Learn to ski

• Introduction
• Schussing
• Snowplough braking & turning
• Alpine skiing posture
• Edging, traversing & sliding
• Snowplough steering
• Poleplant

• For the smaller children: consider to let them wear diaper pants. In case of a "pee accident" the consequences won't be so great.
• Of course it is nice as a parent to go skiing with your child at the end of the day, when your child returns from ski lessons. You have to ask yourself though whether it is wise to do that for a long time or whether it must necessarily be a black run. And ski lessons, and making a snowman, and going for a swim, and eating out until late on the same day is too much, simply unwise and calls for accidents.
• Taking a few lessons every year in an indoor ski hall in your home country is a perfect preparation for as well beginners as more advanced skiers. It helps your technique and prevents muscle pain.
• Don't look at other people to learn how to ski: most people can't ski!
• Rent cheap skis, poles and helmet. You won't notice the difference.
• Wear a helmet.
• Wear multiple layers of merino wool shirts. Merino wool doesn't stink very quickly and also isolates when it is wet.
• Ask advice which ski pass you should buy! That can save you a lot of money.
• Return the ski pass at the end of your holiday. Most of the time there is a refund ("pfand").
• Always wear gloves when carrying your skis. The edges are very sharp.
• Always wear your gloves when skiing. Even though it's hot. If you fall you can hurt your hands considerably.
• How to hold your ski poles video
• Standing up after a crash video
• Schuss video
• Snowplough video
• Snowplough turns video
• The Alpine skiing posture is as follows:
  
  • Skis are parallel (hip wide, +/- 10 cm apart from each other).
  • Mountain ski is half a shoe forward relative to your valley ski.
  • Put 90% of your weight on your downhill ski.
  • Bring the skis on their edges, knees to the mountain.
  • Ankles, knees and hips are slightly bent. (How much? Put your hands on your knees: that much! And everything is bend in the same angle.)
  • Advance your uphill ski, -hip, -shoulder and -arm (Open to the valley. Shoulders, hips and hands are parallel to the ski tips).
  • Lean your upper body slightly forward-downhill. Bend your hip and knees. How Much? You should be able to put your hands on your knee.
  • Head to the valley, over your downhill ski. (Vomit in the valley, shit on the mountain.)
  • Bring your slightly bend arms in front of your body (pretend to hug your ski teacher).
• The position of your arms is very important. It helps with being "movement ready", putting pressure on your ski tips, preventing rotation and is necessary for a correct pole positioning.
• Alpine skiing posture video
• Edging & sliding video
• Don't go faster with your body then you can think with your mind.

• Don't use the whole width of the slope. Rule of thumb is that you shouldn't use more than half of the width.
• Don't use the left or right one and a half meter of the slope. That can be used by someone out of control who doesn't want to hit you.
• Don't ski from bump to bump. Look at the next 7 meters of the slope. That way it is much easier to anticipate a bumpy slope. Look forward, not down. Ski the slope, not the next turn.
• Don't ski lazy. If you ski in a very relaxt holiday style you will learn your body to ski lazy. It is a sport: put on your ski face!
• Prevent static skiing: you will be just a passenger of your skies. With dynamic skiing you decide where the skis are going.
• Don't ski with the same speed all the time. Ski with different speeds: fast turns 1 2 3 4, slow turns 5 6 7, fast turns 1 2 3 4, etc. This keeps you dynamic and agile.
• As with walking: unwind your feet all the time: toes, full sole, toes, full sole. This also keeps you dynamic and agile.
• Control your speed, don't go faster with every turn. What helps is slow counting: 21, 22, 23, etc. Every beat is one, whole turn.
• If it gives you a good feeling to touch the snow with one of your poles while skiing: touch the snow with your valley pole: that assures your weight is not too much to the mountain.
• Make a video of your ski partner with your mobile phone and evaluate together.

• All (up/forward) motion should be fluid.
• With the up/forward motion I mean: go on your toes to the front, to the valley. Use your toes and knees for this, not your hip.
• An alternative for the up/forward motion is to push your shoes backwards. Same effect!
• 50% Of the curve is weight distribution. The other 50% is the down movement. Go for the 100%!
• We can't do a lot in the fall line. (The spot with the 50/50 weight distribution.) But in preparation of the turn we can make sure that our posture is correct. After the fall line we can make sure that we are going to stand on our lower ski and take the time to steer out and go down with our body to build pressure. (How much down? Put your hands on your knees: that much!)
• Saying in your head what you should do helps to pace the turns.
• Take your time, speed is not important. We want fluid turns: not too fast to the 50/50 and not to fast away from the 50/50.
• Don't make the next turn until the current turn is ready!
• Tip 1 for the advanced parallel short turns skier: Extend mountain ankle/put pressure on your mountain toe right at the start of the turn: this helps to put pressure on the outside ski right away: you start your turn really immediately.
• Tip 2 for the advanced parallel short turns skier: Make a quick, agressive, short, much bigger banana (edge more) at the end of the curve. You will get an enormous rebound from your skies. And you will notice immediately when you are leaning backwards or are in the middle of your skies too much!

• Green: Learning or Beginner slopes (Spain, France, Scandinavia, UK, Poland).
  These are usually not marked trails, but tend to be large, open, gently sloping areas at the base of the ski area. Sometimes marked as a Green circle.
• Blue: Easy slopes.
  Similar to the North American Green Circle. These are almost always groomed. The slope gradient shall not exceed 25% except for short wide sections with a higher gradient. Sometimes marked as a Blue square.
• Red: Intermediate slopes.
  Similar to the North American Blue Square. Steeper, or narrower than a blue slope. These are usually groomed, unless the narrowness of the trail prohibits it. The slope gradient shall not exceed 40%, except for short wide sections with a higher gradient. Sometimes marked as a red rectangle.
• Black: Expert slopes.
  Equivalent to the North American Black Diamond or Double Black Diamond. Steep, may or may not be groomed, or may be groomed for moguls. In Austria, Italy and Switzerland black pistes are nearly always groomed, as non-groomed pistes are marked as skiroutes. In France, some black pistes are groomed, but most are not. Black can be a very wide classification, ranging from a slope marginally more difficult than a Red to very steep avalanche chutes. France tends to have a higher limit between red and black. Sometimes marked as a black diamond.
• Double or triple black diamond: Extremely difficult slopes (Scandinavia).
  
• Orange: Extremely difficult slopes (Austria, Switzerland).
  
• Yellow square, orange square, red diamond: Ungroomed and often unpatrolled skiroute.
  In Austria, ski routes are usually marked with orange squares. It is also common to mark those pistes with a red diamond or a red diamond with black edges (the latter being more difficult).

Alpine slope classification in Europe is less rigidly tied to slope angle than in North America. A lower angle slope may be classified as more difficult than a steeper slope if, for instance, it is narrower and/or requires better skiing ability.
(Source: Wikipedia - Piste)