way that the roller ski is balanced we will always have a very small amount of rear wheel landing first, but this must be as little as possible, we are all ways looking to place both the front and rear wheel down together
Reasons For Faults
  1. No ankle flex
  2. To greater ankle flex
  3. Large knee flex angle
  4. Straight leg, ankle and knee joint to stiff
  5. Heel placement first
  6. Ski is placed down to early, or to far back
  7. Poor balance
Correction Drills
  • Ankle flex, learn to move only the ankle joint, stand with straight legs and rock forward and backwards from the ankle joint only, do this drill by just standing on the ground in your ski boots. Also very good to find and learn the mid point of your foot.
  • To greater ankle flex, position your knee just behind mid foot, by adjusting the ankle joint angle only.
  • Large knee flex, have a look at the position of your hips, they should also be mid foot or towards the front of your foot, think of fixing your hips forward at all times, and not letting them move back and forward as you ski.
  • Heel placement first, when the heal is placed down first, this typical comes from the above errors, also resulting in the rear wheel landing first, To correct this you can work on driving the ski forward and down from the knee and not the foot.
  • Ski is placed down to early, work on stepping the ski forward and to the side a little more, stepping comes from the knee, but remember to also keep the hips fixed forward or you will increase the knee angle by to much. Also when the ski is placed down to early or to far back you will sit back and have a feeling of the ski running away from under you.
  • Poor balance, work on your balance, on and off the roller skis, the more you do the easier skiing becomes, you will also maintain a more stable and stronger body position.
SNOW
Result (Tail Landing First) Skating
An error we see coming from the rear wheel in roller skiing landing first, this causes the following errors on snow. 
  1. Ski is not placed down along its full length
  2. Ski becomes unstable due to incorrect ski compression
  3. The ski will not track in a straight line
  4. Ski will have a feeling of spinning out from under the body
  5. Ski will tend to slow as it is placed on the snow
Roller ski training drill 1
A good drill to learn the placement of the roller ski with the two wheels landing as one, forces the body to stay on the gliding ski for a little longer, but not for to long as you will start to fall off the ski. 
Key Point
Maintain consistent ski speed, do not let the ski slow on each glide
Points to note
  • Roller ski is very level,
  • No inside or outside edge when standing on the ski.
  • Roller ski is placed down a little in front of the other ski.
  • Body is still and stable with the ski moving under the body
  • Hips and shoulders stay in the direction of travel