Teaching Someone To Ski

hands up, eyes forward, and please for the love of god start on the tow bar. unless she is extremely athletic and coordinated do not scare her away asking too much off the bat. just start with pizza then progress to adding pressure to each foot to initiate turning etc then onto edging.

Have you considered maybe setting her up with an actual ski instructor for a lesson or two just so she gets the basics? I attempted to teach a bf how to ski and we ended up getting into arguments because he'd get so frustrated and whatnot. I got him a lesson and was able to head out on my own for a bit. Came back to grab him and he had improved quite a bit. Just alleviated the stress

I was talking to this old ski bum one day after I took my girlfriend of the time skiing (it was a disaster) and he said " Never try to teach your girlfriend how to ski. You will end up not skiing anything fun and she will probably cry or some shit" (which she did). He went on to say that you should hire an instructor and ski all day, see her at lunch. Then grab some beers, get drunk, try to swing a threesome with her mom. When that fails, drugs and a life of solitude.

yelselHave you considered maybe setting her up with an actual ski instructor for a lesson or two just so she gets the basics? I attempted to teach a bf how to ski and we ended up getting into arguments because he'd get so frustrated and whatnot. I got him a lesson and was able to head out on my own for a bit. Came back to grab him and he had improved quite a bit. Just alleviated the stress

So much this

I tried to teach my girlfriend to ski last year and it was a total disaster. We got maybe 10m down the hill and I ended up skiing to the bottom and getting an instructor.

Learning to ski when you are older must be a really weird foreign feeling that I couldnt even imagine which made it very frustrating for both of us when I was pretty much just standing there saying "well you know.... you just kinda do it"

Everyone will have a different way to teaching to ski but here's mine.
Obviously teach snowplough first, keeping in mind these 3 rules;
1. Stay centred, by not being too far forward or back, this also means not leaning into the hill when moving across it (this puts weight on the uphill ski).
2. Turn by ONLY putting weight on the turning ski (left ski to turn right, right ski to turn left). This excluding leaning into the turn (like riding a bike) and trying to twist the upper body to get the lower body to turn.
3. And try and stay in a pizza position as much as you can, the bigger the pizza the slower you will go, also the sharper the turning angle. If a beginner tries to turn on a hill with a small pizza, they aren't going to turn very fast and chances are will pick up too much speed because they are facing down hill for too long and lose control.

Key tips:
- Spend more time going across the hill to control speed (weight on downhill ski)
- Keep an eye on her when she turns into the fall line, this can scare some when the speed picks up, which causes them to pull back a bit and put them in the back seat.
- Start on VERY easy slopes, an easy slope for you can be a nightmare for a beginner.

This should be enough to get her confident until she can parallel.
If anybody has any better methods please tell me so I can change mine.

just know that teaching a girlfriend is really hard. unless you are really careful she'll get frustrated and you will get frustrated and the drive home will be tense. with that said, be incredibly patient. in one 2 hour lesson with an adult the goal for a first timer is literally just to stop on the bunny slope. thats it.

start with simple movements in the ski boots and no skis. moving from side to side, making a wedge and a backwards wedge, rocking from toes to heels etc. then, try to teach her to hike uphill sideways in her skis just a few feet, use your hands and help her if she needs it, then help her get pointed down hill in a wedge (hold her in place in case she starts to slide) once she is in her wedge and pointed down a very short and mellow slope, emphasize leaning forward and sliding her heels together (smaller wedge) to go faster, and heels apart to slow down (bigger wedge). really emphasize not leaning back, but don't be a dick about it its a human instinct to lean back when sliding downhill so it might take some getting used to. sometimes it helps with confidence if you are in a backwards wedge ahead of them so they know even if they fuck up you can catch them. once she can stop from a few feet up, try taking the rope tow up to the top of the bunny slope and stopping a few times on the way down.

