The Best Resorts for New Skiers
Being a former New England and current Colorado skier, I have experienced many of the various ski schools in North America. Since I have many “cyber ski friends” throughout the and , I was curious about their opinion on the best places to take a new skier. This article is a result of that informal survey. The opinions are those of real live skiers, not of advertising agencies.
First, let’s explore what makes a good ski area for new skiers. Take a look at the ski resort’s trail map. Ski trails are rated Green as easiest, Blue as intermediate and Black as advanced. A good ski area for beginners will have a significant number of green ski trails. Even more important is having a beginner area that is secluded from the rest of the mountain. Also, the ski resort should have a separate learning to ski area that features a beginner’s surface lift.
The hardest part of teaching new skiers to ski is the horrific rental equipment. For the most part, rental boots are simply awful. Unfortunately, they can often make or break a first ski lesson. Before choosing a ski area for your first-timer, take a look at the rental shop. Notice whether the ski-techs are giving the students enough attention. If they seem rushed, or if there are a lot of skiers returning their boots because of extreme discomfort, choose another resort!
A ski instructor friend of mine brought up some other important features. If you are trying to get a new skier hooked on the sport, make sure that you take them to the area at a time when the weather is not too cold. Beginners usually prefer soft packed powder. If they have to travel four hours on a Friday night to arrive at the condo by midnight, drag equipment up four flights of steps and wake up on time for a 9:00am lesson, they are going to be unhappy campers. Also, you will want to avoid taking them skiing on really crowded days.
Skiers and snowboarders have very different patterns of movements. While intermediate skiers can deal with this, novices are often terrified. If possible, take them out West to Alta, which is a skier-only mountain with a separate learning area. If you can afford it, try Deer valley.
Beginner slopes should be wide and well groomed. There should be a gradual progression form the learning area to the intermediate slopes. Big sky Montana is wonderful in this regard. The slopes are wide, impeccable groomed and never crowded. Having watched some of their instructors in action, I can safely say that their ski school is amazing.
You also want to consider the total the total skiing experience. In other words, your novice skier should have other things in the ski town to enjoy. My first ski lesson was at Killington. My first reaction was to wonder how in the world they made a Vermont ski town resemble NewarkNew Jersey! Needless to say, I did not try again for 12 years!
Towns such as Stowe, Breckenridge, Whistler and Park City offer a quaint and exciting atmosphere. Of course, everything is a matter of personal preference. A young, single woman who likes the fast pace of the big cities would probably love the Killington party atmosphere, as well as the excellent male to female ratio.
There are also different types of ski lessons. Some are gender-specific; others focus on a specific learning technique. A very athletic novice may enjoy one of the direct-to parallel approaches, such as http://www.harbskisystems,com/. Others argue that this sort of system may be inappropriate for timid beginners.
A few of my ski instructor friends advise strongly against a dreaded phenomenon: the family private lesson. Just because you are a family, it does not mean that your learning styles are the same. Either the parents become humiliated in front of their kids, or vice versa.
So where are the best ski resorts for new skiers? Surprisingly, many of my friends suggested smaller areas, such as http://www.windhammountain.com/. According to Windham instructor Paul W. HartnÃ?¤gel, this program won the resort a National Ski Association of America award. “Sign up online, we meet you at the curb, walk you through rentals, a couple hours instruction, lunch at elevation, a couple more hours instruction, cocoa and review, 5×7 photo, and a return visit discount card.”
Both LibertyMountain and Windham win again with the Snow Time program. This program is offered at Liberty Mountain Resort, Whitetail and Roundtop all of which are located in South Central Pennsylvania. This year it is called the Mountain Passport Club. Every level 1 skier receives a coupon during the lesson. The coupon is redeemable for a discounted return visit lift/lesson/rental package. On the skier’s second visit, they receive a free discount card good for 40% off of future visits, free lessons for the rest of the season and a coupon booklet. Instructors write their name on these coupons, which allow them to earn prizes for the most redeemed coupons. This gives them the motivation to give an excellent lesson.
The East again got high points with 7springs resort. In fact, it ranked 5th and 6th in the East by Ski Magazine, even though the resort is not an advertiser! That being said, the West is still quite popular. I have taken lessons in New England, , Utah and . So far, no ski area has exceeded the quality of lessons I’ve received at Copper Mountain. I wish that I had learned there as a new skier. Copper has a separate beginners’ skiing area known as Union Creek. It is filled with gentle, rolling hills, far from the madding crowds! Although Copper is my favorite, ski lessons in most of Summit County, Colorado are often very high quality. Summit County Colorado ski instructors are obsessed with improving their ski -instructional skills. They meet once a week for what is known as movement analysis classes, where they watch videos in order to determine how to improve their students’ skiing skills.
When you decide to initiate someone into our wonderful sport, there is one thing that should be made very clear: under no circumstances should you attempt to teach your friend, spouse, child or lover. It’s a perfect way to ruin a relationship. Once your novice skier becomes proficient, don’t expect them to become immediate experts. If you absolutely hate to ski green trails, don’t. Let them ski in class or by themselves. Keep in mind that they are probably going to be skiing much slower than you are. If you ski too quickly, they start making incomplete turns in order to keep up with you. This can lead to a frustration that produces incomplete turns, which are hard habits to break.
If skiing is sport you want to enjoy with someone special, make sure that you make it a special experience.
