How do you handle skiing on ICE?

[Billy]

the trick is to be steady and to take your time. The triick is to tuck your knees into the side of the slope more, this means that the ski presents a sharper edge when going across the ice and you will stop slipping on the ice, this means sthat you can focus on relaxing and concentrating on skiing forward and upright. Also if you are a learner on the icy slopes, so to speak, if you find the areas where there are little sprays or dashes of snow and this will enable you to turn more easily, you can then practise tucking that leg in when you traverse across the slope. Finally, if the run down is smooth and flat, you can through your sense of caution to the wind and head straight down the slope doing your usual parallel turns in long but thin turns. As you are going straight you won't worry to much about falling, cos let's face it, when we do fall on the icy patches, we are still going downhill anyway . BE CAREFUL though, you must make sure that there are no DANGER or CAUTION or SLOW signs, otherwise this can jeoperdise yours and others safety if you just fly down the icy slope. Otherwise, just take it steady, stay in control and watch out for everyone around you.
Hope it helped!!!!

[Andy B.]

Yeh, I agree,
with Eoghan & Lovethepiste. With these "new" carve type skis ice should not be a problem - if - & IF your edges are right, lay into it & put on the pressure and they will bite.
I "cut my teeth" on the old straight blades (were talkin'1970's) & yes it was true if you struck ice, stay straight & get across as quick as yer can, before doing any turns etc. But gee with these newies you can almost dance on the stuff !
[ Maybe]

Cheers
Andy B.
Ice-cutter

[rollicgear.com]

Ski around it or move out west...

No, just kiding. I can't help myself.

I use to live in the greater Pittsburgh area and that all I skied growing up. Then i went to college at CSU in Fort Collins, CO and learned what skiing was all about. POWDER!

If conditions are really icy and you still want to shred here are a few tips...

If you know what your doing you can take a file and lightly take the supper sharpness off of your edge so you don't get crazy ski action from snow to ice..

You also want to really commit to your turn when on ice. sit down in the turn and hold that edge all the way through...

Getting more technical you can change the pattern on your ski for colder conditions as well as your wax set up...i like to mix my waxes for these icy days.

[youngster]

Go home and try another day

[holysweater]

I always make sure to lock my knees straight, and get up some speed before I slide a little sideways and catch my edges. I also recommend to absorb any impacts with the face and genitals

[Grace]

holding and pushing a wooden chair to coordinate, this is suitable for the beginner.

[scottp96145]

Originally Posted by Line101

luckily were i live we rarly see ice

Well well well! Guess what? If you were out since 1/14 or 1/15/11, you would make up the "rarely see ice--" that you have missed! Like Kirkwood was an ice rink (exception--runs off Sunshine, Hole in the Wall and the beginner lifts #1 and 2 were groomed and in good shape). Like runs off Cornice were as icy as I had ever seen at Mt. Mansfield (Stowe VT) or Killington. And I don't recall the lower calif.runs at Heavenly off Gunbarrel ever being closed for so long. (they may be opened part of the day now, but weren't last time I skied there on 1/20/11.

[canyonmanny]

sharp edges or avoid it if possible. head off piste and enjoy the soft stuff.

[SloSkier]

If you know the conditions could be icy, sharpen your edges before leaving the house and if you do come across some ice, use those edges to carve your turns - try to avoid using the flats of your skis, otherwise they might just slide out and nobody likes falling on ice

[joshua.f85]

Ice scares me HAHA I just try and avoid it at all costs

[Skibie]

Many conscientious manufacturers have already switched to the “safer” PFCs that have only 6 or less perfluorinated carbon atoms, also called “C6”. These are allowed because they are believed to degrade faster than the C8 PFCs and because do not appear to accumulate as much in the human body. Because C6 is not banned at this time, you will find this toxin in your sports apparel, hiking jackets and carpet. However, many knowledgeable people recognize that C6 PFCs are suspected carcinogens. In fact, C6 PFC has a sizeable "impurity" of the banned C8 PFC. Some unscrupulous chemical suppliers intentionally keep a high impurity level of C8 in their C6 - to make it work better!

This is starting to sound like the “good” white asbestos and the “bad” blue asbestos of years ago. Both forms of asbestos were known to be carcinogenic, but blue asbestos was banned about 15 years before white asbestos was banned. During that time, countless people were exposed to this carcinogen and homes and businesses were built using white asbestos that later needed to be removed - at great cost. The delay was "needed" because there was "no substitute" – until there was a substitute. Do we use asbestos today? Is it missed? Same with PFCs. The substitute for PFCs already exists - despite the vocal denials of major apparel brands.