Find your back foot. "Most telemarkers do what I call a fake-a-mark—telemark stance, Alpine turn," says Dick Hall, the director of the North American Telemark Organization. "They ski with their weight on the downhill edge and don't weight the back foot."

To help skiers learn the correct weight distribution, Hall teaches what he calls the Goofy Foot Trick: Drop into your strong-side telemark stance and turn. When you're ready to go the other direction, stay in the exact same position; don't switch to the other knee down. You'll be forced to put pressure on the back foot as well as the front in order to make the turn.

Once you've mastered the goofy turn, you'll find yourself weighting your back foot more effectively when you return to the conventional stance.