Skiing
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Skiing : Learn To Ski
Ensure that you learn to ski properly and feel confident doing so. Don’t rely on friends or family members to teach you, use a certified ski instructor. The better your skiing knowledge and technique, the less mistakes you’ll make, and the less mistakes you make, the less you’ll be putting yourself in harms way. Research has proved that those who take more ski lessons are less at risk of injury than those who have taken fewer lessons.
By taking skiing lessons at a ski school, you'll be able to learn to ski correctly within a week. After that time, your skills and confidence will be at a level that will enable you to safely make the most of what your chosen resort has to offer.You need to enquire whether a ski school offers private ski lessons, group ski lessons, or both. Private lessons are much more expensive than group ones but all of the ski instructors attention is concentrated on you and you‘ll make quicker progress.
If opting for group skiing lessons, it’s advisable to first find out the number of students in a class. It really depends on how a ski school manages the students, but ideally look for one that has class sizes of no more than seven or eight students. A ski school that tries to fit many more students in a class than that is more focused on making money than providing quality ski instruction and should be avoided.
Who they’re catering for is also important (beginners, intermediates, experts or all levels?). Skiers with more or less the same skiing abilities should all be assigned to the same class. Some ski schools will simply ask you what you feel your ability level is and others will ask that you participate in a ‘test’ in which you ski down a couple of slopes whilst supervised by an instructor and show the best turns that you can do. If you’re unsure of your ability, it’s better to start off in a lower ability class and ask to be moved up into another if you find it too easy.
To learn to ski, you'll need to learn 3 basic skills: standing up; turning; stopping. To stand on skis, have your feet shoulder width apart with your toes pointing inwards; this creates a triangle / V shape (referred to as a ‘snow plough’). Slightly bend your knees to create a more stable stance, spread your arms out wide to give yourself more balance and lean slightly forward instead of leaning slightly back (doing so makes it easier to turn and stop).
Moving forward / down is no problem as your skis will automatically do so on even the slightest slope. To go faster, make the triangle / V shape of your skis smaller at the back (i.e. move your heels closer together) and, to slow down or stop, turn your toes more inwards and push your heels further apart.
To turn on skis, you just need to point your skis in the direction that you want to go (i.e. point your skis right if you want to turn right and turn your skis left if you want to turn left), but in practice it’ll take some time to master (balance and timing being the important factors). For sharper turns, you’ll need to move your weight from foot to foot (i.e. to turn sharply to the right, put more weight on your left foot and, to turn sharply to the left, put more weight on your right foot) as well as pointing your skis in the direction that you want to go.
To ski safely and properly, you need to wear ski clothing that protects you against cold temperatures, external humidity and internal dampness, and, for a week of skiing, it’s recommended that you take with you: fleece top x 3; sweater x 3; goggles x 1; hat x 1; headband x 1; thermal underwear x 2 sets; ski gloves x 1 pair; ski jacket x 1; ski pants x 1; ski socks x 3 pairs; sunglasses x 1.
Check that you have all the necessary skiing equipment, and that it’s in good, working condition. Your boots, bindings and skis should all be tailored to your weight, height, and level of expertise and should be checked over by a certified ski shop after every prolonged absence of use. Your clothing must be wind and water resistant and should keep you adequately warm (your head, hands and feet being particularly susceptible to the cold).
Links
www.ifyouski.com : Equipment and clothing advice. Improving technique. Search for skiing holidays.
www.ultimate-ski.com : The ultimate guide to skiing and snowboarding destinations. Ski resorts, snow reports, off piste, ski news, ski features, competitions and great holiday deals.
www.travel.yahoo.com : Reviews of ski destinations. Resort statistics. Up-to-date weather reports.
www.snowheads.com : Skiing forum. Discuss all aspects of skiing.