It will surprise many how quickly skiers can progress by just changing one or two things on their ski holiday. Here’s therefore the Chalet Ski Holidays guide to becoming a great skier:

Firstly it is important to note that we are not ski instructors and this ski travel blog is not about technique per se – more about approaches to your skiing. 

Priority No.1 – Take Ski Lessons Regularly

I know in many cases you only have one week of the year, but lessons are so important. Even World Champions have them, constantly tweaking, fine-tuning and correcting. It’s the old adage that one hundred 1% improvements add up to 100% change overall! I know we are of course not going to be world champions, but perhaps it is more important therefore that we appreciate the need to learn even more as a consequence? When we are skiing so infrequently, it is easy to slip into bad habits, some we don’t even realise we have – that little bit too forward, too far back, crouched more than we need to be, hands too open or too low, etc. It the reason we need help and your ski instructor will see them all. Once identified he can carefully craft these areas to develop better techniques in a relatively short space of time, improving your skiing exponentially in the process.

Slow Down

But it is not just during lessons that learning of course takes place. Most of us opt for morning lessons which leaves the afternoons to play! Having now been taught to ski like Hans Klammer there may be a temptation to try and match his speed. But our advice is don’t and in fact slow down! Share

At this point we are kind of expecting a few screams and yes it may seem wrong for many. Afterall, having put a great deal of effort into improving your skiing, why would you want to now slow down? The answer to this question I guess is similar to training down the gym – 6 controlled repetitions are far better than 10 just thrown around without any control.

By slowing down you are able to concentrate on your technique, the lessons learned earlier become reinforced and the terrain far easier now to read and pre-empt. This allows you to make each carve count rather than sliding down the piste (with snowy slipstream) you will be cutting the ski into the snow and helping it bend and carve progressively. Carving is often the difference between ‘locals’ / true experts and intermediate holidaymakers. We all want of course to look good, but racing at speed and limited control is the equivalent of watching Bambi on ice! It looks what it is – poor skiing. So carve like a painter on a canvass with grace, style and panache, and look like a real pro!

Enjoy The Easy Runs (Blue and Red Runs)

And finally, who doesn’t want to tell their friends and family that they skied blacks and off-piste too, but if it is too challenging then style soon goes out of the window and your skiing suffers as a consequence (or worse – broken bones too). By all means ski the black and off-piste if you are competent too, but we recommend that you also spend sometime on the nice manicured pistes. Watching how your skis turn, what works well, what doesn’t? Where is the ski biting and where is it slipping and sliding, feeling what is right and what is wrong. Two or three hours a day and again your soon look like the professional on harder slopes. Notwithstanding, you may find carving and blues and reds more fun too.

From all of us here at Chalet Ski Holidays, good luck and enjoy.