How to avoid ski rage on your next ski holiday

On all my previous ski holidays I’ve always had that moment of anger as I either get cut up on the piste or worst of all shoved out of the way by someone wanting to get to the front of the lift queue a bit quicker than me.

Usually I take a deep breath and just ignore it, but sometimes, usually with hangover, I start fighting back and blocking their path or skiing after them. This obviously is something to be avoided as dangerous behaviour on the mountain can quickly get your ski ticket pulled away from you.

So here are some tips on how to avoid ski rage on your next ski holiday, and hopefully have a friendlier time with your fellow skiers.

1. Don’t ski too fast. You may think you’re as safe as anything flying down the mountain because you’ve been skiing for years and love it, and obviously the point of skiing is to enjoy it. But just ensure you match your level and speed of skiing to the level slope that you’re on. If you’re on a wide red or challenging black then fine, you can push your speed. But heading into resort on a nice beginners green or blue slope means you should slow down and take care around other people. Don’t forget they’ll be nervous about people whizzing past them and do you want to be responsible for them crashing.
2. Try and stick to pistes that you know you can tackle. We all like a challenge and the only way to get better will be to try harder pistes, but don’t try and impress your friends by trying the hard black when you’ve only just learnt to snow plough. Believe me, I speak from years of experience of trying to do too hard runs, they always end in tears! If you do want to try a tougher run then the best place to be is in a lesson with an experienced instructor. Speak to your instructor at the start of the lesson and tell him what you want to try. If he’s confident about you and the rest of the group he’ll probably oblige.
3. Don’t go down closed trails. The pisties are so experienced in what they do, and they wouldn’t want to close a piste if they didn’t have to. No matter how good a skier you think you are, don’t ever take the risk. In France if there is a  Piste Non Dame sign (piste not bashed) then although the piste looks closed you are able to ski down it, it’ll just be like skiing off piste (so be warned.) If the piste is closed it will say clearly so.
4. My worst bug bear is lift queue jumping, just don’t do it, it’s not worth it, it’s annoying and completely rude. End of!
5. Lift etiquette. You will be getting on lifts with people you don’t know, sometimes children. Ensure you leave enough room for everyone, some can be tight. If you’re obviously with children or beginners then be helpful, pull down the bar for them and make sure they have enough room when they get off.
6. Remember your piste etiquette. Those in front of you have right of way. You’ve got to avoid them, not them avoiding you, so check when you’re crossing trails, turning, stopping etc.

So, if we all try and remember the above 6 rules, then hopefully there will be no need for that ski rage incident this year, and the slopes should become a safer and friendlier place.