Editing Parallel turn (section)

{{Short description|Alpine skiing technique}}
{{no footnotes|date=September 2015}}
{{Ski-technique}}

The '''parallel turn''' in [[alpine skiing]] is a method for turning which rolls the ski onto one edge, allowing it to bend into an arc. Thus bent, the ski follows the turn without sliding. It contrasts with earlier techniques such as the [[stem Christie]], which slides the ski outward from the body ("stemming") to generate sideways force. Parallel turns generate much less friction and are more efficient both in maintaining speed and minimizing skier effort.

The parallel turn was invented in the 1930s by [[Austria]]n ski racer [[Anton Seelos]] from [[Seefeld in Tirol]].<ref>Nick Howe: [https://books.google.com/books?id=d1gEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA17 ''The Blitz Form Kitz''], Skiing Heritage 1/1997 p.17.</ref>

Parallel turns require solid contact from the skier's lower leg to the ski to rotate it on-edge. This was difficult to achieve with early ski equipment, limiting the technique to the high performance realm of racing. The introduction of composite skis, metal edges, releasable clamping bindings, and stiff plastic boots combined to allow parallel turns even on beginner equipment. By the late 1960s it rapidly replaced stemming for all but very short-radius turns. The evolution of [[sidecut|shaped skis]] in the 1990s advanced the [[carve turn|carving turn]] to preeminence. 

Today parallel turns are taught to teach novice skiers the effect of weighting and unweighting their skis. They are still the basic technique for steep hills, [[off piste]] and [[mogul skiing]].