Ski Techniques and Tips

Welcome to our guest blog featuring Altitude Ski School in Verbier. They have provided us with some hints and tips that will help keep your children progressing during the half term ski break, and also some great help in how to tackle the dreaded moguls!…..

How to Keep Kids Interested at Advanced Level

One of the things a lot of people enjoy about skiing is the element of challenge. This can be seen clearly when you ski with advanced children. They seem to spend most of their time looking for more challenging terrain, and bigger jumps.

It is great fun to ski with children who have this attitude, and the more creative you can be with different tasks for them the better. There are a huge range of ways to push their abilities, such as the different short turn variants, dolphin turns and 1 ski skiing.

Even just considering 1 ski skiing it is possible to make it harder and harder as the child progresses, firstly by taking away their poles, and then by getting them to try doing it while in a tuck position. When they have mastered this you can set them the same tasks on harder pistes.

The other way of keeping advanced kids interested is by taking them onto harder terrain. Once they start to play on the off-piste, in the park, and in the bumps it is then good fun to set them challenges there as well.

In the off-piste keeping to a certain size of turn, or skiing in an hourglass are perfect. There are a number of easy tricks that they can learn in the park, and on the bumps it works really well to just push them to stick to a certain line, or rhythm.

The main thing is to make sure that they are safe, but beyond that try and keep pushing them. Just remember to make sure you can do the tasks first so that you do not get left behind.

Bumps Tips

This week, Jon West, Director of Altitude Ski School – Verbier, Switzerland examines some of the Techniques, Tactics & Tips that will help you to master the moguls. See the video to accompany the techniques on You Tube.

Choice of Line
There are many lines that you can choose to ski in the bumps. You can ski in the valleys or troughs. This is the line water would take if you poured it down the slope. The other option is to take the rounder line turning on top of the bumps. Both may be needed; and which line you choose will depend on the type of bumps. Experiment with different lines!

Look Ahead
If you are not looking ahead then you are not going to be able to plan and choose a good line. Looking further down the slope will give you a better flow and rhythm, and help you to have “quick feet” – which is vital in the bumps.

Tip : Don’t look at the turn you are on or you will be too late for the next one! Look 2 or 3 turns ahead.

Quick feet
Having the ability to move your feet quickly is a key skill. You will need to stay centered to enable your legs to turn. Try to reach forward with your pole plant to re-center and to stop you from getting in the back seat.

Tip: practice quick short turns on the piste to prepare you to move quickly when you get into the moguls.

Bend and Stretch
As the terrain changes underneath you will need to flex and extend your legs in order to keep your skis in contact with the snow and have a smoother ride! Allow your legs to bend on the upside of the bump as the bump “pushes” against you. Then on the backside, as the bump falls away, extend your legs and get the tips of your skis down to keep contact with the snow.