are lessons necessary for skiing/snowboarding

seanieclarke

hey,

is it necessary to get lessons in either skiing/snowboarding or are they sports you can pick up by getting a couple of tips?

i know lessons would probably be very beneficial but can ya do it without them?

cheers

Cooee

seanieclarke wrote:

hey,

is it necessary to get lessons in either skiing/snowboarding or are they sports you can pick up by getting a couple of tips?

i know lessons would probably be very beneficial but can ya do it without them?

cheers

You absolutely cannot do without them!
Anyone who tells you that is deluding themself. The only way that works is if your friend is a trained ski instructor!
I've met people who say "Ah sure my friend has skiied for years and they can just spend a hour with me and sure it's better than standing around in ski school" WRONG

SKiing and snowboarding is all about technique - getting it wrong at the start wil hamper you for years. You may seem to be ahead for the 1st day or 2 but believe me by day 6 you'll be far behind.

A better debate is whether 2/3 private lessons from a trained instructor is better/worse that attending 6 days of ski school with 10/12 other people!

robinph

Cooee wrote:

A better debate is whether 2/3 private lessons from a trained instructor is better/worse that attending 6 days of ski school with 10/12 other people!

Which then comes down to the patience and skill of those that you are with.

I did not take lessons on my first trip on snow, but I had done a lot of dry slope lessons at various places beforehand. Also the only English speakers at the first mountain I went to were probably the people I was with, but I struggled a lot more to begin with due to the lack of lessons on the snow at the start.

Definitely take lessons to start with.

Cake Fiend

Myself and the other Faceplant regulars have been boarding for a number of years now, and we still take lessons. Getting proper lessons will make the difference between flying around enjoying yourself off piste and in the park, and spending 3 years trying to teach yourself how to carve properly on red slopes.

A good instructor will nip your bad habits in the bud before they become ingrained, plus you'll pick up on their wealth of knowledge and experience just by riding around with them. I can tell you some stories of hairy sh1t we've done on account of our instructors that we'd never have had the balls to do otherwise! (nor the experience to have gotten away with it alive most likely, had we gone for it on our own)

Which brings me to this: apart from basic skills, bear in mind that people die every single week in ski resorts due to getting caught in avalanches and other stupid crap. You'll eventually want to explore the backcountry, but you could be taking your life into your own hands if you don't have the guidance of someone who knows what they're doing, or at very least advice that was imparted beforehand. Avalanches are hard to spot.

robinph

Cake Fiend wrote:

Avalanches are hard to spot.

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