hould leave one track,
but some bindings make this impossible, so that unless you are wearing
a toe binding you need not worry about a gap of two or three inches
between your feet. This only applies to soft snow running. On hard or
crusty snow, it is almost impossible and also dangerous to keep the
feet together.

When you have begun to feel at home on Skis, go off to a much steeper
slope and try traversing. Choose a slope which has flattish ground
below so that you have an easy out-run and nothing to make you
nervous.

Remember for your comfort that if you go across a slope leading
with the upper foot and with most of your weight on the lower
foot--standing upright and, if anything, leaning a little outwards
away from the slope, you can traverse across almost any slope without
difficulty, so long as it is not too steep for the snow to bear your
weight without slipping itself. Nothing is more comforting to a
beginner than to realize this. It takes away the feeling of giddiness
and gives confidence, but it needs learning and should be practised at
once.

The first tendency of Skis on a steepish slope is to point more and
more downhill till, finally having intimidated the beginner into
allowing them to go their own way, they plunge straight down, and the
beginner collapses. To counteract this put more weight on the heel and
less on the toes while traversing.

This will push the back part of the Skis down and the front part
uphill across the slope and, if done sufficiently, the Skis will stop
and you have begun to get some feeling of control when traversing.

Standing upright the inner edge of your Skis will bite into the snow.
Try leaning inwards, as you will do by instinct, and you will find
your feet slipping away down the slope and you will gracefully recline
full length against it. It is exactly the same when walking across
a steep grass slope in Summer. Most of the slips are due to leaning
towards instead of away from the slopes.

As you get more confidence in your running, try lifting one Ski off
the ground as you slide along. Or even take off one Ski and try
running on the other; lifting a Ski will often save a fall. For
instance if the Skis get crossed, just lift the upper one and put it
down beside the other again while running. It is perfectly easy and
yet I have known people who, after weeks of practice, dared not lift a
Ski off the ground while moving, only because they had never tried it
as routine p