What Level of Skier are you?

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It’s nice to know what level of skiing you are at before starting on your lessons, so you don’t get things repeated to you that you already know. You may be surprised at how high your skiing level is – I was! You can apply this to either yourself or your children. However, if you’re starting at L1, do make sure that you or your kids have had a go at skiing before you start your first ever lesson – it’s important that you do!

To start off at Level 1, you will firstly be introduced to your ski equipment (between me and you, you should already know it!). You will then be given an array of activities to increase your confidence on the snow. Firstly, you will try skiing in a straight glide down a gentle green run. After that, you can push yourself that little bit more, and make some gentle turns and manage to roughly stop under control using the snowplough.

After covering the snowplough in L1, by the time you get to Level 2, you don’t have to have completed it perfectly! It will be perfected even more within this level of skiing ability. Gradually, you will then start making extension (“up”) and flexion (“down”) movements as you start making turns in the snow.

When you reach Level 3, you will continue to extend and flex your legs, ankles, hips and spine as you turn. This will be made even more fun by taking you to a slightly steeper slope – the blue run. At this level, you are beginning to gain plenty of confidence in improving your balance on your outside ski. You will have covered this in L1 in order to get on to the slopes themselves, but by this level, you will have perfected the draglift (button lift, as I like to call them) without falling off! What you will gradually start to master is the chairlift – it’s not something you will perfect right away like the draglift, but that is what your instructor is there for!

At Level 4, as you are beginning to master the blue run, you are given more of an opportunity to perfect the tricky extension and flexion. The improvements built up over this, enables enhancements on the movements that you are making down the slopes. By this point, you will have good control over your speed and direction and maybe even start on those dreaded red runs!

Level 5 is a tad tougher – you have now covered greens all the way through to reds… confidently. What’s that much more trickier is now pushing yourself even harder and attempting the moguls, the black runs and also the un-pisted terrain. This means that you will now be more reliant than ever on turning with your shoulders, however you will also be lacking movement and rhythm with your legs. Unfortunately, this creates your turns to roughly be the same shape and size, but doesn’t always match the terrain.

Finally, there is Level 6. At this point, you can now carve clean tracks on blue and red runs in good conditions – you are now a fantastic skier! You may even be keen to get even better… ‘how?’ you may ask. Well, try out some of the icy pistes in more variable conditions. Remember when carving to push on the outside of your skis. It will five you a great rhythm and people will see you flying past and think ‘aren’t they such an amazing skier?’ Because you now are. At this level of skiing, you can even train to be a L1 Instructor!

So, if you weren’t sure about how to move up from the level of skiing you are already at, now you are. Feel more confident with your skiing in order to push yourself even further!

May Johnson, February 2015
www.littleskiers.co.uk on-line ski wear & accessories for all the family 

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