if she gets all that, is still having fun and feels confident, then move on to turns. keep her in the wedge and emphasize outside edge pressure to turn. I always ask people "which ski points to the left (when in a wedge)? the right, right? so if you want to turn left you actually lean on the right ski and try to point both tips over to the left." thats about all you will get into for the vast majority of first timers, maybe if she has rollerbladed or ice skated or is really athletic then she will pick up more, but i've had out of shape uncoordinated adults who literally spend the first 1.5 lessons unable to stop on the bunny hill without assistance, so don't place your expectations too high. lastly, you don't want to ruin this for her, so keep it fun and light hearted. if she gets bored or frustrated and wants to go have coffee in the lodge, do that. don't be the guy barking orders at someone who is obviously not getting it. if you ever even start to think "just do it!" in a frustrated tone then you have totally failed as a teacher. good luck, and keep her feeling safe and having fun!

Two things you never try to teach your significant other to do; ski and play golf. It will always end this way for you:

*JDBP*Never try to teach your girlfriend how to ski. You will end up not skiing anything fun and she will probably cry or some shit

EastShoreDriveTwo things you never try to teach your significant other to do; ski and play golf.

Seriously though just leave it to the professionals. We get paid to be patient and we don't have to see them after if things go south. I teach 3 to 6 year olds how to ski and snowboard and I nanny during the rest of the year. I have a ridiculous amount of patience but I still couldn't handle trying to teach my boyfriend how to ski.

If you really have to teach her, make sure she has a solid stance before anything. Being in the backseat is one of the most common problems for adult beginners. Weight on the downhill ski, do not look at your skis, and always keep your hands out in front of you. If you can handle it, definitely go switch in front of her to help her out. Hold your poles horizontally in your hands and have her grab into them. It'll keep her eyes up and her weight forward, and it'll keep her focused on you and out of her own head.

But seriously, think about just putting her in lessons at least for an hour or two.

tell ur gf to take lessons or figure it out herself. teaching people is just really frustrating, most girls just want you to hug them and throw snowballs at them and do all that shit. if they are just starting to ski, they don't know what skiing is all about. they won't get it until around 100 ski days of practicing. they just won't have an appreciation for it. you're never going to have fun, she's gotta learn until she can make it down a black in a timely manner. then you can ski with her and enjoy yourself as long as she doesn't get offenced that you rocket down without her. but unless you live at a resort, and she actually pushes herself, you're never going to have fun skiing with her. just the sad facts of life

I find you really have to get them to understand the idea and physics behind the tool, the ski.

The most important part of the ski is the edge, and using pressure and weight distribution gives control over the edge.

By first teaching snowplow, you really give beginners a easy grasp of how the edge, along with pressure and shifting of the weight, is used to control the ski.

Start her off sideways on a really mellow slope and grab her ski, showing her how when you flatten her ski more parallel with the slope, she slides. Then show her how when you turn her edge more perpendicular with the slope, she stops, or slows.

Get her to do this on her own a few times.

Then do it in snowplow, except hold her noses together. Get her to utilize her newfound understanding of the edge to control her speed through snowplow.

Then you show how shifting to one edge makes you turn.

Then once she can snowplow and turn everywhere you start getting her to lift her uphill foot when turning so she relies on one edge.

Then you work towards parallel turns.

Also, remember to demo a bunch for her in between getting her to practice technique.

Hope this helps.

But with your girl and it being the first time, just focus on taking it easy and really getting her to like love plowing.

Antwoin_RichardsBut with your girl and it being the first time, just focus on taking it easy and really getting her to like love plowing.

love***

Just get a drop in like 1-2 hour lesson. I've seen a ton of couples get into fights when one person is teaching another, especially if you don't have experience. I'm an instructor and I still would not really want to teach a gf how to ski, it could just quite easily go badly if they get frustrated.

If you really can't get an actually lesson. Just make sure that she can stop and do little turns (all in a pizza shape). You should not even go on an actual run for this, just find a tiny hill with some flat at the end and get her to stop, then do some turns.

Try to develop her fundamentals. Girls tend to ski slower so learning it should be easier than some kid who just wants to go fast. That being said...I HATE teaching anyone to ski I always get so jealous of other people going fast and am like eh fuck it ill see ya later.

