Hi Greg,This information comes from a lifelong WV skier.Catching an edge is the result of a snow snake coming up from the trail (or race course) and grabbing either the left or right inside edge. Generally the snake bites closest to the tip, as the knee may have angulated a tad too much or the skier’s weight never transferred to the new ski. You never catch an edge behind your boot, snakes only bite at the start to the middle of a turn. If any skier says they caught an edge and fell, going across the hill, then it wasn’t the snake, it was a bur or something that actually hit the edge. A remedy for not catching an edge skiing is to try snowboarding, they catch their edges all day long and no one has any idea why.
I have always thought that ‘to catch an edge’ meant accidentally engaging the downhill edge before the proper weight transfer/change of edges. Normal skiing/riding entails engaging the uphill edge(s) of the skis or board. Engaging the downhill edge usually causes it to dig in to the snow, and cause a fall or abrupt and unplanned change of direction (or a slam). Although snow snakes are real, as are snow sharks!
January 12, 2026 at 10:11 pm
Hi Greg,This information comes from a lifelong WV skier.Catching an edge is the result of a snow snake coming up from the trail (or race course) and grabbing either the left or right inside edge. Generally the snake bites closest to the tip, as the knee may have angulated a tad too much or the skier’s weight never transferred to the new ski. You never catch an edge behind your boot, snakes only bite at the start to the middle of a turn. If any skier says they caught an edge and fell, going across the hill, then it wasn’t the snake, it was a bur or something that actually hit the edge. A remedy for not catching an edge skiing is to try snowboarding, they catch their edges all day long and no one has any idea why.
January 16, 2026 at 5:38 pm
I have always thought that ‘to catch an edge’ meant accidentally engaging the downhill edge before the proper weight transfer/change of edges. Normal skiing/riding entails engaging the uphill edge(s) of the skis or board. Engaging the downhill edge usually causes it to dig in to the snow, and cause a fall or abrupt and unplanned change of direction (or a slam). Although snow snakes are real, as are snow sharks!