Skiing is a lot like life: You never stop learning. No matter how many years you’ve been at it, each day brings its own set of challenges, its own set of lessons. Recently the women on TheSkiDiva talked about some of the things they’ve learned this past season. So listen up, class, and take a lesson from the Divas:

  • Snow addiction is real. Powder fever is, too.
  • The more I try not to buy anything new, the more I inevitably end up buying.
  • I can’t say no to a good deal.
  • Trusty backcountry buddies are hard to find.
  • Telemarking is not as hard as I thought it would be.
  • Sit skiing is way harder than I thought it would be.
  • Confidence is the best friend for ski improvements.
  • Falling off a double black head first for 400 vertical meters destroys said confidence.
  • Always respect the mountain.
  • Marathon training and ski season do not mix.
  • Pilates and yoga are great supplements to skiing.
  • A ski resort is like a snow globe – a small bubble community. Once in a while, someone shakes the snow globe and there’s more powder.
  • Ski resorts are a mecca for flu, viruses, and food poisoning.
  • Bullying and sexual harassment still exist on and off the slopes.
  • All snow offers opportunities for learning, so boot up and make the most of it, even when it’s cornstarch-over-ice.
  • Stay relaxed when skiing on ice. I used to tense up and it made me more unsteady on ice patches. Now that I relax I handle them much better.
  • Proper pole length and usage are important and can have a major effect – both good or bad – on your skiing.  It’s impossible to get forward when your poles are too long.
  • Sometimes life gets in the way of skiing and that’s sad; accepting that takes some work. It made me appreciate the days that I got to ski even more.
  • A good instructor will push you just beyond your level of comfort to help you learn something new without making you terrified. When I achieved open parallel turns this season on some of the steeper green terrain at a new-to-me hill, it felt like a whole different world opened up.
  • A compassionate instructor can understand why a new skier may be fearful, and helps you get over that fear and keep anxiety at bay so you can continue to progress and experience the joys skiing.
  • Articulating what you want to get out of your lesson is essential for maximizing your skill development. I come prepared with an index card and a brief bullet list that I keep in my jacket pocket.
  • With control comes speed, and sometimes, with speed comes control.
  • Making more challenging terrain shallower and easier terrain steeper helps build confidence.
  • Even if you had what you think is a bad ski day, you’ve still learned something. If you walk to your car on two feet with all your body parts intact, whatever went wrong that day is fixable. The mountain will still be there to welcome you back.
  • Do apres. Whether it’s a beer for you or a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies with your sweetie, do apres.
  • Ski Divas are a great source of advice.