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Ski tips/advice for newbies/beginners

xxs_skier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
We have a first time skiing thread, but what are some tips/advice you would give to beginners? What would you have wished you knew when you were starting?

I'll start:
- a proper fitting boot can dramatically improve your skiing
- if you're spending a lot on boots and bootfitting, make sure to protect the soles if they can't be replaced
- research your skis and don't just rely on the advice of the sales person. Even better to demo the ski if you're able to.
- it's easier to learn without poles so you can just focus on the bare basics first
 

snoWYmonkey

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Look ahead look ahead look ahead! All the drills in the world and youtube lessons won't do much if that is not part of the first moments on skis.

As stated above gear that fits well, is sized right and does not hurt is imperative.

Don't compare your own progress with others. Some are slow out the gate to learn but end up being the more solid skiers years down the road. Be patient and enjoy the learning process as there is never an end spot. Even the best in the world are still training!
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Perhaps more for advanced beginners or low intermediates, especially those who are skiing with friends or family who are better skiers . . . for a resort that has multiple trail options, it pays to repeat a trail at least 2-3 times before moving on to another trail. The first time down gives an idea of the current snow conditions, the pitch, and how to finish and get back on a lift or magic carpet. Snow conditions can even change from the morning to the afternoon, depending on the weather.

Also fine to just stick with a few trails that feel comfortable. There is always more than one "line" on the same green or easy blue to mix things up a bit. Even for a short green, one side of the trail is probably slightly different than the other. I remember reading advice from an experienced instructor that the ideal approach for an adult beginner is to stick with a few greens until they are boring, and then move to the easiest blues until they are boring. Ironically, that can be easier to do at a small hill like my home mountain in the southeast because there aren't as many trails and often no ungroomed terrain.
 
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marzNC

Angel Diva
- it's easier to learn without poles so you can just focus on the bare basics first
While that's true, having poles to help an adult get around on the flats and in lift lines is handy. Kids are much better at figuring out how to skate and shuffle pretty quickly in a lift line.

Is worth learning how to hold poles out of the way before there is any need to use them when making turns. Do NOT hold them vertically with hands up above the chest. I had a friend who thought that by holding the poles vertically with her hands up near her head that she would be in position to stop herself by jamming the poles into the snow in front of her. It took me years to realize she decided that was a good idea based on how people use poles to stop themselves when getting to the line where people stop to load a chairlift.
 

xxs_skier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
While that's true, having poles to help an adult get around on the flats and in lift lines is handy. Kids are much better at figuring out how to skate and shuffle pretty quickly in a lift line.

Is worth learning how to hold poles out of the way before there is any need to use them when making turns. Do NOT hold them vertically with hands up above the chest. I had a friend who thought that by holding the poles vertically with her hands up near her head that she would be in position to stop herself by jamming the poles into the snow in front of her. It took me years to realize she decided that was a good idea based on how people use poles to stop themselves when getting to the line where people stop to load a chairlift.
I finally got myself poles before my trip to Whistler as there would be a lot of flats. The flats weren't so bad without poles, but lift lines were not fun as I'd unintentionally slide everywhere. I'm not a very coordinated person so learning without poles for a while was much easier than using it at the start. The instructors here don't even give you poles when you're first learning. I don't know how to pole plant yet, but I don't even think I'm at that point as I'm still not parallel.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
I don't know how to pole plant yet, but I don't even think I'm at that point as I'm still not parallel.
Yep, no need to think about pole plants/touches for a while.

If you watch instructors on easy groomers, they often don't use their poles much. Pay attention to how they hold them so that they are out of the way, but their hands/wrists are in the same position as when they do use poles with every turn. Unlearning how my wrists get set up based on old habits is something I've been working on for a few years taking lessons as a solid advanced skiers.
 

groomer groover

Certified Ski Diva
Don't compare your own progress with others. Some are slow out the gate to learn but end up being the more solid skiers years down the road. Be patient and enjoy the learning process as there is never an end spot. Even the best in the world are still training!

So much good advice in this thread! This bit about learning especially rings true for me.

Related: your progress won't necessarily feel linear with each time out showing clear improvement over the previous time. Try not to get frustrated by that.

There is so much to learn and some lessons come from the conditions or other things we cannot control or may not predict. I try to keep in mind only two things I am actively going to monitor and work on for any run so as to not get overloaded. That leaves me with enough mental space to be alert to whatever lesson the mountain has for me that day, and to keep it fun! Time on task is only going to happen if I want to keep coming back, so I can't get too hung up on every single way I can improve each time I head down a run. That's the way I try to be patient with my learning process.
 

