Skiing Tips for Chamonix
Discover the top Chamonix skiing tips and techniques
We've teamed up with some of the top Chamonix ski instructors to produce some guides on ski technique, including learning how to carve, how to tackle steeper slopes and how to conquer moguls.
To ensure you get the most out of your time on and off the piste, check out our ski and snowboard schools page, as well as our private ski instructors page and book yourself onto a lesson to help hone your skills.
Basic skiing techniques
Listening to some parents teaching their children to ski the other day, one phrase that kept being repeated was “bend your knees!” It is a stereotypical phrase and assumed that all ski instructors use as a stock comment. However the reality is very different. I find that I spend much of my time asking skiers to stand taller.
Carving turns on your skis
If you want to feel the power of the curve this season you need to develop and hone your carving skills. So... what is carving?
Dealing with steeper gradients
The more you progress the faster you will be able to ski and the more of the mountain will be available to you. Skiing steeper more difficult slopes offers more challenge, speed and excitement but it will take a little practice and an adaptation of your technique.
Finding the balance when skiing
Skiing is a very simple sport based upon the interaction of the skier, their equipment and the mountain. The skiers we admire and aspire to achieve harmony with these components, they are effortless, skillful, playful and in control. The skiers that do not achieve this harmony look wooden, forced and they struggle. Skilled skiers flow whilst others fight their way down the slope.
Freeride and powder skiing
When skiing powder or free-skiing off-piste terrains its important to realise, especially if you haven’t had too much experience in this type of environment, that certain things you may do on-piste naturally might not work so well here.
Mastering moguls
Skiing bumps (moguls) is one of the most demanding aspects of all mountain skiing, yet it is one of the most exciting and satisfying when done well.
