Top 18 Skiing Tips for Beginners and Intermediate Skiers
Are you a newbie to skiing and looking for some skiing tips to progress your performance for beginners or intermediate level?
If you're new to skiing or it's been some time since you felt you were progressing with your skiing then search no more!
Our top 18 skiing tips will help you feel better on skis and perhaps, make some progress and enjoy the mountains even more! Read on to learn our top skiing tips for beginners and our top intermediate skiing tips.
Skiing Tips for Beginners
1. Basic Skiing Equipment
If you are new to skiing, you may want to rent your equipment to begin with, as it is pretty expensive to buy without first knowing your correct size and riding style.
Ski rental shops will give you good advice and skis for your level and your size. Same goes for the poles, they will give you the right size. Once you start to progress you can try different sized skis based on your skiing style.
2. Dress According to the Weather
Weather in the mountains can be very hazardous when you're not prepared, so our second skiing tip for beginners is to dress accordingly.
If it's cold, put on multiple layers and if it's hot, still dress in layers!
The weather can change pretty fast and you don't want to be caught in the cold, so always make sure you're prepared before leaving the lodge. And for your dignity, please don't put on jeans.
3. Always Wear Sunglasses or Snow Goggles While Skiing
Snow is very bright and you can guess that if you don't wear any eye protection you may end up with sore or even sunburned eyes.
Even if it is cloudy or snowing, always wear UV protected sunglasses or snow goggles.
You've only got two eyes: protect them!
4. Warming Up Before Skiing
Our fourth skiing tip for beginners is to warm up before you start.
Now that you have all your gear, you are ready to start skiing! But first, as in all sports, you should warm up your muscles to prevent injury.
Skiing may look like a leisure activity but still, it is a sport and can cause injury if your muscles aren't ready!
The video below is a great all-round warm up routine to try before you start skiing.
5. Going Up the Slopes on Skis
At first, it may look tricky to take a drag lift or a chairlift. That's why ski resorts invented magic carpets and gondolas.
Take one that gets you to a beginner's area. There are some in most ski resorts nowadays where you can practice safely without any threat of getting hit by another skier and where the slope is not too steep.
Practicing and progressing, you will be able to learn and take the chairlifts and the drag lifts.
6. Going Down the Slopes on Skis
Great, now that you are the top, you need to go down and the easiest way is to ski.
There are two main ski shapes that you'll need to learn as a beginner; the pizza slice and the french fries.
The french fries are when your skis are parallel to each other, like two french fires sitting side by side. This is general position your skis should be in when you want to move.
The pizza slice is the easiest way to stop or slow down. At first, it may look tricky but it is very easy. You need to try to put your skis together, without piling them up at the spatula and try to put your heels as far you can from each other. Do it a few times and try to widen this pizza shape as much as you can until you can stop mid slope.
If you want to go down a slope that is too steep for your ability you can go down in a zig-zag pattern. This will help take the steepness out of the slope until you build up the confidence and technique to tackle it head on.
7. Turning Around on Your Skis
Now that you know how to stop, you'll need to learn how to turn.
The first rule is to always keep your skis on the floor. Lifting your legs up in the air won't help you. It may seem weird but as a Ski instructor, I can tell you it happens. A lot.
One skiing tip for beginners that I always give is to aim where you want to go with your shoulder. By turning your shoulders to the left or the right, your body will follow through and normally, you should turn in that direction. It's simple bio mechanics.
Turning your shoulders will put more weight on the left/right ski and thus, will make you turn. Magic!
8. Falling and Getting Up on Skis
Our 8th skiing tip for beginners is learning how to take falls safely and how t get back up.
Falling happening while skiing. It's inevitable and everyone falls, even pros. You need to know that falling while skiing is normal and that you shouldn't be ashamed of it.
The main things is to learn to fall properly to minimize injury. By trying to fall on multiple limbs, your weight will be absorbed more evenly when hitting the snow, reducing the risk of injury.
What goes down, needs to go up. To stand up, you should always do a few important things.
First, check that you are not hurt. If you are, call for help. If not, put your skis under you, on the slope. They should be perpendicular to the slope. Now use your hands to push you up and stand, ready to start skiing again.
9. What if I Lose a Ski?
Loosing a ski can sometimes happen, whether it's while you're skiing or during a fall.
Here's a good skiing tip. First of all, stand up. Easy eh? Now, try to find a place that is relatively flat, not so easy on the slopes I know.