EdithP

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Don't compare your own progress with others. Some are slow out the gate to learn but end up being the more solid skiers years down the road. Be patient and enjoy the learning process as there is never an end spot. Even the best in the world are still training!
I am not an instructor, nor an acomplished skier, rather a (very) freshly intermediate, but for that very reason I very much feel for you. Not compaing yourself to anybody but yourself last time is a piece of advice worth its weight in gold and diamonds. Beating ourseves up for being slow does not speed things up, only produces lapse of confidence on our part. It is NOT true that the way we start learning to ski is how we will go on. My own story: in 2021 I restarted learning to ski (never previously learned to parallel ski) and was extremely downhearted at how slowly I seemed to pick things up. For almost a year I saw a minimal progress, if that. But after those twelve months, I finally saw improvement, initially very gradual, but faster and faster as time went by. After another twelve month things have so accelerated, that I no longer call my progression slow, it has become a good learning pace, even occasionally with some acceleration.
Time on task is only going to happen if I want to keep coming back, so I can't get too hung up on every single way I can improve each time I head down a run. That's the way I try to be patient with my learning process.
So so so very true. Persistence is everything. You will get there one day. It is not a race, it is a journey. And enjoy the ride: it is such fun to be discovering new ways of solving old problems and be doing things that had not been possible a week before.
 

xxs_skier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
My own story: in 2021 I restarted learning to ski (never previously learned to parallel ski) and was extremely downhearted at how slowly I seemed to pick things up. For almost a year I saw a minimal progress, if that. But after those twelve months, I finally saw improvement, initially very gradual, but faster and faster as time went by. After another twelve month things have so accelerated, that I no longer call my progression slow, it has become a good learning pace, even occasionally with some acceleration.
This is so true. Sometimes I feel like I've made very little progress and my husband has to remind me that I've actually accomplished a lot in the season from not being super confident on the bunny hills to being more confident on green terrain.

Ski season is almost over for me and I wonder how fast I'll be able to pick things up again next season.
 

leia1979

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Ski season is almost over for me and I wonder how fast I'll be able to pick things up again next season.

I bet it'll come back fairly quickly. I've been skiing for ten years but only go a few days a year (or none at all for a few of those years). Last weekend was my first day on the hill in a year, and the first run was iffy with wedge turns all the way down, but by the end of the day, I felt like I was back to the same level as my last day last year. Put me on a fairly gentle slope, and I feel pretty confident! I know I've gotten a lot better even if I'm still scared of anything even remotely steep.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Not exactly a tip, but a good example of the best way to start on skis. The woman went with the support of a friend. The starting point was a 2-hour morning adult beginner lesson with a very experienced instructor. Looks like it was a great day weather wise, blue sky and probably not too cold. The newbie and her friend called it day early enough to avoid issues that can happen after someone is getting tired. Brighton is a day trip mountain for Salt Lake City that tends to have more locals than travelers.

The article includes a short video.

March 9, 2023
 

EdithP

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Is there a thread, even if not much in evidence lately, in which Divas could reminisce about their first time as an adult learner skier? (Childhood memories of that momentous event often are too distant to contain much detail). It seems there are a few adult newbies here and I would LOVE to exchange memories of how that first ever lesson(s) went.
 

TiffAlt

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Is there a thread, even if not much in evidence lately, in which Divas could reminisce about their first time as an adult learner skier? (Childhood memories of that momentous event often are too distant to contain much detail). It seems there are a few adult newbies here and I would LOVE to exchange memories of how that first ever lesson(s) went.
Well, my ski journey began November 2022, so here's a pretty recent contribution. After living in Seattle for 4 years now and making it through the pandemic, my husband decided it was high time we all learned to ski. He brought me and our 13 year old along kicking and screaming. He booked us a private lesson at The Summit at Snoqualmie and we actually hated our instructor. Our attitudes probably had a lot to do with it, but in short, it was pretty crappy all around. The instructor had some pretty black humor and my son and I were in no mood to humor him.

So how did we all end up loving skiing? Not to be deterred, my husband signed us all up for multi week group lessons at Crystal Mountain (us in the adult beginners, my son with the teen beginners), hoping that learning with others would put us in a better, more sociable mood. Well, that worked for me fantastically as a huge extrovert. Crystal had actually just started multi-week adult lessons and the neat thing was that it was timed with families in mind - kids started earlier, but ended later so that the adults would have time to do pick up and drop off! So perhaps that was part of it, but we lucked out with a group made up of people in our age group, same stage in life - we were all adults in our 40s with older kids!

