Top Ski-C tips for Beginners

If you’re about to head out on your first skiing trip then it can be a pretty daunting prospect, where to go, what to buy, what to wear, whether to have lessons, the list goes on and on… We’ve put together a handy guide to your first ski holiday which will hopefully take some of the stress out of that first trip.

1. Resort choice: Firstly you need to make sure you choose the right resort as some resorts are more catered to beginners than other. Ideally you should choose somewhere with several wide nursery slopes (preferably with direct access from the village) for the first few days and wide sweeping green and blue runs for later on in the week.

2. Gear: The most common question we get asked by beginners is ‘what should I take with me?’ For your first holiday we recommend borrowing as much from friends and relatives as you can as it can work out quite expensive to fully stock your wardrobe with all of the necessary skiing essentials. As a bare minimum you’ll need to pack a ski jacket, salopettes, gloves, thin jumpers (that can be layered up depending on the weather), thermals, ski socks, sunglasses, goggles, a hat and suncream. If you do want to take the plunge and buy your own gear, but don’t want to spend a fortune the several shops now offer deals on ski gear bundles, see here for an example.

Moving on to the equipment side of things you’ll need to hire skis or snowboard, boots and a helmet. You can either do this when you arrive in resort or you can save time and money by booking equipment online beforehand.

3. Lessons: As a beginner we’d strongly recommend signing up for lessons in your first week. This will speed up your progress and make your first skiing experience more enjoyable. Don’t let any more experienced friends convince you that they can teach you as what will inevitably happen is that they’ll give you a few pointers and then get bored of the nursery slopes and leave you to your own devices! Worse still they’ll try and take you on a slope that you’re blatantly not capable of skiing and it’ll all end in tears (I’m speaking from experience on this one, and yes Liz, 7 years on I’m still really sorry that I took you down that red run!).

If you have the time it’s also a really good idea to have a few lessons on an artificial slope in the UK before you go. This will make you feel more comfortable in the gear and will make those first few hours on the snow far less daunting.

4. Ski pass: As a beginner you’re better off waiting until you get to resort before deciding what ski pass to get. In most resorts the nursery slopes are free to use and your instructor will let you know from which day you’ll need to get a pass as you progress higher up the mountain. Also many ski resorts have different levels of passes which allow you to ski different parts of the mountain area and as a beginner the pass covering the smallest area usually provides you with enough runs for your first week.

And finally, just enjoy it! Do let us know if you’re a first time skier and have any other queries, we’re always happy to help!