Beginner Skiing Basics - 3 Essentials to Know Before Your First Ski Holiday

Do not put your skis on by whacking your pole like this. Doing that risks hitting yourself in the knee or hitting someone else by swinging your pole around and actually doesn't do the job that you're trying to do, which is to clear all that snow that's stuck onto the bottom of your boot. The way that you're supposed to put your skis on is stand fairly forward on your skis. Stamp down using specifically the heel on the front binding, then the toe again on the front binding. A little bit forwards and backwards gently on the front binding, almost like you're trying to scratch mud off the boot before you walk into your house at home before getting told off by your mum. Kick down under the front binding with the front bit, line up the back and then gently lift the toe to snap that ski into place. This is how you should not be putting your poles on. So often I see people using the straps wrong, risking injury and using unnecessary energy to pole across the flat. Wrong! Risk of injury here, if you fall you release the pole and it pulls back on your wrist or your thumb. This is how you should be using the pole straps. Reaching through the strap up into the air and bringing the strap down into the palm of your hand. This way if you fall over that pole disappears straight away without any problem. All right this is how you carry your poles on the chairlift. Both in the same hand, flip them upside down and look behind you between your legs and sit on them. You may have noticed as that lift came in I knew which seat I was on and they're pointing to the right because the little chairlift thing, the footrest, comes down here and I can get on. When you get to the top all you have to do is simply hold on to the poles and as you stand up normally take the poles with you. Other options for holding your poles on the chairlift then is if you've sat down you've probably got the poles underneath the bar like this. An easy way of making sure you've got free hands is put them across the bar underneath your arm and then you can sit quite comfortably. When you arrive at the top simply pass the poles forwards underneath the bar, stand up and ski away. The other trick you can do for holding your poles on the chairlift is open up the loops and loop them around the chairlift footrest. Poles back on and simply let go. They then dangle freely down below you and when you get to the top the footrest goes up presenting your poles beautifully in front of you ready to ski away. Not always advised this one!