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First Time Skier Information

skigirl

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
This thread is for those of you planning on skiing for the first time and those of you planning on taking someone skiing for the first time.

My background: I have been teaching people how to ski for 25 years. I can teach everything from beginners to upper levels and I have seen a lot of crazy things over the years.

To all first time skiers or those taking first time skiers please take LESSONS to get statrted!! Skiing can be an easy sport to learn but it is not an easy sport to teach if you have never done it!! If you are the one skiing for the first time please do not let your friends or family take you to the top of the hill as soon as you put your skis on. :nono: This is not how you learn to ski. I have seen this done more times than I care to remember and it never goes well. :( The best and safest way to learn is to take a lesson from the ski area's ski school. A lot of ski areas have a learn to ski package which inlcudes, rentals, a lesson, and a lift ticket for a lower price than buying it all separate so always ask before you pay for everything.

A note to those of you that are taking a first time skier out. Please have the person take a lesson. Trying to teach them yourself is not as easy as you think it is. Over the years I have had to save a lot of relationships for a lot of people, including ski instructors, that thought they could teach their wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, or siblings. If instructors have trouble teaching friends and relatives just think about how hard it will be if you have never taught skiing before.

First Time Skiers: What to do on your first day. Wear a ski jacket, ski pants, and ski gloves or mittens. You will want all of this to keep you dry because you will be falling down. Don't over dress with a lot of layers because you will be working hard and you will get hot quickly. If you are renting skis from the area's rental shop make sure you let your skis cool down before you put them on the snow. Stand with your skis apart for a few minutes until they are cold on the bottom!! If you put a warm ski on the cold snow the snow will melt that is under the ski and then the ski will cool down and the now water will freeze to the bottom of the ski and you will not be able to move. :( If you time it right you can walk to your lesson and let your instructor help you get your skis on. If you have time before your lesson and you have a freind to help you then have them help you put your skis on. Note to Friends :just show them how to walk around on their skis and do it where it is flat and they can't get into to trouble going down any hills!! Then take them to their lesson.

To First time skiers: Take some time to get fit. Learning to ski is a workout. I want you to fall in love with skiing and have FUN not get tired and frustrated on your first day. Remember that just because you took one lesson you may not be ready for the big hill. Don't let your friends take you up the hill until your instructor says so or until you have solid linked turns with complete speed contol and you can STOP no matter how fast you are going!! You may need 3 or 4 lessons before you are ready for the big hill. Take your time and do it right you don't want to get hurt. You want to have FUN!!!

Skiing is a great sport that is so much fun and I want everyone to have fun :yahoo: and not hate :mad2: it on their first day out!!

There is a sticker on one of the chairs where I ski that says, "Friends Don't Teach Friends How to Ski!"

I hope this helps.
skigirl
 

Robyn

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Oh, thank you for posting! I agree, I have many out of state friends who hear that I coach ski racing and think I should teach them how to ski. Nope, no way, no how. I tell them I am not cut out for teaching beginners, I just don't have the patience and that they should take a lesson. Heck, I want to learn to board and the most I'll let a friend do is take a run or two with me on the bunny slope with some pointers then they need to get lost.
 

Kano

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Well, dang! It NEVER would have occurred to me about the warm skis/cold snow thing.....

But, yeah, in all seriousness, DH and I take lessons together, and that first day out, when he'd coerced me into the lessons in the first place, there I was, on a hill that was too big for me, and there HE was, saying, well, you just DO it.

The instructor had a FAR better way to get me down that insanely huge hill!

Kano
 

MaineSkiLady

Angel Diva
Great post! I think every ski school and member of PSIA just thanked you! :smile: (Wasn't that "friends don't let friends"...etc., a motto of theirs one year? Or are they still going with "Ski with a Pro." Either way, all of it was very, very sound advice, thanks for taking the time to post this.
 

MaineSkiLady

Angel Diva
Heck, I want to learn to board and the most I'll let a friend do is take a run or two with me on the bunny slope with some pointers then they need to get lost.

