It took 20 years, but Chris Braisby has invented the first device to help skiers stop making one of the most common mistakes on the slopes.

Since learning how to ski on a plastic carpet slope in England as a child, Braisby has watched beginners lose their edge as they lean too far into the hill. Once they leave the instructor’s lesson, most skiers unconsciously fall back into bad habits, which cause the ski edge to slip down the slope.
After 15 years of study and another five of testing, Braisby, now a 40 year old ski instructor in Banff, has created a device that uses a clinking sound to warn leaners when their shoulders are off balance.

The Ski Coach ($49.95 at www.theskicoach.com), released online in late August, is a small pack worn over the shoulders and back of the ski jacket. Inside is a metal tube shaped like an upside down banana filled with three ball bearings.

If a skiers stance is correct during a turn centrifugal force causes the bearings to slide from one side of the tube to the other producing a tell-tale clink sound. Lean too much  to one side and the skier hears no clink.

Braisby sees the device as a long awaited supplement to instruction that will eventually be heard at resorts around the world.

‘The market is tremendous,’ Braisby says.

While it can be used for skiers of any ability, the Ski Coach helps intermediate skiers the most. Complete beginners have more techniques and drills to master before they worry about turns and balance, he says.

Advanced skiers can also use the device, Braisby says. As skiers push themselves on steeper terrain, bad habits often resurface and their skiing ability plateaus.

‘This will really enable people to move off that plateau,’ Braisby says. Ski professionals in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec have started using the product as part of their lesson regime.
Braisby expects the Ski Coach will help reduce attrition in the sport, as skiers who can’t afford more than a few lessons will have an inexpensive tool that helps them continue to improve.

He says there have been inquiries from ski schools in Verbier, Switzerland; Val d’isere, France; and New Zealand.