About Skiing

Here are some things we have learned about skiing this week: 1) There is a international leveling system for skiers that ski schools use to help determine what to teach you (we knew this before but got a refresher course), 2) To complete a rainbow jump you must go fast enough and keep your skis in a tight parallel, 3) To ski in powder, keep your tips up and make shorter turns, 4) To clear a jump you have to be moving fast and sometimes you have to skate to get enough speed then lean forward at the top of the jump and make a soft landing, 5) To ski moguls, pick your path and put your pole on top of the mogul and turn a short turn around it, 6) that's all we can think of right now!

Here is the basic leveling system: Skiing ability level is a way of classifying skiers based on what they ski, their skiing ability, and how well they ski green, blue, and black slopes. Here is a summary of the skiing ability levels: Level One skiers are first time skiers, Level Two skiers are beginners who are able to do a wedge turn both ways and are able to stop, but they cannot link turns smoothly, Level Three skiers are confident and they can stop and make round snow plow turns on easy beginner trails, Level Four skiers are intermediate skiers who can link turns at moderate speed. (Level Four is a transition level in which skiers will begin to ski more blue intermediate runs), Level Five skiers are intermediates who are confident on easy blue runs and ski mostly parallel but may at times use the wedge to begin a turn or to stop, Level Six skiers make parallel turns on blue runs but do not ski advanced trails (they also use their poles to time turns), Level Seven skiers ski controlled parallel turns and can ski very well on blue trails (they can also ski black diamonds but they still have to work on style on these runs and they can adjust the size and length of their turns and are learning to ski on a variety of different types of snow and terrain), Level Eight skiers ski with good technique on all terrain and snow conditions (they can ski moguls and black diamonds with confidence), Level Nine skiers enjoy the challenge of difficult ski trails and ski moguls, steeps, and other black diamond terrain.

We are now level 7-8 skiers! We can't wait until next year!