In skiing if you put weight on your left leg which way would you turn?

There are some main types of Ski turns, the Stem turn, the Stem Christie and the Parallel turn.

Stem Turn

This is the turn first learned when beginning to ski.

Going slowly downhill, with your skis in the 'Pizza', or 'Snow Plow', position, simply start putting more weight on the inside edge of one of your skis. To turn left, you put more weight on the inside edge of your right edge. This will cause your right side to go down the hill more than your left, resulting in a basic turn, maintaining the V or Plow ski position.

To turn back the other way, repeat.

Stem Christie (Stem/ Parallel)

When learning how to do parallel turns, you will first do a combination of the two. You can start with your skis parallel, but to initiate your turn, you make a V, as in the Stem turn, with more weight on the bottom foot. Once you are nearing the end of your turn, you bring (either sliding or physically lifting it) your top foot parallel with your bottom foot, so you are skiing parallel again. Eventually you can reduce the amount of 'V' used in a turn, through practice, until you are making true parallel turns.

Parallel Turns

This is achieved through practice, and basically involves keeping your skis parallel throughout your turn. This can be done in two ways.

Old School: Keeping your weight more to the back of your skis, you transfer your weight to the inside of your ski edge. This will cause both of your skis to slide in one direction, together. You can also do this by jumping, lifting your skis into a sideways position while in the air, so you land sideways, effectively 'turning'.

Carving: Doing a carving turn involves utilizing the side-cut of your skis, and can only be done on a 'carving' (all modern skis are carving skis) ski. Instead of leaning back, and letting the ski slide, you put the weight on the front inside edges of your skis. As these edges grip the snow, the skis will make the turn on their own, as long as you have your weight on the edges, or front 'shovel' of the skis. The size of the turn will depend on technique, and the skis turn 'radius'.

Most intermediate to good skiiers will be using a combination of the Old School turn and Carving, until they are confident enough to really use their weight and skis to carve properly.