As a level 1 PSIA certified insturctor with a girlfriend who learned how to ski last year your best bet by far is going to be to just get her a lesson. It was way frustrating teaching someone you know and understand so well, and to not have them pick up instantly on your cues was hard, at least for me. I had my friend give her a lesson, not that I was incapable, as to alleviate inevitable arguments surrounding skiing. Best of luck.

BlurstLearning to ski when you are older must be a really weird foreign feeling that I couldnt even imagine which made it very frustrating for both of us when I was pretty much just standing there saying "well you know.... you just kinda do it"

That is why I could never be a teacher. It baffles me at times how something so simple can be so complicated to beginners. But I guess at one point I was right beside them pizzaing it down the bunny hill.

Honestly teaching someone that you have emotional ties to is EXTREMELY difficult. I've been a ski instructor for years now and as frustrating as it can be trying to teach some 7 year old that doesnt want anything to do with skiing I have never had as hard a time as I did trying to teach one of my EXs. Often times you will have a hard time giving out criticism and they will have a hard time receiving it/taking it seriously from you. If she wants to learn to ski I would seriously suggest having someone else teach her. Though it will cost you money its really the best way to go, ask anyone who has serious experience instructing and you will almost undoubtedly get the same answer. I know all the guys I have worked with over the years agree. But if you MUST be the one to teach her some of the important things are:

Hands up, eyes down the hill where you want to go.

Knees bent (have her ski leaning as far forward as she can, then leaning as far back as she can, then go to a neutral stance centered over skis with knees slightly bent and she will instantly feel which position is easies to ski in, this is a great technique for getting someone out of an awkward stance)

And remember, what may be super easy terrain for you to ski on can be extremely difficult/intimidating to a beginner. I have had people who would freeze up as soon as they got off anything more than about the first 30ft of a bunny hill.
Another very important terrain consideration for teaching, pick something with a neutral fall line. Meaning the only slope should be down the hill where your end destination is, it shouldn't be sloping to either side. This is super difficult for a lot of people to learn the concept of turning on.

I hope it all works out for ya and you both have a great time! And if you do end up teaching her hopefully some of these basic tips help you out.

Hi--
I don't chime in here much. I grew up, moved to the suburbs, got married, had a kid, and that is why I can provide you with the ultimate wisdom on this issue. Your brain is about to explode and blood is about to gush out of your ears as a result of the awesome knowledge I am about to reveal to you...

Under no circumstances are you ever going to even consider teaching this young lady to ski.

Skiing is your time. Plain and simple. I can see you love it and it provides some sort of solace. You ski with friends no doubt. Cherish that shit, every goddamn moment. In a few years, your pot smoking buddies will be investment bankers and you won't be able to put together a single ski weekend. In fact, you won't ski much either...

I know what you are thinking--"not me, I love skiing, its part of me, I'll never let it go."--Thats what I said too. I went from 60 plus days a year on snow to watching entire seasons go by without getting in a single turn. Life gets in the fucking way.

Back to the girlfriend issue...

My parents have been happily married for 35+ years. My dad loves golf. Under no circumstances would my father entertain a conversation about my mother golfing, at least not within the same county as him. And there you have it.

Bringing your girlfriend skiing is like pissing on the Mona Lisa. You don't destroy that which is perfect.

And a good day to you kind sir...

aristotleAnd a good day to you kind sir...

word

bring a flask, bring her some chocolates, remind yourself how rad she is all day long

Thanks everyone, you're all the sickest. She's pretty dead set on me teaching her, but she has a good sense of humor so hopefully it'll all go well..

+k to everyone that helped, you guys rock

Antwoin_RichardsBut with your girl and it being the first time, just focus on taking it easy and really getting her to like love plowing.

This could easily be misunderstood for advice on sex for the first time

dont pizza when you are suppose to french fry and don't french fry when you're suppose to pizza.

