Ice Skating Moves

Learn About Jumps in the
Lake Winnipesaukee Area

Watching ice skating moves where the skater glides across the rink and performs seemingly flawless jumps is exciting.  The Lake Winnipesaukee area has several places to learn ice skating basics and watch skaters perform at different levels. 

As the skater progresses through ice skating basics and onto the more difficult freestyle moves, they learn a variety of jumps.  We hear the names when watching ice skating competitions and wonder what the differences are between them.

One of our family's favorite events to watch in the Lake Winnipesaukee area is ice skating.  Whether it's championships, Olympics or a show, we love to watch the different ice skating moves as the skater's perform their routine.  To help you recognize the different jumps and what the announcers are talking about, I've listed some information on each of them.

Waltz Jump - This jump starts on a forward outside edge of one foot.  A half turn is made in the air and the skater lands on the back, outside edge of the opposite foot.

Salchow - This jump starts on the back inside edge of one foot with a half turn in the air, landing on the back outside edge of the other foot.  The salchow usually starts from a three turn, which is a turn that makes a "3" pattern on the ice.  After the three turn, the skater uses the leg that is extended behind them and swings it forward and around.  The skater then jumps in the air and lands backwards on that same leg that did the swinging motion.

Toe Loop - This jump starts by skating backwards on an outside edge.  The skater picks with the other toe and jumps with a half turn in the air and lands on the foot that did not pick and continues to glide backward on an outside edge.

Loop - This jump starts on a back outside edge with a full turn in the air and lands backward on the same back outside edge the skater started from.  Loop jumps are usually the second jump in a combination jump.

Flip - This jump is starts with the skater gliding backward on a back inside edge, then picks with the other skate, jumps with a full turn in the air and lands on the back outside edge of the foot that picked.

Lutz - This jump is just like a flip but starts from a back outside edge and lands on a back inside edge.

Axel - This jump starts on a forward outside edge, with one and half turns in the air and landing on the other foot on a back outside edge.  The axel is the most difficult jump to learn.  It takes some skaters many years to learn this jump

After reading the above ice skating moves, you should have a better understanding of what they're talking about during the competitions.  Actually recognizing which one the skater is doing at the time, will take more time and probably much more than beginner ice skating lessons to learn the differences.

Lake Winnipesaukee has many places to try these ice skating moves.  You'll definitely need to go beyond beginner ice skating lessons to master these jumps.  It'll be fun trying.