4 reasons why it’s good to take early season lessons
SnowPros boss Dave Burrows, tells us why it is a good idea to take an early season ski lesson
I tune myself up progressively during the autumn so that I’ve got my ski legs back, and I’m skiing well by the time that ski season proper comes around.
Every autumn, I start skiing In September and October, and I’ll take a couple of ski trips to Saas Fee and Zermatt. Then in November and December, I’ll move to Les Diablerets and ski there a lot.
Once every two years, ski instructors have to take a CPD (continuing professional development) course, which updates you on the latest thinking on technique and teaching in the skiing or snowboarding world and keeps you fresh.
Here are 4 reasons why you should consider some early-season ski or snowboarding lessons;
1. Find your ski legs quicker
The chances are that you had a really good day in March last year where you felt like you were skiing really, really well. The sun was out, the snow was perfect and you had a great lunch at your favourite restaurant and life was good. Unfortunately, 9 months off snow hanging out by the lake means that you might have forgotten what made you ski so well on that day.
A session with an instructor can shortcut the process of finding that magic again and get you skiing well sooner rather than later. This way you can progress this year instead of just catching up to where you were.
2. Get rid of those old habits
When we first get back on snow, we always tend to go back to old habits, even if they are bad habits that don’t help us. This is just one of those weird and wonderful things that the human brain likes to do. We hardly ever retain the improvements we made in the previous winter.
I keep a notebook of key things that I’m working on and I write them down at the end of the season so that I can carry that progression into the following season. This winter I will start with my personal focus of level hips and shoulders from last year. You can talk with your instructor about where you got to last year and they will send you off in the right direction instead of those old habits.
3. Great conditions and quiet slopes
Conditions are often great in the early season. Some of the snow conditions that we had in Les Diablerets in November and December last year were nothing short of astounding. Max and I had one of our best powder days last year in December. The grippy, cold snow of the early season makes for great conditions to make big skiing improvements.
The other benefit to the early season is that a lot of people don’t think of skiing until January and so you often have the resort to yourself.
4. Ski longer, ski better
Extend the season - If you ski from November until April you can have a 6 month ski season. That’s something that they have in seemingly extreme places of the world like Alaska but with a bit of creativity, you can ski for 6 months of the year easily within about 50 minutes of the Swiss riviera. Early lessons in November and December can really get you set up well for the main part of the ski season from January to March. All of your friends will be marvelling at how well you are skiing :)
