10 Top Tips to make your first Ski Holiday awesome!
HELPFUL TIPS AND SECRETS THAT BEGINNER SKIERS NEED TO KNOW
So you’ve booked your first skiing or snowboarding holiday, congratulations! That first-ever trip to the slopes is always going to be memorable, but it can also be overwhelming. You’re heading into a new world with its own language, lifestyle rules, and a resort culture that can be baffling to get your head around.
So I’ve put together a list of the things I always tell my friends before they take their first trip to the snow. It’ll help you avoid some common mistakes that first-timers make and help you have the best holiday imaginable.
So read my top ten tips to make your first ski holiday awesome!
Get some practice in
If you’re lucky enough to live near an indoor snowdome or dry slope, head there for a few taster sessions before heading out on holiday. It’ll give you a head start when you arrive, you won’t be starting from scratch, and you’ll progress off the nursery slopes faster. It’s also a great way of getting kids excited and raring to get to the mountains.
Get fit before you go
Ski and snowboard holidays are energetic and active. You’ll be doing a sport you’ve maybe never done before, using muscles you don’t usually use, and doing it for several hours a day, five or six days in a row! That’s a lot to ask of your body. So give yourself a fighting chance by getting your fitness levels up before you go. You can find plenty of beginner ski and snowboard-specific fitness guides online.
I love this Instagram account, Mobility Duo – a snow-mad couple who are 1 physio and 1 yoga teacher, specifically for snowboarders and skiers. Not only are they hilarious, but they offer free flexibility and strength advice. Plus, online yoga classes if you are looking for longer courses. Check out their top 5 stretches for snowboards in the video here.
Pick a good resort
As with everything in life, not all ski resorts are created equal when it comes to beginner skiers! So choose wisely…
Every ski resort has beginner areas, nursery slopes, and ski schools so that you can learn to ski anywhere. But some resorts are better for beginners than others, with more novice areas, longer green runs and better features for beginners to progress through.
La Plagne is a favourite, thanks to the beginner areas in each of the villages, so wherever you stay, you’ll find a nursery slope close by.
Alpe d’Huez is another popular choice because of its high concentration of green and blue runs and the designated slow zones around the mountain.
But one of my favourite beginner areas in France has to be Les Deux Alpes. This resort has a unique design that puts the beginner runs at the top of the mountain instead of tucked away at the bottom. So beginners can get a cable car up to the top – no chair or drag lifts to worry about – and learn to ski on wide flat runs at high altitudes with incredible views. Then get the cable car back down. Perfect!
Book accommodation close to the snow
One way to make a ski holiday cheaper is to book accommodation down the mountain or far from the centre of the resort. But I wouldn’t recommend that for your first trip. Remember you’ll be walking in ski boots while carrying skis or snowboards, and maybe carrying children in ski boots, plus their equipment. All while trying to get to your ski lessons on time.
Do yourself a favour and make your first holiday as easy as possible by booking accommodation as close to the central hub of the resort as you can. Then once you’re an old hand at this, once you know your way around resort life, you can look to book further away.
Get lessons from a qualified instructor
Don’t allow your friends or partner to teach you to ski or snowboard! It will lead to frustrations, frayed tempers and terrible technique!
Book proper lessons, at least for the first few days. Yes, it costs money, but I promise it’s worth it. Your instructor will not only teach you how to ski or snowboard properly but also essential skills like piste etiquette and mountain safety. They’ll guide you to slopes perfect for your abilities, and you’ll have fun with skiers of the same level as you. Let your more advanced friends go off and ski without you, and you can all meet up for lunch to discuss your new skills.
Wear the right gear
Ski gear isn’t designed just to look cool; it performs a specific function: to keep you dry and warm and protected from the extreme conditions on the mountain. If you don’t dress appropriately, you’ll end up wet and cold and won’t enjoy your experience half so much. So, you need:
- Proper thermals, ski socks and gloves to keep your core and extremities warm.
- A couple of thin warm mid-layers that you can layer up or down depending on the temperature.
- Salopettes and a jacket made of insulating, waterproof materials.
- Goggles or sunglasses with quality lenses to protect your eyes from harmful UV rays.
- A helmet to protect your head.
- Sunscreen, the sun is powerful in the mountains, and it reflects on the snow, making sunburn a genuine concern. So protect your face!
Note – ‘quality’ and ‘proper’ doesn’t necessarily mean expensive. You can get decent thermals and awesome ski gear from budget or second-hand shops. It doesn’t have to be high-end. It just has to be designed for the job.
Ease the ache
No matter how much effort you put into getting fit before your holiday, your muscles will ache after a day on the slopes. This is because you’ll be using muscles you don’t usually use. You’ll be walking in ski boots, carrying equipment, falling over and pulling yourself back up. In short, you’ll be working hard. So make sure you look after yourself.
When you get home after a day skiing, stretch out those muscles, do a little yoga in the evenings, have a hot bath or make the most of the spa, sauna or hot tub facilities in your accommodation. And consider booking a mid-week massage to pamper those ski legs.
Eat right
Ski holidays take a lot of energy, and you need to refuel your body to keep going all week. Start your days with a hearty breakfast with plenty of protein and slow-release carbs. Opt for eggs, whole-wheat toast, porridge, granola, and fruit to start your day off right. Then hit the slopes with a few energy-rich snacks in your pockets, such as cereal bars, nuts and dried fruit.
Try to keep it light when it comes to lunch; a heavy meal will only make you sleepy and sluggish for the afternoon. So instead, stick to something light like sandwiches or soup.
Then dinner is where you can let loose. This is your opportunity to replenish all the energy you lost during the day, and Alps food is there to help you do that. Tuck into delicious protein-rich, carbohydrate-heavy meals like fondue, pierrade and tartiflette with plenty of potatoes and bread, all in the name of refuelling for tomorrow.
Hydrate
Drink water, then drink some more water and then, just to be on the safe side, drink a whole lot more water.
It’s not just the exertions of skiing that you need to counteract, but altitude too. When you arrive in the alps, you might notice that your skin dries out, and your lips get chapped. That’s the lack of moisture in the air and your body dehydrating several times faster than it would at sea level. So drink plenty of water throughout the day, and carry a water bottle or Camel Bak while skiing.
Do your drinking early and get to bed early
Speaking of drinking, one of the best things about a ski holiday is the apres-ski culture. Technically apres-ski is anything you do after skiing, so it could be outdoor activities, dinner, board games, or shopping. Still, when you hear the term thrown around, it generally means drinking alcohol. Specifically, drinking after skiing and before dinner. So roughly 4 pm till 8 pm, that’s the apres-ski sweet spot. That’s when you’ll find live bands playing in bars, people dancing in the snow in their ski boots or on tables in their socks, throwing back vin chaud, jaeger bombs and shots of toffee vodka with abandon. It’s just great fun.
One of my most important top tips to make your ski holiday awesome is to leave after the apres! If you leave the bar at 8 or 9 pm, you can grab a pizza and be home, rehydrating and tucked up in bed by 11 pm. Get a full night’s sleep, and be up, fresh and ready to start another day on the slopes.
However – if you don’t leave at the end of the apres session, if you stay in the bar for the late-night frivolities, if you continue drinking and stumble home at 2 am, that next day on the slopes is not going to go nearly as well. You have been warned.
Now get out there!
That’s it. Those are my top tips to make your first ski holiday awesome! What do you think? Do you still have questions? Are you worried about some aspects of your first ski trip? Drop me a message, and I’ll try and help!
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