There’s nothing better than trying something new after all, life is all about challenging ourselves to become better people right? Loads of people put off taking to the slopes for longer than they really need to, simply out of fear they’ll make an idiot of themselves falling over in the snow but the comforting thing is that everyone falls over sooner or later.
Watch A Video
Seriously, YouTube has a wealth of ski clips, tutorials and action-packed videos for newbies to watch so you can get the hang of the theory before you have a go yourself. Once you understand how they’re able to stand upright without sliding backward, it’ll calm any pre-holiday nerves as well as reassure you that whizzing between trees, zooming down almost vertical slopes and gliding through endless white powdery snow is quite a lot of fun. You won’t be able to manage all this on your first trip, though.
However, skiing isn’t as hard as it looks so you’ll be doing your first snowplow in no time. Try to avoid videos where the conditions aren’t right, or it’s hard to see what’s happening as the best clips for beginners are those with blue skies, lots of sun and smiley skiers skimming the slopes. Whatever you don’t watch skiing accident clips and don’t even think about searching for avalanche videos!
Sashay To A Chalet
It may be the best way to save money but when it comes to accommodation beginners should avoid a self-catering apartment. Why? If you’ve never been near a ski slope in your life, you’re going to have enough to worry about without thinking about what to cook for dinner.
A luxury ski chalet, or catered chalet hotel will take care of all that for you, as well as providing breakfast, lunch, a snack buffet, wine and lots of friendly reassurance. The concierge, or chalet manager will be aware you’re beginners simply by how nervous you look on the first day! They’ll probably introduce you to key staff, take you to the ski hire place and point out the nursery slopes at the same time.
Hit The Gym
Funnily enough, skiing requires you to exercise so if you’re not quite as in shape as you’d like then now’s the time to tone up otherwise you’ll be too tired to get out of bed. Ski maneuvers will use muscles you’ve probably never even hear of and while the snowplough, your classic beginner pose isn’t taxing when you’ve been doing it the entire morning in sub-zero temperatures you’re going to seize up pretty quickly.
The best time to start a ski-specific fitness plan is about twelve weeks before your trip, so that your body has time to get used to the workouts but if you’ve left it a little late don’t worry. Eat while standing up, it’s good for the system anyway, and practice bending your legs at 90 degrees for about ten seconds. If you struggle to get back up or feel your ankles giving way then we suggest a few more daily runs, lunges or digging out the old stair master!