Every time I'm out skiing I'm working on my technique. Scratch that, ALMOST every time I'm out skiing I'm working on my technique. Sometimes there's better conversations to be had with fellow skiers than ski technique.

Today we double poled for 2:15 out near Saranac Lake. Double pole: simple. You bring your poles up, plant them, and push yourself forward. So simple, I keep thinking that I should be able to figure it out much more quickly than I am. Today I was trying to get my hands to swing higher in front with the swinging motion initiating from the shoulder not the elbow. The elbow, as I understand it, starts at about 90° (this angle will change with speed and terrain), remains locked at about 90° through the poling motion, extends to straight at the very end if tempo allows for it, then takes the entire return of the hands to come back to 90°. Since the elbows aren't hinging, the movement has to come from the shoulder socket. From a side view the shoulder to torso angle should be open at least 90°. If this was dance the coaches would say, "imagine there's a bouquet of flowers coming out of your armpit." I know, I strange thing to say, but I've had at least four dance instructors say that very sentence. If you haven't tried this much forward arm swing before, it feels incredibly awkward unless you're sprinting.

There, I can write arm swing into one single paragraph... now why can't I DO it?