So I have yeeted the actual first lesson from my mind and THIS was my first lesson. It was so awesome to have a support system of people who really understood our situation. We could laugh about 7 year olds on blues while we were flailing on the bunny hills. We could groan about how our legs were not what they once were. We could lament our finances and how much this was costing us and how even though that was true, we still were gung-ho about instilling a love of skiing in our kids. We could talk about where life had taken us and how we got here - everyone has a story and it's all pretty interesting.

In terms of details of what we learned that first lesson, we did the general - this is how you get into your skis, know they are engaged and how you get out of them. We went over the wedge/pizza and how to use it to slow yourself. Our instructor then focused on getting us used to one ski at a time and turning. I love to go fast and so I cheated and put on both skis and started gliding around on them in a circle. Of course, I was actually skating like I do when rollerblading and now know that is NOT how to turn, but it was still so fun!

He then brought us to the magic carpet and I loved just gliding down, making easy turns and going back up again to do more. This is less of an incline even than a bunny slope so it was super easy and I love love loved it. I was learning fast at that point. Being in the supportive group I was in, they were all telling me how great I was doing and vice versa. I felt great and fell in love with skiing hard. Unfortunately I ruined my streak of progress three lessons in by buying all new equipment in basically one go, but by then I already loved skiing so no matter, I worked through it!
 
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EdithP

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Is there a thread, even if not much in evidence lately, in which Divas could reminisce about their first time as an adult learner skier? (Childhood memories of that momentous event often are too distant to contain much detail). It seems there are a few adult newbies here and I would LOVE to exchange memories of how that first ever lesson(s) went.
Well, my ski journey began November 2022, so here's a pretty recent contribution. After living in Seattle for 4 years now and making it through the pandemic, my husband decided it was high time we all learned to ski. He brought me and our 13 year old along kicking and screaming. He booked us a private lesson at The Summit at Snoqualmie and we actually hated our instructor. Our attitudes probably had a lot to do with it, but in short, it was pretty crappy all around. The instructor had some pretty black humor and my son and I were in no mood to humor him.

So how did we all end up loving skiing? Not to be deterred, my husband signed us all up for multi week group lessons at Crystal Mountain (us in the adult beginners, my son with the teen beginners), hoping that learning with others would put us in a better, more sociable mood. Well, that worked for me fantastically as a huge extrovert. Crystal had actually just started multi-week adult lessons and the neat thing was that it was timed with families in mind - kids started earlier, but ended later so that the adults would have time to do pick up and drop off! So perhaps that was part of it, but we lucked out with a group made up of people in our age group, same stage in life - we were all adults in our 40s with older kids!

So I have yeeted the actual first lesson from my mind and THIS was my first lesson. It was so awesome to have a support system of people who really understood our situation. We could laugh about 7 year olds on blues while we were flailing on the bunny hills. We could groan about how our legs were not what they once were. We could lament our finances and how much this was costing us and how even though that was true, we still were gung-ho about instilling a love of skiing in our kids. We could talk about where life had taken us and how we got here - everyone has a story and it's all pretty interesting.

In terms of details of what we learned that first lesson, we did the general - this is how you get into your skis, know they are engaged and how you get out of them. We went over the wedge/pizza and how to use it to slow yourself. Our instructor then focused on getting us used to one ski at a time and turning. I love to go fast and so I cheated and put on both skis and started gliding around on them in a circle. Of course, I was actually skating like I do when rollerblading and now know that is NOT how to turn, but it was still so fun!

