Taking Ski Lessons – Just for Beginners?
As I’m getting geared up for another great skiing season, I found this article online today that’s worth a look:
How to Make the Most of a Ski Lesson (www.liftopia.com)
While the beginner group-lesson meeting poles are magnets, most advanced/intermediate and above skiers act like they’ve graduated forever from ski school.
Besides hearing from people the standard story of, “Yeah, I went skiing once with my friends. I almost hit a tree, so I never went again.” because they didn’t take a lesson, you do seem to find a lot of people on the hill who could probably take another lesson or two. I don’t know if they don’t know they can take more than just the beginner ski lesson or if they don’t want to.
For me, I’m a ski instructor and even I take lessons. A lot of them. There’s always more to learn. I had no idea skiing was so technical when I first started teaching. There is really a LOT more out there for you than the first, beginner lesson. I teach them all the time.
The great thing about intermediate lessons is that they’re personal. They are for your skiing. What I like to do is do some “exercises” (I guess you could call them) that you can later try yourself. So we’ll do them in the lesson and I can watch you and make sure you’re doing them right and then show you the intended result. You’ll get to see what each one helps you do better and some of them are really fun. You’ll then be able to work on them yourself.
As the season gets started this year, consider starting it out by getting a lesson or two. Go with 2 lessons – one on each Saturday for 2 weeks and I’ll give you enough to work on for a while as well as see your progress.
Skiing is fun and such a great way to get outside during the winter. If you’re dressed right, it’s really not that cold at all. When you take some lessons and really (I mean really) get control of your equipment, it actually gets pretty addicting. You won’t know how that is until you get there but I’ve been there and I’ve seen many people get there. The cool thing is that it doesn’t take very long at all to get there but it’s not just the amount of skiing you do – it’s getting that control and crossing that hump. Once you get that control, you get freedom.
Ski ya later!
-Tony