Robyn, read your private messages. I have a L3 AASI instructor available, based out of Frisco. Not currently affiliated with a ski/ride school, certification and membership current. New to area, needs friends.
 

Robyn

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Robyn, read your private messages. I have a L3 AASI instructor available, based out of Frisco. Not currently affiliated with a ski/ride school, certification and membership current. New to area, needs friends.
I just responded to you. :smile:
 

SkiMave

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
SkiGirl,

What a great post !! I reread it and I have to say, it can work for golfing as well, "Friends don't teach friends how to golf!".

Excellent advice. For those newbie Divas out there - learn from my experience. I started skiing back in the 70's. My first time out I headed up to the ski hills on a school bus trip (night skiing) with a bunch of my friends. Had no idea what I was doing. First run, they left me stranded up at the top of the hill. Luckily, one of the chaperones was a ski instructor from Colorado, and she took pity on me and helped me down the run, and the next couple after that.

I was an occasional skier and never really got into the lesson thing (convinced myself that I couldn't afford it). I took a hiatus from skiing for about 16 years. When I decided to start up again (about 4-5 years ago), I decided to take a private lesson. It was the BEST decision I ever made. Since then, I take at least 2-3 private coaching sessions every year. What an amazing difference !! In fact my husband can't figure out where, and when, I learned to ski (he still remembers me from all those years ago). To have someone objectively analyze what you are doing and how to make it better makes it so much more fun, and rewarding.

Your friends are there to have a fun day for themselves, the instructors/coaches are dedicated to make sure YOU have a good time.

Enjoy. It will be the best ski investment you will ever make...
 

skigirl

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Thank You!!

This also applies to snowboarding.

It applies to a lot of other sports too. My husband and I used to teach all the kids in our neighborhood how to water ski because their parents just couldn't do it. :fencing:

I really have seen a lot of crazy things over the years. I just want to try to help make sure any new skiers out there do it right the first time so they will love skiing as much as the rest of do!! :love: :yahoo:

Think snow :snow: :snow: and let's go ski!! :ski: :race:

Thanks Again,
Skigirl
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
I missed this the first time through. Thanks for bumping it up. And as a member of the CSIA (level2) I thank you for your words of wisdom. Our motto is "Ski like a pro, ski with a pro!" I would never be at the level I'm skiing without lessons and mentors. Infact I just got back from 3 days with the top instructors in Eastern Canada. Every year I learn something new for my skiing, and to help me teach skiing. So everyone needs a lessons. There is always something new to challenge you - powder, bumps or race training. Just go girl!!
 

skigirl

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
More Than One Lesson Please.

To all the well meaning friends out there please read this. Last night while I was skiing I came across an injured girl. My husband and I stayed with her and her friend while we waited for the ski patrol. We asked several questions about what happend. We found out that this was her first time on skis. She had a taken a one hour group lesson. When the lesson was over her friend put her on the chairlift and took her up the big hill. :nono: :nono:

I am glad she took a lesson but, friends please stop and think, most of the time one 1 hour group lesson is not enough to have a beginner ready to go up the big hill. Please keep your beginner friend on the bunny hill until their instuctor takes them up the big hill for the first time.

Beginners you may need 3 or 4 lessons before you are ready to go up the big hill. Please stay on the bunny hill until your instructor takes you up the big hill or wait until, at least, you can link your turns in complete control and STOP from any speed.

To all beginners please take lessons and stick with it until you can ski. Trust me it is worth the money to do it right. Skiing is a really fun sport and we all want you to learn to ski and love it, so please learn to do it right from the beginning.

Check with the ski area you are at and see what beginner deals they have. I know at my area the beginner package is $30 and it includes, a lesson, rentals, and a lift ticket and you can do it 3 times for that price. There is also a 6 week package that includes lessons, rentals, and a 6 week once a week pass, or for a few more $s you can have the pass for the whole season, one day a week.

Get out and ski you will love it!! :love: :ski: Just do it right and take lessons!!

