Tips for first time skiers
For those of you who haven’t skied before, I urge you to give it a go. Not only will it be the most fun you’ve had on a holiday, it’s the ultimate cure to unwind your mind – trust me, when you’re skiing down a beautiful white slope, with the sharpest blue sky above you, heading towards lunch outdoors in the middle of January, the last thing you’re thinking about is work.
You probably think it’s a daunting prospect to arrange – you don’t know what you need, where to go, what to do, what the terminology is. So, my first suggestion is to contact someone like myself, a passionate and experienced skier with knowledge of several resorts to guide you through.
I’m not going to lie, skiing is never going to be the cheapest holiday you go on. For first timers, I advocate staying close to home and picking somewhere in Europe. Unless you’ve got deep pockets, don’t head off to the USA or Canada with your experienced mates, where you could spend a lot of money to discover you don’t enjoy it. It’s important to get the resort right to start off with, with gentle slopes that will give you confidence. And when you’re tired at the end of the day, you don’t want a ski area where the runs back to the resort are difficult. Resorts also offer many activities apart from skiing, such as skidooing, so that might be a factor in your decision. So, we’ve chosen your resort. Next, we’re going to choose your accommodation. Typically, the choices are a hotel, catered chalet or self-catered apartments. They range from luxurious to basic in all areas. Some feature swimming pools, saunas or hot tubs – all lovely ways of looking after your tired muscles. It completely depends on your budget. Ideally you don’t want somewhere too far from your ski school meeting point – the combination of wearing ski boots and carrying those pesky skis for the first time will leave your goggles steaming up quicker than you can say ‘ski’.
The choice of ski school is also important. There are many independent ski schools in the Alps as well as the ‘state’ ones. The independent ones frequently have smaller classes, which makes learning easier. If you’ve got an indoor ski centre nearby, it’s always worth a couple of visits before your holiday to get you familiar with the feel of the equipment – those ski boots with many sets of clips can look very daunting! You should also try to ensure you have a reasonable level of fitness beforehand because you are going to use muscles you didn’t know you had.
Don’t get carried away and buy the equipment before you go, always hire in the resort. And don’t forget to hire a helmet, virtually everyone skis in them nowadays. You’ll also need a ski pass to give you access to the lifts to take you up the mountain. There are usually many varieties of this in each resort, but again, relax, I arrange all that for you before you go.
When it comes to clothing, don’t kit yourself out head to toe in the latest designer gear. Again, it’s all going to be unfamiliar. Ask your skiing friends if they’ve got anything to lend you for the first time. The important thing is to be able to ‘layer’ your clothes up to keep you warm, or to be able to remove a layer when the weather’s warmer. No point in buying a tight-fitting leopard print jacket to find you can’t fit any layers under it – you’ll regret it when you’re on an exposed chairlift in a howling gale! You either want a good jacket and ski trousers, or an ‘all in one’ suit, which can look smart but can be tricky to manage in the loos though. Now we’ve got through all that, it’s time for you to go.
Day one of ski school dawns, where you’ll hopefully be greeted by a tanned and good lucking instructor to teach you the ropes. You’re bound to fall over, everyone does. Then it’ll be time for lunch and the stories you share will be embellished more and more as the week goes on. And the exhilarating feeling of being slightly more in control by the end of the week will be all the sweeter because of the effort you’ve put in. You will laugh a lot and I guarantee that you won’t be thinking about work. You’ll be aching and tired. You will be trying to work out how you’ve put weight on, despite the huge physical effort of the week. You’ll realise you’ve eaten your own body weight in cheese and that drinking Poire William at 11 am is perfectly acceptable. But, I guarantee you will have had the best time of your life.