Never skied before? Here’s why you need ski lessons from a professional

A BEACH BUM’S GUIDE TO SKIING

Thinking of learning how to ski? Awesome! Being in the mountains is really beneficial for your health and wellbeing and the whole process of learning something new as an adult is extremely rewarding. More importantly, skiing is super fun! However, to get to the fun part, you will need to have ski lessons from a professional ski instructor first. No ifs, ands, or buts. You do!

In this blog post, I will explain why every beginner skier needs ski lessons from a certified ski instructor and share how I personally benefitted from lessons when I started skiing a few years ago.

WHY EVERY BEGINNER SKIER NEEDS LESSONS FROM A PROFESSIONAL SKI INSTRUCTOR

Before getting into the gist of the matter, and in case this is your first blog post of my series ‘A Beach Bum’s Guide to Skiing’, I should stress that I am not a ski professional, far from it. I started skiing a few years ago and I am now an intermediate skier. So, clearly, I do not have any professional authority on the matter nor am I affiliated with a ski school. I am just someone who enjoys skiing, likes to do it to the best of my ability and wishes to encourage people who have an interest in skiing to give it a go.

In this blog post, I address adult beginner skiers mostly. Nevertheless, I believe that the below information is also applicable to children, though children’s ski lessons are less of a controversial subject anyway. And there lies my first argument in favour of getting ski lessons from a professional instructor. Just because you are an adult doesn’t mean that you should stop learning in the traditional way, with a proper teacher!

A HEALTHY DOSE OF PEER PRESSURE IS HOW FIRST SKI TRIPS HAPPEN

If you are reading this blog post, it is likely that your friends, family or partner are encouraging you to join them on their next ski trip and learn how to ski. This is great and it is the best way to ensure that you will get the support and incentive to continue investing time and money on ski trips.

However, it is also likely that your ski buddies have volunteered to teach you how to ski. Faced with the expenses of a ski trip, you may be doubting the necessity of lessons with an instructor. My advice? Thank your friends / family for the kind offer but firmly decline and book lessons with a qualified ski instructor. Trust that you are doing your relationship with them a favour and also saving everyone’s mental (and physical) health. Here’s why.

GETTING LESSONS FROM AN AMATEUR SKIER…

Skiing and teaching how to ski is not one and the same. Learning how to ski is not like learning to ride a bike! No matter how good of a skier your buddy may be, will they be able to convey all the appropriate information in a way that will make sense to you, a beginner? Standing next to a cliff halfway down the mountain arguing with your friend or partner is not a good way to spend your ski trip!

Furthermore, our brain with its selective memory forgets what it was like when we were beginners (especially when that was many years ago). So, the difficulty of a piste, or even the difficulty created from less than ideal weather conditions, can be easily underestimated by advanced skiers who easily overcome these challenges. This is even more likely to happen if your group is not familiar with the ski resort. No matter your friends’ / family members’ / partner’s competency level, they might still unwillingly lead you down a route that is too hard for you.

Last but not least, teaching someone how to ski is quite hard for one simple reason. Skiers need to look ahead and not backwards. However, you, the beginner skier, will usually be skiing behind others as you will be skiing more slowly. So, it is very likely that they will not slow down at a difficult (for you) spot, leaving you on your own. Trust me when I say this, once someone is further down the slope than you are, they are not coming back up the mountain to get you.

…VS LESSONS FROM A CERTIFIED SKI INSTRUCTOR

Qualified ski instructors know how to gently introduce beginners to the sport. They are trained to teach you how to ski quickly, easily and correctly. That is their job! They have tons of experience in dealing with beginners and can tailor the lessons to your specific needs.

Needless to say, ski instructors are skilled at explaining techniques and the theory behind them. Not only that but a ski instructor’s own technique is perfect. You will learn things the right way from the start simply by watching them ski in front of you and copying them.

Ski resorts classify the various pistes based on a combination of factors, such as steepness and width. The level of difficulty for each run can be found on signage at the top of each piste or on the ski map. However, piste classification is not a perfect system and runs can always get harder under adverse conditions. Ski instructors are thoroughly informed about the conditions on the mountain on the day (ice, snow quality, weather) since these factors can severely affect the difficulty level of even the easiest of runs. They will thus lead you towards slopes that are more suitable to your needs and capabilities.

There is also a personal element to what makes a piste hard. Certified ski instructors can easily identify your competency level and know the pistes inside out so they will only take you to slopes you can cope with. They will also expertly talk you through the terrain and all the parts of the piste that you may find hard. Discussing how you should approach a descent is so important, not only for avoiding potential hazards on the slope but for training your brain and eyes to make these judgement calls on your own.

SO, ARE SKI LESSONS WORTH THE MONEY?

In most ski resorts around the world, ski lessons are quite expensive. All things considered, an activity such as skiing may be a luxury but getting proper ski lessons is not. Based on my experience, if you do decide to learn how to ski, you will need to factor in the cost of lessons from a certified ski instructor. Take advantage of the momentum built while planning your first ski trip and book lessons right after making the main bookings for the trip. This way, not only will you be certain of availability but you will have also made the commitment!

