By Peter White

What is to be done?

•  Let’s keep this first page really simple.
•  Many people ski with knock-knees and a smaller number with bow-legs.
•  To ski effectively the centre your knee joints must be vertically above the centre line of the skis when they are running flat on a horizontal surface. We will call this KPS.
•  In bare feet almost everyone stands this way quite naturally.
•  Most stance problems on skis are caused by the ski-boots themselves.

The modern plastic ski-boot is very rigid. This means that the ski is tipped from one edge to the other by moving the knees. If we skied in soft shoes we could edge by rolling the ankle, but the loads  would be too high for us to hold enough edge-angle to carve turns on hard snow. Modern ski-boots enable powerful and exciting skiing. But this gain has come at a price.

•  Everyone’s lower leg curves outwards from the ankle and back in again to the knee. It is curved like a bow and this is the normal shape.
•  The cuff of the ski-boot is designed to match this curve. But legs are very variable and the required outward lean of the boot cuff must match each individual leg.
•  Good ski-boots allow the cuff angle to be adjusted. This only changes the angle by a couple of degrees at most. The outward lean of people’s lower legs varies by at least seven degrees.
•  So modifications have to be made to allow all but a lucky minority of skiers to ski in a natural stance. Without extra work on their ski-boots, many will never advance beyond a relatively passive slide towards the next mountain restaurant. This may be a pleasant holiday diversion, but falls short of the exhilaration that skiing can give.

This issue affects everyone except a lucky few whose lower legs match the ‘average’ cuff-angle chosen by the manufacturer of their boots. Children will advance slowly or rapidly according to the way they match their boots. It is the same with adult beginners. Many advance to an intermediate level but then cannot make further progress. Even very good skiers can reach a technical ceiling which they cannot break through. Some instructors find it impossible to pass the tests that would allow them to gain the highest qualifications, because they have not recognised that their boots are holding them back. Some young ski racers will thrive and some will not regardless of their underlying athletic potential, but simply because their boot-canting needs have not been met.

•  So assess your own needs. Do others recognise flaws in your stance? Ask an instructor about this aspect of your skiing or get a friend to photograph you on a drag lift. How do you look?
•  If you are knock-kneed on your skis you can fix it quickly and simply by packing out the cuffs of your boots by adding shimming material to the upper section of the inside cuff. Follow the link below to see an illustrated guide to this process.
•  You should feel an immediate improvement. But keep adding material. The greatest gains will come with the last small increments of canting adjustment as you approach and finally reach the optimum setting for your legs.
•  Good luck and happy skiing.

That’s all there is to it. But do explore the whole of the website. The more you understand the principle of canting your boots and the better you grasp the importance of doing so, the more likely you are to achieve a proper alignment of your boots.
By all means use John Gorman’s do-it-yourself plans and make your own copy of his KPS Cant Gauge. You can align yourself without one, but it is a very useful aid. Remember to pay very close attention to locating the centre of your knees if you use the gauge. In most people the knee-cap faces slightly outwards and the centre of the joint itself is about a centimetre from the inside edge of the knee-cap rather than in the middle of it. This too varies between individuals and can be different, so take care to get this right or the KPS Cant Gauge will not be correctly reading your angular misalignment. With the help of a friend you should be able to estimate the centre of the knee quite accurately. And in any case the final test is always how you feel and look when you are skiing.

Virtually every skier will benefit from a correct alignment of their ski-boots to exactly match their legs.

And large numbers can never hope to ski well until this adjustment is made.

Step 1:  Assess your canting needs.
             Click on the link to the right…

DIY enthusiasts can click on the link to the right and print out plans for a KPS Cant Gauge. John Gorman, who developed this simple device, has kindly agreed to share his design with anyone who wants to construct one for personal use. (see the Contact section)