Then, you should always try to put on the downhill ski first. Then put on the other one. If it doesn't work, check if you have snow under your boot. If you have some, use the bindings and ram your foot on it, so it scratches the snow off.
10. Gathering Up Speed
The 10th skiing for beginners to progress their skiing technique is to gather up a little speed on the slopes.
Now that you know how to do a basic turn and how to stop, you should consider taking a little bit more speed.
Gathering more speed will make it easier to turn and navigate the slopes.
No need to go full send but if you gather a bit more speed, you will feel the absolutely incredible feeling that skiers strive for and you will progress.
11. Parallel Turns
Last skiing tip for beginners. Taking up speed eased up turning and now that you can pretty much control your skiing, try to turn with your skis parallel.
Same technique, turn with your shoulders in the direction you want, be patient and go a little faster than you used to do.
The speed will ease up the turning and all of a sudden, you will be parallel turning like a boss.
12. Back to School
If you don't manage to learn on your own, which is okay, you can always book a ski lesson.
No one will judge you or look down on you. We all started from the bottom and sometimes, the easiest way to progress is to take a lesson.
In every ski resort, there is at least one ski school and you can take a one-hour lesson to weekly lessons.
I know it is sometimes not cheap, but the technique and confidence you will gain from even one hour with an instructor will be worth it.
Intermediate Skiing Tips
1. Off Season Training to Improve Ski Performance
Our first intermediate skiing tip is off season training.
If you want to be in the right shape this winter and improve your skiing performance, off season training is a must!
Running, biking, weight training, swimming...there are multiple sports that will help to strengthen your muscles and improve your endurance for skiing.
The more athletic you are, the better you'll be on the slopes.
2. Activate Your Muscles While Skiing
Activate your muscles to help your ski performance. To ski like a pro, you need to think about these two skiing tips.
First, you need to have a tight core. Locking your core will prevent you from leaning backwards while you ski, which is a fundamental step in improving your technique.
Now, you need to have "loose legs". Not in the way that you shouldn't activate your muscles, but in the way that you need to absorb the terrain when skiing.
Keep your knees slightly bent, use your leg muscles to drive your skiing, but keep your legs slightly loose as a shock absorber. Try actively thinking about this while you're skiing and you should notice that you won't fall as much.
3. Using the Correct Skiing Stance
Having the correct stance is something you really need to master if you want to progress your skiing.
By leaning very slightly towards the front of your skis, it will be far easier to control them. The idea is to have your center point of balance above your feet and your hands out in front of you.
The more you lean backwards, the more energy you need to exert to control your skis.
Tighten your core and lean slightly forward, just enough so that you're almost straight and not leaning backwards, to correct your stance and improve your skiing technique..
4. Using Your Skiing Poles
At first, skiing poles may look more like more of a burden than anything else, but your poles are something you need to use to progress.
Ski poles will help you balance on your skis and drive you forward. Ensure you have ski poles that are the right size for you, the ski rental shop will be able to help with sizing.
When you have the right size ski poles and are ready to start using them, it is important to keep your hands in front of you.
I've seen some skiers literally ski with their hands in their pockets. Don't do that. Keep them forward and not too high. It will help you balance on your skis and prevent unnecessary injury.
5. Looking Around While Skiing
Some skiers have a hard time progressing because they only see what's at the tip of their skis.
One of the main intermediate skiing tips we can give, which seems obvious when you hear it, is that you need to look forward.
It helps tremendously if you want to progress since looking far ahead will help you choose a better trajectory and dodge any obstacle that could be in your way: big bumps, another skier, a sign and many more things. Always remember that you aren't alone on the slopes.
Practice actively thinking about looking ahead while you're skiing.
6. Building Confidence While Skiing
If you want to progress, you need to trust yourself. Here's a very important intermediate ski tip; if you want to progress your skiing, you have to challenge yourself.
You don't need to go hard on yourself but always try to go the extra mile. Try that slope that looks steeper or try going on the bumps.
Or you can also try to go off-piste. Some people may not recommend it but you should give it a try: you will ski on snow that has a different feeling and you will need to adapt. As I said, don't go full send the first time but slowly build confidence.
Implementing Skiing Tips
Skiing is not just a sport, it is more of a lifestyle. Try to enjoy it as much as you can and remember that falling is not a problem, it is just part of progressing even more!
Implement our top 18 skiing tips to improve your skiing performance, and if you are struggling with any aspect of skiing please get in touch for guidance.