The last time I tried to teach someone to ski I only taught them one thing: there are no friends on a powder day.

brett_f-Fan-ClubEveryone will have a different way to teaching to ski but here's mine.
Obviously teach snowplough first, keeping in mind these 3 rules;
1. Stay centred, by not being too far forward or back, this also means not leaning into the hill when moving across it (this puts weight on the uphill ski).
2. Turn by ONLY putting weight on the turning ski (left ski to turn right, right ski to turn left). This excluding leaning into the turn (like riding a bike) and trying to twist the upper body to get the lower body to turn.
3. And try and stay in a pizza position as much as you can, the bigger the pizza the slower you will go, also the sharper the turning angle. If a beginner tries to turn on a hill with a small pizza, they aren't going to turn very fast and chances are will pick up too much speed because they are facing down hill for too long and lose control.

Key tips:
- Spend more time going across the hill to control speed (weight on downhill ski)
- Keep an eye on her when she turns into the fall line, this can scare some when the speed picks up, which causes them to pull back a bit and put them in the back seat.
- Start on VERY easy slopes, an easy slope for you can be a nightmare for a beginner.

This should be enough to get her confident until she can parallel.
If anybody has any better methods please tell me so I can change mine.

This is really I think the best advice here if you really want to do this on your own. Lessons are a great option but it can turn into a pricey day - and not all instructors will be as invested in teaching them how to ski..
For rule number one I would Always tell beginners to keep their hands on their knees for the first few hours. It helps bring the weight forward and is a good thing to have her keep thinking about... Tell her to think about keeping the pressure from her shins on the front of the boot; knees bent hands on knees. This is huge to keep control of the ski.
For number two, sometimes telling people to push down their big toe onto the sole of the boot will create the edge pressure needed to initiate the turn. (Think of using the big toe to push a button)

Start at the bottom of the hill find a short short slope, or hike/skate halfway up the bunny-hill for those very first turns. Teaching her how to skate uphill or sidestep uphill helps get her familiar with the edges in a very inuitive way.

Stay patient. You're asking her to hang out in the cold in plastic boots that make you lean forward all weird, with slippery, sharp, clown shoes clamped on her feet. it might take a while before you can hit the chairlift but don't push her. It doesn't take much to get all out of control as a beginner and it doesn't take getting much out of control to get hurt.

but - it can all be done so go out there and have fun !

How was it?

TheUngroomedThanks everyone, you're all the sickest. She's pretty dead set on me teaching her, but she has a good sense of humor so hopefully it'll all go well..

+k to everyone that helped, you guys rock

Honestly I’d recommend having her take a couple of lessons with a ski instructor, in my experience teaching people you’re close with to ski can end realllyyyy badly, there’s a lot of impatience/frustration.

took my level 1 CSIA back in 2013, and i have a couple things i have that seem to be the best way to learn for beginners.
if she has skated before, or can do a sideways stop like you can on skates, skip the pizza.
if not, show her how to bend her knees, in a beef position, and tell her to put her poles up to her chest, almost like she is manning a gun on a battleship. tell her to point where she wants to go, and she will naturally transfer her weight from leg to leg while maintaining balance.
always start with the smallest bunnyhill you can find. it takes time, and yes can be annoying to wait, but the progression will come over time.
Another good excersise is just pushing snow with your ski trying to make a pile of snow. simple enough, this will give her a feel for her edges and will show her the feel of digging in.
Good luck my guy !

Taught gf to ski. Things I'd say help:

1.bright sunny warm spring day, I brought her to sunnyside alta on a 50 plus degree spring afternoon. It was soft and slushy and I wore Jeans and a flannel.
2.her favorite snacks, these help
3.start slow. I took her to a little t bar at first and before even getting on it had her practice walking around in skis.

Then I took her to the top and said follow me. She turned completely wrong and went straight off piste. We got up, tried it again and she picked it up when I told her imagine you're on roller blades. Now she rips groomers and it's actually tons of fun to ski with her

Way too complicated ....

Find a girl that already knows how to ski