Make sure to check out my tips for making the most of your ski lessons in order to find out about the practical details of having ski lessons and ensure a smooth and seamless learning experience.

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AS AN ADULT BEGINNER SKIER: HOW I BENEFITTED FROM SKI LESSONS FROM A PROFESSIONAL SKI INSTRUCTOR

I went on my first ski trip at the age of 30 after being encouraged by my partner to join him and his school friends to their annual trip to a ski resort in Switzerland. Apart from the excitement of my partner and the fact that I was always a bit jealous of people who could ski, what really convinced me to invest the money and time to learn how to ski was the fact that both my partner and one of the girls in our group learnt how to ski as adults. Furthermore, another person in our group was also a beginner. So, pretty ideal conditions you’d say. Agreed.

Nevertheless, looking back at my first ski trip, it is clear to me now that the single most important thing that made my first ski trip a success was the advice that my partner and our friends gave me. That advise was simple enough. Have lessons in the morning and then join the group in the afternoon in order to practice.

So, throughout my whole first week of learning how to ski (and a bit more after that on my second ski trip), I had the same routine. I had private ski lessons with a certified ski instructor in the mornings and spent the afternoon practicing on the easy slopes with my partner. With every lesson (lasting about 1.5h), I was experiencing significant progress and my confidence on the slopes grew.

LEARNING FROM THE BEST & GETTING OUTSIDE OF MY COMFORT ZONE

The obvious advantage from getting ski lessons from a professional, the importance of which I cannot stress enough, is that I benefitted from the expertise of a professional. I learnt about proper skiing technique, how to read the terrain and how to deal with the weather and snow conditions. Needless to say, I was receiving constant feedback, a lot of encouragement and personalised advise.

The not so obvious perk was that the ski lesson was the time and place where I felt more confident and willing to push myself and try harder pistes. Getting outside of one’s comfort zone is one of the most important things to do in order to become a better skier. I personally found that easier to do with my ski instructor.

More specifically, the story that I have heard the most from other beginners, and one that I also experienced first hand, is following your ski buddies down runs that are too hard for you. As I mentioned earlier in this post, the people around you often underestimate the difficulty of a slope or get excited and overestimate your abilities. Going down a piste that is too hard can damage morale significantly so a good ski instructor knows when to push. My partner and friends were the most kind and carrying ski buddies yet even they got carried away and things went… south! For me, this has nothing to do with my partner or friends; it just proves the value of professional guidance.

SOMETIMES NOT SHARING IS INDEED CARING

In retrospective, I was neither the worst nor the best beginner skier on the slopes; I was doing well. Nevertheless, regardless of my progress, it was obvious that while skiing together in the afternoons, my partner had to significantly adjust his skiing style (speed) and selection of pistes so that I can keep up with him. He is a very good skier and I was a beginner, so this adjustment was natural. However, this adjustment was also to the detriment of his own enjoyment (though he is such a nice person that he’d never admit that!).

I should maybe explain at this point that ski trips are a luxury for us, one we get to enjoy only a handful of days in a year because we live in London. Therefore, the ski lessons gave my partner and I the opportunity to enjoy skiing at our own pace for a good part of the skiing day; he skied with our friends and I with the ski instructor. Afterwards, we were able to enjoy the rest of the day on the slopes together. We were practicing what I had already learnt and focusing on just having fun skiing; the stakes were not as high. For my partner and myself, this routine turned out to be necessary for a balanced and stress-free trip which was, above all, a holiday!

All things considered, we should not be forgetting that skiing is dangerous when you don’t know what you are doing, so teaching someone to ski is a serious responsibility.

BONDING OVER STORIES SHARED BY THE FIRE

On a lighter note, during the much needed après drinks, my musings from the lessons made for great conversation with our friends. They were very interested in hearing all about the tips that the ski instructor gave me. I guess, no matter how good of a skier you are, you can always benefit from a tip from a professional! Everyone also came back with their own advice and merrily shared stories from their time skiing. Fun times on and off the slopes!

Amongst the many life lessons I learnt as an adult beginner skier is that there’s nothing more bonding than exchanging knowledge and stories with people who share your excitement about a newly found passion! Especially when that is done with a drink in hand, next to a roaring fire!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Learning how to ski gave me the opportunity to get to know quite a few people who have also started skiing… later in life. While chatting to everyone and exchanging stories and experiences, I realised that not having ski lessons may be one of the biggest reasons why people have had bad experiences with skiing or why they struggle to become good skiers.

From my experiences while learning how to ski, getting proper lessons is definitely worth the money and time; it would be the best piece of advice I’d give to beginner skiers. Getting a sufficient number of lessons by a qualified instructor allowed me to enjoy the winter wonderland of the mountains with confidence and ease. I have a feeling that it will do the same for you.