SESKStuff Everyone Should Know
SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/ski-getup-skis-across-below

You fell on a slope with skis still on. Where should your skis be before you stand up?

Across the hill and below you, so they cannot slide away downhill.

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  1. Across the hill, downhill of your body ✔
  2. Pointing straight down the hill
  3. Across the hill, uphill of your body

Why: Ski instructors teach you to swing your feet around until the skis lie across the fall line, below your body. Skis pointing downhill start sliding the moment you stand, and skis above you make you push uphill.

Huh, didn't know that: The fall line is the path a ball would take if it rolled straight down the hill.

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It's all downhill from here!
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References

Answer: Across the hill, downhill of your body. Ski instructors teach you to swing your feet around until the skis lie across the fall line, below your body. Skis pointing downhill start sliding the moment you stand, and skis above you make you push uphill.

  1. PSIA Alpine Level I Study Guide (Professional Ski Instructors of America), Getting Up From a Fall, p. 28 www.psia-nw.org/wp-content/uploads/PSIA_Alpine_Level1_SG.pdf
    align the skis perpendicular to the fall line by pulling the feet and skis around until they are downhill from the body.
    Checked 2026-10-10.

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