He then brought us to the magic carpet and I loved just gliding down, making easy turns and going back up again to do more. This is less of an incline even than a bunny slope so it was super easy and I love love loved it. I was learning fast at that point. Being in the supportive group I was in, they were all telling me how great I was doing and vice versa. I felt great and fell in love with skiing hard. Unfortunately I ruined my streak of progress three lessons in by buying all new equipment in basically one go, but by then I already loved skiing so no matter, I worked through it!
Hello @TiffAlt!
and thank you for replying. I wondered later if anyone would be inclined to share, because, apparently, in skiing forums attended by men there is almost no such thing as beginners, first lessons, adult learners, etc. Everybody comes to this world with the inborn knowledge of how to ski, so even if that knowledge must unfortunately wait until it can spread its wings, it will take the happy owner to black trails in no time, so what's to remember or write about.
But I personally love to think about those moments when I made my first, very nervous attempts and when I fell in love with the sport. It gives me plenty of pleasure to remember those first awkward moments, because no matter what I may think about my present level of skill, it is heartening to gauge the distance travelled.
I equally would not know which lesson to list as my first, because in my lifetime I made several attempts , all futile and discouraging. I don't know why I kept coming back to try again, but I did. The growing difficulty was the set up: I knew i was not going to go alone, but more proficient friends were not keen to take on a newbie and my DH, once a strong skier can never ski again after having suffered a bad accident (non skiing ). So I could not even see how to gauge the distance between ignorance and apprehension and finding myelf on skis.
Then a rare stroke of luck. My cousins suddenly said that they had plans to go skiing in Slovakia, and if I was still keen to learn, I could join them. That was November 2013 and we were planning on a March 2014 trip. All of a sudden all difficulties of last decades smoothed themselves out. My son who has instructor qualifications offered to accompany me, while my daughter and daughter in law both said they would also like to learn in one team. I know the warnings about not letting relatives teach you skiing, and they were sure proved right in case of my son and his wife (though fortunately no divorce ensued) , but otherwise we were fine. Being four meant that it made sense to rent a car to travel there and back, as well as rent a cottage for entire expedition of twelve people. To hedge my bets I decided not to rent my equipment, but to purchase second hand (if second! likely third or fourth maybe) skis, poles, boots and a helmet. That was a smart decision, because where we went we would not find it possible to rent locally.
Our destination was Zazriva, a village well distant from Slovak ski resorts, but there was an abundance of hills with drag lifts, button lifts and pomas in easy distance. It was quite springy though, and the snow in various stages of meltdown, creating a necessity for us of always seeking a slightly higher hill, where snow would still be in evidence, thus gradually and naturally transitioning from the first bunny slopes to something that looked like an actual (tiny) mountain (shown in pictures at the bottom).
I so remember that first day on snow. We loaded the car and my son Matthew warned everybody about always carrying our own equipment, a sound advice I abide by to this day, even if offered help. In the car the tense silence was so ominous, that Maciek had to remind us we were going to have fun. We arrived at a foot of an almost deserted little hill with just one or two toddler&Mom tandems, went through the initials (putting boots on, clicking ourselve in and out) and then sidestepped a little bit uphill (no magic carpet). To my utter amazement I saw myself making progress. First with snowplough braking, then with actually TURNING . All three of us fell a lot, but that wet snow was so cushiony, it did not feel remotely threatening. In addition we discovered that at the entrance there is an old wooden shack selling snacks and hot chocolate, which immediately felt more like having a ski holiday.
After that midday break, the sun started to turn our little bunny field into water, so we had to move further uphill, by means of a BUTTON LIFT. Now, was that a step up the ladder! In spite of my grave misgivings I found out there is nothing to it whatsoever, even though during my first upwards journey I did not yet understand I had to let go at a moment when the skis pointed downward, with a number of tumbledowns resulting. The rest of the afternoon was spent actually turning right and left in a wedge , then stopping, then getting on a lift again. I was completely transfixed with happiness. Here I was, actually TURNING and STOPPING and it was still only the first day?
That lesson ended when the sun operation became so intense that wet snow at the bottom turned into grassy mud and we had to move elsewhere. My head was spinning. Evidently, this time I got it! My daughter was already moving on to stem Christie turns, while my DiL, Zoe, was soon "nearly parallel". But, while Marta and me kept making ski trips every year, Zoe did not take to it. It remains to be seen if now, when my grandchildren have reached a learning to ski age, we will embark on that new chapter together.
 

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TiffAlt

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Is there a thread, even if not much in evidence lately, in which Divas could reminisce about their first time as an adult learner skier? (Childhood memories of that momentous event often are too distant to contain much detail). It seems there are a few adult newbies here and I would LOVE to exchange memories of how that first ever lesson(s) went.

