Beginner skiers' and boarders' information
We all have to start sometime. Adults, even older adults, successfully learn to ski. Here's some guidance to help you get on your way. The info here will say "skiing" but is almost equally valid for snow boarding, though learning boarding can be a bit tough on the body so is less popular with older beginners.
There is good beginners advice on the Ski Club of Great Britain website, so be sure to read that too, as I won't repeat it all here.
preparing for early skiing success
How you plan your first trip and work up to it makes a huge difference on how quickly you will progress to really enjoyable skiing. You can get well into it in a couple of days if you are well prepared.
- Book in a resort that is good for beginners. Horrid runs can ruin your learning experience, while wide easy pistes with kind lifts can make it a dream.
- Read our essentials you need for a snow trip article.
- Go to a dry slope or snow dome for ski lessons well before your holiday, it's never too soon. Then you can really make the most of your holiday. The more lessons the better, and private lessons move you on faster once you have done a few group ones to get you going. Remember, skiing on a real mountain is way more fun.
- Get fitter - especially your leg muscles. You can do exercises especially for skiing (see Ski Club website) and any good aerobic exercise will help, such as cycling to work more. You'll enjoy skiing so much more with better fitness.
- Get warm ski clothes - you can borrow from friends.
- Book your holiday ski lessons well in advance, especially if you are going at a popular time. Professional lessons are essential to ski well so you start with good habits and build on them. They also help you to meet others of your own ability to free ski with later. Book with a ski school that has teachers who have the same first language as you - this will mean they are likely to have a sense of humour and attitude you are used to too! Go for recommended schools if you can. Generally the smaller ski schools are better, and there are many British ones in the larger resorts in the Alps. ESF doesn't have a very clean reputation, but it does depend on the resort, we've had some good and bad experiences of them. The British companies are nearly always best, as they've had to really fight to be there. Lesson sizes are important - ESF do large groups where you learn little if the class is full. Good schools book up fast, especially for peak season weeks.
- Contacting ski schools: You won't always get an email
response until the ski season starts (mid Dec). Even if your
holiday is not a high season week, booking in advance is
definitely advisable though not so urgent. If they can't
answer your email in English then skiing with them will be a
problem so don't worry about writing in their language,
though a bonjour or something can help. A morning lesson is more
preferable to an afternoon. Better snow and gives afternoon to
practice or relax. Things to ask:
- group size (maximum and minimum - they can cancel if not enough people)
- start times
- length of session
- which days (some start Mon, some Sunday - beginners should start Sun otherwise you waste a day)
- how much it costs
- Equipment hire booking in advance: We found 2 for 1 ski hire on the day in resort in Tignes with Ski Republic, but other companies tend to do their best deals only on line in advance. As a beginner go for their basic skis & boots package. The key thing is to make sure the ski hire is reasonably close by and/or close to the base of the lifts.
on holiday
- layer dress. Good ski gloves, goggles and sunglasses are essential. Wrist armour is an good idea for new snow boarders. Helmets are a good idea for all, and you can hire them with your equipment.
- have a back pack with basics like water, a snack and space for your spare layers as temperatures change rapidly on the mountain, especially the better you get and the higher you go
- put on sun cream at the start of the day and have some in your pack. You can burn at altitude even if it is cloudy.
- hire skis and boots from a hire shop - go early - they get busy on Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings particularly.
- You buy your ski pass from the pass shop, usually at the centre of the resort near the base of the main lifts. However, you may well not need one on your first day or two as many resorts have free beginner lifts. Ask your ski school for advice.
- find out where your ski school meeting point is and get there before your lesson is due to start, with all your equipment.
- do stretches on return to your accommodation to help your body recover
- drink a lot of water, and eat well
- when you are tired skiing, stop. Accidents are more likely happen when your body is too tired to cope. Take the afternoon off if you feel like it. Beginners use a lot more energy than intermediate skiers.
- Don't expect good skiers, even if they are your partner or family, to stay with you all day. They really need to move fast once in a while to enjoy being in the mountains, and by dragging you round with them all the time you may be stretched too far and that will spoil the enjoyment for both sides, and potentially endanger you. Some quality time together for an hour or so at your pace may work better. Ignore them if they tell you to keep yous skis together.
- Falling is part of learning. Try to relax when you fall and avoid knitting up your legs or with other people. Snow is soft and sliding can be amusing. Let others help you gather your skis when you have come to a stop, and move to a safe stopping place.
- Crashes - those involving other people and hard objects are more uncomfortable, so keep your distance and avoid nutters if you can. When you stop on the piste, always choose somewhere that has a long view up slope so people can see and avoid you, stop at the side and ideally at wider parts of the piste.
basic vocabulary
- carving skis - narrower by the foot and wider at the ends, making turns easier. They are the standard type of ski and you ski with your legs shoulder-width apart with these.
- ski pass - a ticket that gives you access to the lift system. You don't need this for free beginners slope lifts.
- slush - snow that has half melted. This may be in the afternoon, or all day if you are unlucky. Don't ski in it if your legs are tired as it is hard work and prone to trip you.
- piste - French for ski run - the smoothed slopes groomed for skiers to make it easy. They are graded, green being easiest, then blue, red and black. Black ones are less likely to be groomed regularly, and any ungroomed slope is likely to be harder than when groomed, as mounds called moguls develop.
- off-piste - everywhere else - may contain rocks, precipices, trees, and potential avalanches. Learn safe off piste techniques and knowledge before venturing there - even good skiers can be killed by avalanches.
- snow board - a board you have both feet on (with bindings), between a skateboard and a surfboard in size and directed in a similar way, but down a mountain on snow. It is reputedly quicker to learn to board than ski, but harder to get on and off lifts and tedious to go along the flat. Snow boarding is particularly popular with young people, but not exclusively.
- snow plough - a term for pointing your skis together at the front in a pizza-wedge shape. Tough on your legs. Used by beginners to stop and turn, though some ski schools won't make you go through snow plough turns and start you on step turns or even parallel instead if you are lucky. The other way to stop is to turn sideways.
Author: Sophie
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Story posted by on 2009-08-26 11:05:20.
Story last updated by on 2009-09-22 09:29:41.
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