Think snow. :snow: :snow:
 

MaineSkiLady

Angel Diva
Let's keep this up and running and try to be ambassadors promoting proper instruction. It's that time of year again: the casual/annual skiers will start coming out in droves for the holidays.

Newcomers to the sport have to understand and respect the major hazards inherent to skiing. It seems as though many (if not most?) of us have had some injury issues, whether by collision or falls - our stories seem to be spread all over the site. We range from plunk-ow to multiple knee surgeries and broken wrists!! Certainly, the collision stories are abounding lately :(

Old famous tv quote:
"Let's all be careful out there."
 

Kano

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I'll just add a wee bit of advice.

Skigirl mentioned this in her post (thread starter), but I think it bears repeating:
Know where you don't belong on the mountain! As MSK mentioned, injuries happen. Mine was a shoulder thing that happened when DH talked me into a run down "Tiger" -- a double black sheet of ice! Fortunately, I could still ski -- but eventually, I did end up with a few weeks of physical therapy to fix the shoulder injury that I waited until the season was over to get treated!

(skiing was about the only thing that didn't hurt much to do. I stayed out of the doctor's office until after the season ended, so she couldn't tell me not to ski!)

The other thing, and maybe even more important:

BE IN THE MOMENT WHEN YOU'RE SKIING!

DH's ski injury that ended his season one year was a broken hand that happened on a cat track -- for first timers, those are the flat areas that you slide along to get to the next real hill. Snow cats use them to get from here to there. He wasn't paying attention, and one of those snow snakes, or maybe a trail troll got him. Enjoy the scenery, but remember that the most important part of the scenery is the snow in front of you! It drives DH nuts when I stop on the side of a trail to enjoy the view for a bit, but I haven't had season ending injury from a cat track... (yes, I do tease him about that now and then)

Kano
 

Ski Luvr

Certified Ski Diva
Thank you for posting this thread. There's great information in here. I'm now feeling terribly guilty for trying to teach my husband how to ski back in 1998 and wonder if that's why he never had much fun. :eek:
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
Great Christmas present !?! Ski lessons for him, group or private to get him going again.
 

Gloria

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I grew up skiing at Bridger Bowl, I always remember the sign they use to post at the chair years ago, it said:
"Ametuers who take lessons from Ametuers, become Ametuers. Take lessons from a pro."
For some reason, I have never forgotten that one. Pretty good advice though.
 

IntheClouds

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I grew up skiing at Bridger Bowl, I always remember the sign they use to post at the chair years ago, it said:
"Ametuers who take lessons from Ametuers, become Ametuers. Take lessons from a pro."
For some reason, I have never forgotten that one. Pretty good advice though.

Great advice. And if you take lessons from the pros instead of the amateur friends, the results will be.... you will be a better skier than your friends ! Not a bad investment.
 

MaineSkiLady

Angel Diva
Thought I would throw a variant into this equation: What if friend IS an instructor, and certified? I can only speak for DH, who, while not currently teaching, can somehow go into third-party instructor mode if/when asked by skiing friends onhill -- i.e., "I feel off-balance, what am I doing wrong?" "Is there a better way to ski icy moguls, can you help?" I've seen him give 30 second tips that have really helped others (including myself). I know this is kind of an off-shoot, but this seems like a more acceptable alternative. I haven't seen him teach a beginner in decades, however - horse of another color. Also, my son taught us both to snowboard (also an instructor and certified) and was also able to maintain the "distance." We both got 1 hour privates. DH got it but didn't like it. I stunk :laugh: We both quit while we were ahead!
 

IntheClouds

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
The big difference there is - they are already skiers. Who doesn't want to ski with a buddy who is an instructor & skis better than you & can give a pointer once in a while when asked ?

Love that your son gave you boarding lessons. Every kids' dream has to be to teach their parents something new ! (like they don't already do that anyhow). But that "I'm an expert & I get to tell you what to do" has to feel good as a role switch.
 

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