The cruiser's secret weapon is an effortless, energy-saving, long-radius turn -- more elegant and more efficient than the way most intermediate skiers hack their way down the slope. To ski this way, you'll need two skills: a smoother beginning to your turn and a means of controlling your speed that doesn't depend on skidding or digging your edges into the snow.
A smoother start to the turn. Having polished up the arc or trajectory of your turn by learning to ride that outside ski exclusively, your next step is to start into the turn with less oomph and less effort. If you just twist, swing, or throw your skis around sideways, you're not only wearing yourself out, but you make it harder for the ski to follow its own bent curve in the snow. You'll skid down the mountain in short bursts of motion rather than cruising it in big effortless arcs. The ideal cruising turn starts slowly, progressively, with the skis peeling gradually off into an arc and not jammed quickly around the corner. How does it work?
The pure, smooth start to your parallel turn depends on an early weight shift. Most skiers try to turn their skis and feet before they shift weight to the outside ski. I'm going to ask you to try a very curious thing: Stand on your new outside foot before you twist it into the turn. At first, you won't be able to do this on a steep or impressive slope. Play with this idea on wide-open, gentle green runs just to see what it's like. Shift your weight first, then turn. Surprise -- the start of the turn will take more time. And because you're already standing on the top, soon-to-be-outside ski of the turn, you won't be able to twist it as much. The turn itself will slow down, and you'll find yourself carving a cleaner, longer arc. As the habit develops, you will notice that even when you get in trouble, even on steep slopes, even in bumps, as long as you shift your weight onto the new ski before turning then both skis will always pivot smoothly together into the new turn. (That's right, it really is the top ski I want you to step on before turning downhill.)
Speed control. Speed control in a long radius turn is easy -- if you simply keep on turning. And that's easy. As long as you keep all your weight on your outside ski, the bent shape of the ski will keep it turning. As soon as you equalize your weight on both skis, the turning action disappears. But how about speed control? Long-radius turns give you more time in the fall line to pick up speed, so slowing down at the end of each turn is important. The theory is simple: If your ski keeps turning, it will eventually turn uphill and bring you to a stop. Even if you don't turn that far, the slope is still decreasing underfoot, so it is the shape of the hill and not the resistance from your edges digging into the snow that slows you down. Control your speed by "completing the turn" and turning longer rather than harder. This is, in fact, the way expert skiers control their speed -- by guiding their skis farther around the arc rather than by scraping, skidding, and edging. And you can too. Smooth, long, round turns -- pure pleasure.