A good coach needs to master two major things: the ski/snowboard technique itself, as well as the way they deliver the lesson. When searching for a suitable coach, make sure they are able to provide evidence of their expertise: the best coaches can easily demonstrate carving on the slope, and how close their hands are to the snow; you can easily tell the power and speed of which they ride. In addition, always discuss with the coach your child's ski level, age, and other activities before the lesson; based on the information you provide, a good coach can plan a lesson more efficiently and fulfill your child's individual needs.
To view our athletes and coaches, visit the gallery of this school's website.
People argue on this topic all the time and all the places. From my point of view, as a certified coach of both ski and snowboard, I can tell you from my teaching experience, I strongly recommend you to start with ski first. For beginners, ski is easy to learn but hard to master it, at the same time, snowboard is the other way around. For anyone who is new to a sport they never try, fun and safety is the most important factor you need to consider. from physics view, ski is allow you to distribute your weight evenly on two skis, and you just transfer your weight on each leg to initial the turn, after a few tries, you can enjoy the sport very quickly without too many falls. From snowboard learning, however, it requies you to put your whole weight on one side of your edges of your snowhoard, regarding if you are using front edge or back edge, your legs are very easy to get tired, and there are going to be a lot of falls and hurting, the newbie won't enjoy the ride at the very begining a few runs.
For your first ever skis, you don't have to buy a brand new one. A good used skis could be a good start. Once you start skiiing for some time and get to know ski much better, you can decide what kind of ski fits your ski style, you can either going forward looking for race skis or free stype skis , or maybe you want to try snowboard ( see our discount offer on snowboard if you have tried ski lessons from our school before).
You also need to have a good ski jacket, snow pants, gloves, helmet, mask, neck warmer and a decent goggles.
Once you are familiar with this sport, ski or snowboard, then you can decide what your next step is, please refer to question, "what kind of ski I should buy"
There are many kinds of skis on the market, but general speaking, there are three categories as below: General skis, race skis, free style skis. If you are just looking for everyday ski and can go to all mountains and terrians, on or off-piste slope, dry or wet snows, you should choose a multievent ski or called all-mountain skis, they are build for all purposes, perform well in most conditions. If you would like to persuit speed, a race ski would be your choice, if you have a great time on terrain park, you need to choose a free style skis. refer the links below to understand camber, rocker, sidecut, radius, flex, etc.
https://www.outsidesports.co.nz/buyers-guides/types-of-skis.htm
If this is your first time ski or snowboard, we will meet at magic carpet at St. Louis base, if you have ski some times and know the terrian very well, we should meet at North entrance at St. Louis base, just outside of "rental returns" office and under the clock tower. Please note, there are two parking lots at St. Louis & Moonstone, we always meet our students at St. Louis base , not moonstone.
The pre-race program is designed for young athletes aged 7-10. They are expected to be able to ski on blue/black slopes comfortably, perform parallel turns, and execute the hockey stop consistently. They are also required to be able to take the chair lift on their own.
It is required that they take a few private lessons from our school, and the coach will evaluate their level first and give some recommendations before joining the pre-race team.