In my first article of skiing beginners tips I discussed about the motivation to skiing and renting equipment for the first ten times of skiing. I also pointed out the meaning of reading books and watching DVD’s of skiing techniques. All those are your bricks and mortar for the good basis of your skiing hobby, but in this second article I jump directly to skiing techniques. I’m going to provide you beneficial tips for your very first days of skiing.

If you ever hire a skiing instructor, you will hear these same tips from him/her as well. These are not invented by me. Instead these tips are generally known as good practices for learning to ski. I learned to ski by myself because my parents never had money to hire an instructor, but I have tuned my skills later on with these same tips. I encourage you to hire an instructor if you can in order to learn to ski the right way. If you do it alone, just like I did, there is a high risk of learning poor skiing techniques. Learning good techniques later on is possible but usually requires lots of efforts, and unfortunately many people fail to do it. As we use to say in Finland, “it’s difficult to teach an old dog to swim“. Anyhow, check out below my techniques and tips for learning to ski. Understanding those techniques before you go skiing and before you hire an instructor is a great benefit.

Learn to ski - Lesson #4: Find a Balanced Position

Let us assume that you have just put the skis on and this is your very first time standing on alpine skis. Now you need to find a stable position in which you feel comfortable. Bend your knees a little so that you feel a little pressure in your thigh and buttocks. Do not stand straight so that your knees are “locked” because it is not a natural skiing position and in that position you cannot control your skis. The balanced position is such a position in which you are standing with your knees bent a little, back straight, arms in front of you and relaxed, and skis about 10 centimeters apart from each other. It is a position in which you feel good and you know that you can control your skis.

Learn to ski - Lesson #5: Start Sliding With Your Skis

Next step in learning to ski is to learn to slide. Use your poles to push yourself forward in order to slide. Do this on a very slightly leaning ground, not on a steep slope. As you start pushing with your poles, you notice that you can easily fall if you do not control your balance. Lean slightly to your boots, do not lean back. Keep your weight a little in front in order to keep your balance. You should feel a slight pressure in your shanks. If not, then your position might not be optimum in order to keep your balance when sliding. Remember to keep your knees bent as you slide with your skis. Do not “lock” you knees straight and do not lean back. Keep an eye on your surroundings. There are lots of people in slopes and you must learn to observe other skiers to avoid accidents.

Learn to ski - Lesson #6: Sliding And Breaking On A Slope

Now that you have found your balanced position and you have learned to slide with your skis on “non-steep” ground, it is time to go to a slope. Start in a family slope! Find the easiest slope in your ski resort and start there. As soon as you have reached your starting point on the slope, start learning to slide and break on a slope. Your goal is to move from side to side by sliding. Do not try to make any turns yet, just focus in sliding and breaking in order to control your speed. Use your poles to get a little bit speed. As soon as you gain speed and your skis start sliding, start breaking by turning the tips of your skis downwards. This causes that the nose of your skis turn upwards. Simply said, you are breaking against the direction of your skis. Keep your knees bent, look ahead, and lean forward slightly to keep your weight in front. The idea is to slow down and control your speed by breaking against the direction your skis are pointing to. As soon as you have reached the other side of the slope, continue by sliding backwards. Do this sliding as long as you wish, at least as long as you feel you are ready to try learning controlled falling.

Learn to ski - Lesson #7: Controlled Falling

Today’s articles last lesson discusses about controlled falling. Skiing can take some time for some people, especially for those who have never been on any kind of skis. That is why it may time few days to really learn to make turns. It can be dangerous in the slopes sometimes, especially if you cannot control your speed. That is why we learn to fall next. Controlled falling is your “emergency button”. If you loose your control on your skis and you quickly gain a high speed, you’re only way to stop that madness is to fall. It might hurt a little, but it is helluva lot better than crashing with trees or falling from a cliff. So, let us learn to fall.

As you continue sliding on a slope, begin practicing falling. Make sure you have no other skiers close to you! Gain speed a little bit, keep your feet 10-20 centimeters apart, hands close to your body, and start falling to your backside. Have you ever trained martial arts, such as Aikido or Judo? In those sports falling is done in same way. The idea is to get your feet touching the ground before your buttocks as well as your buttocks touching the ground before your back, etc. Think of yourself a rope that falls down centimeter by centimeter. First your tights touch he ground, next your buttocks, next your side and finally your arms. Falling down little by little helps you to avoid injuries. It is important to fall controlled, not “just fall” because you might break your bones. It is also important to keep your hands close to your body and not to fall by touching the ground with your hands first. If you do it this way, you might easily break your arms and wrists.

This was our second article on tips and tricks for learning to ski. If something was unclear, please ask by leaving a comment. If you have different ideas for learning to ski, please point them out. All feedback is warmly welcome!