The Ultimate Guide to Skiing Rails

Rails can be intimidating, but like a baby learning to walk, the trick is breaking them down into easy steps so you are not trying to run before you can crawl. Coach Oscar Blyth takes you through 10 steps, from your first 50/50 on a box to spinning onto tubes, practising each one on flat snow before taking it to a feature.

Step 1: 50/50 on a Box

Ride straight on and straight off a box with your skis straight and perfectly flat based the whole time. Edging on a box is worse than ice and you will slide out. Use just enough speed to make the end, keep your shins in front and look to the end of the box.

Step 2: 50/50 With a Shuffle

Practise moving your skis side to side on flat snow first, with your feet about shoulder width apart for stability. On the box, get on first, then shuffle patiently while keeping some weight through your front foot so you do not slip out backwards. Work toward getting your skis to a full 90 degrees on longer features.

Step 3: Ski Slide

Now pop onto the box sideways, hold the slide and come off. Keep your feet planted shoulder width apart and imagine reaching down for your front boot to keep your weight even across both skis. Practise popping to 90 and back out on flat snow first, keeping your eyes ahead, not on your feet.

Step 4: Unnatural Slide

Often overlooked but key: slide with your other foot forward. Go back to the shuffle and flat-snow pops first, then commit to a full unnatural slide.

Step 5: Box Slide to Switch

Instead of relying on counter rotation, slide with neutral shoulders, look at the end of the feature and come off switch while looking behind you. Practise on a line drawn in the snow first, stay patient so you hold 90 until the end, and practise both ways. Landing switch and reverting is fine while your switch skiing improves.

Step 6: Scissor Your Edges

Scissoring gives you control to spin either way out of a feature and stability on narrow tubes and rails. On the edge of a run or cat track, practise pushing your heel down so your tip lifts, then your toe so your tail lifts, engaging your inside edge each time. On the box, keep downhill pressure on your front foot. Heel scissoring brings you forwards for frontside tricks, toe scissoring brings you switch for backside tricks.

Step 7: Urban On to a Tube

Here you come in from the side with a lip lower than the rail. Build confidence by popping fully over the feature first, then by sliding off early. Aim slightly to the side of the tube, not the top, so it catches your weight. On a down tube, put extra pressure on your downhill ski and jump on with both feet at once, never back foot first.

Step 8: 270s Out and Swaps

Start on a box. The frontside 270 is a heel scissor with more pressure and a pop at the end, and you can see the landing the whole time. The backside 270 uses the toe edge and goes blind for a moment, so commit and look back up the rail to get full rotation. Front and back swaps are the same moves done earlier so you land back on the feature. On tubes, be fully locked at 90, wait until the end and keep your weight slightly on your heels for front 270s.

Step 9: Lip Slides, Switch Lip and Switch Tails

For a lip slide, come from the other side, exaggerate getting your tails over the rail and land with weight slightly on your noses. Get comfortable riding onto a box switch first, then for switch lip get your noses over and land slightly on your heels, coming in at an angle rather than dead straight. Switch tails is the same process from the other side, bringing your tails up and over.

Step 10: Spinning Onto Features

Be comfortable with 360s and switch 360s on jumps first, and practise in your boots on a line drawn in the snow. For a 270 on, take a bit more speed, look to the end of the feature and drive your front edge or scissor to stop the rotation. For switch 270 on, be patient and start the spin as your heel pieces reach the lip. Lip 270s go blind, so look at your landing spot first and take a straighter line in, because you tend to drift when you pop lip.

Keep Building Into The Season

Kinked and curved rails need you to shift your weight to match the feature, and every step gets easier with solid switch skiing, so read The Ultimate Guide to Skiing Switch (Backwards). New to the park? Start with How Not To Be Intimidated By The Terrain Park.

Coach: Oscar Blyth
@oscarblyth