We were playing around on Sunday with initiating (alpine) turns at all levels by softening the downhill leg at the start of the new turn (old outside, new inside leg). By softening the downhill leg it makes moving the center downhill/towards the new turn practically automatic and makes the whole turn much quicker and smoother.
For years teaching alpine crossovers I've found that at some point in the first lesson, the quickest way forward is to teach a lead change of pulling the old lead back, rather then pushing the new lead forward. Since most alpineers are so heavy on their lead ski that pushing the new lead forward carries their canter with their foot leaving the trailing ski nearly unweighted. By pulling back the new inside ski to change leads it becomes much easier/more natural to keep weight on the trailing foot giving better control of both turn shape and edging.
After playing around the last couple days I've found that, for myself, I can not pull my old lead back without simultaneously softening the lead (downhill) leg. My question becomes, how much of the improvement in alpine crossovers comes from the ability to more successfully control their inside leg, and how much comes from the softening, rather then bracing against, the old outside ski?