Hello @TiffAlt!
and thank you for replying. I wondered later if anyone would be inclined to share, because, apparently, in skiing forums attended by men there is almost no such thing as beginners, first lessons, adult learners, etc. Everybody comes to this world with the inborn knowledge of how to ski, so even if that knowledge must unfortunately wait until it can spread its wings, it will take the happy owner to black trails in no time, so what's to remember or write about.
But I personally love to think about those moments when I made my first, very nervous attempts and when I fell in love with the sport. It gives me plenty of pleasure to remember those first awkward moments, because no matter what I may think about my present level of skill, it is heartening to gauge the distance travelled.
I equally would not know which lesson to list as my first, because in my lifetime I made several attempts , all futile and discouraging. I don't know why I kept coming back to try again, but I did. The growing difficulty was the set up: I knew i was not going to go alone, but more proficient friends were not keen to take on a newbie and my DH, once a strong skier can never ski again after having suffered a bad accident (non skiing ). So I could not even see how to gauge the distance between ignorance and apprehension and finding myelf on skis.
Then a rare stroke of luck. My cousins suddenly said that they had plans to go skiing in Slovakia, and if I was still keen to learn, I could join them. That was November 2013 and we were planning on a March 2014 trip. All of a sudden all difficulties of last decades smoothed themselves out. My son who has instructor qualifications offered to accompany me, while my daughter and daughter in law both said they would also like to learn in one team. I know the warnings about not letting relatives teach you skiing, and they were sure proved right in case of my son and his wife (though fortunately no divorce ensued) , but otherwise we were fine. Being four meant that it made sense to rent a car to travel there and back, as well as rent a cottage for entire expedition of twelve people. To hedge my bets I decided not to rent my equipment, but to purchase second hand (if second! likely third or fourth maybe) skis, poles, boots and a helmet. That was a smart decision, because where we went we would not find it possible to rent locally.
Our destination was Zazriva, a village well distant from Slovak ski resorts, but there was an abundance of hills with drag lifts, button lifts and pomas in easy distance. It was quite springy though, and the snow in various stages of meltdown, creating a necessity for us of always seeking a slightly higher hill, where snow would still be in evidence, thus gradually and naturally transitioning from the first bunny slopes to something that looked like an actual (tiny) mountain (shown in pictures at the bottom).
I so remember that first day on snow. We loaded the car and my son Matthew warned everybody about always carrying our own equipment, a sound advice I abide by to this day, even if offered help. In the car the tense silence was so ominous, that Maciek had to remind us we were going to have fun. We arrived at a foot of an almost deserted little hill with just one or two toddler&Mom tandems, went through the initials (putting boots on, clicking ourselve in and out) and then sidestepped a little bit uphill (no magic carpet). To my utter amazement I saw myself making progress. First with snowplough braking, then with actually TURNING . All three of us fell a lot, but that wet snow was so cushiony, it did not feel remotely threatening. In addition we discovered that at the entrance there is an old wooden shack selling snacks and hot chocolate, which immediately felt more like having a ski holiday.
After that midday break, the sun started to turn our little bunny field into water, so we had to move further uphill, by means of a BUTTON LIFT. Now, was that a step up the ladder! In spite of my grave misgivings I found out there is nothing to it whatsoever, even though during my first upwards journey I did not yet understand I had to let go at a moment when the skis pointed downward, with a number of tumbledowns resulting. The rest of the afternoon was spent actually turning right and left in a wedge , then stopping, then getting on a lift again. I was completely transfixed with happiness. Here I was, actually TURNING and STOPPING and it was still only the first day?
That lesson ended when the sun operation became so intense that wet snow at the bottom turned into grassy mud and we had to move elsewhere. My head was spinning. Evidently, this time I got it! My daughter was already moving on to stem Christie turns, while my DiL, Zoe, was soon "nearly parallel". But, while Marta and me kept making ski trips every year, Zoe did not take to it. It remains to be seen if now, when my grandchildren have reached a learning to ski age, we will embark on that new chapter together.
Wonderful story!! I totally can relate to how great it was realizing that falling was no deterrence because it's pretty non-threatening on those bunny hills! LOL, my instructor once complimented me on my ability to fall safely without harming myself or hitting anyone else. It sounded sarcastic, but he truly meant it as a compliment that I wasn't taking out anyone else or twisting an ankle or knee and I was such a good sport on getting back up.

I can tell that trip was awesome because you remember it in such great detail! I love that you continue the tradition every year and are now planning to introduce the next generation to it! Isn't it wonderful when the family can come together with something like this? And it doesn't involve a screen - a plus in this day and age!
 

xxs_skier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Is there a thread, even if not much in evidence lately, in which Divas could reminisce about their first time as an adult learner skier? (Childhood memories of that momentous event often are too distant to contain much detail). It seems there are a few adult newbies here and I would LOVE to exchange memories of how that first ever lesson(s) went.
Ok, these stories are too good to lose, going to make a separate thread on this!
 

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