Let’s start with one of my favorites, the slalom event. Slalom is the most technical of the disciplines and leaves very little room for error. Although travelling at much slower speeds than the other events, one tiny error in your line can result in a straddle and the end of your race. (Straddling is when one ski goes on the wrong side of the gate - like our friend Yannick Bertrand nicely demonstrates.)

Slalom races have an average of 55 turning gates for ladies and 65 for men and these gates are placed between 6 m and 13 m apart. To the untrained eye, the slalom course can look just like a jumble of poles! To the racer, the line through the gates will be engraved on their mind as they have about half an hour to inspect the course prior to competition. During inspection, if you ski any of the gates rather than sliding through them you will be instantly disqualified! These gates are arranged in a variety os configurations which are all rhythm changes and can often be where races are won or lost. This really is an absolute all or nothing discipline where an inch on the wrong line can result in a straddle – the slalom skiers worst nightmare!
To ski slalom, you not only have to master all the attributes of short turns in free skiing, but you also need to deal with the poles. Experienced racers use cross-blocking, where their feet get so close to the base of the gate that their entire upper body actually passes across the line of the gate. In this case, the racer's outside ski pole and shinguards hit the gate, knocking it down and out of the way. Of course there is always te less ambitious option to ski around the pole with your whole body.