Another key to early season skiing is making sure that you take 5-10 minutes and do some stretching exercises. This will loosen up your muscles and help you avoid an early season injury. Calves, thighs and hamstring muscles need a warm-up before they start to do their job. I make it a habit and take 5-10 minutes to stretch before I ski each and every time, all season long. So, take a few minutes – it will go a long way towards helping you have a great day on the slopes!

Now your gear is ready, muscles are stretched, so what’s next? Fuel! Your body needs fuel to burn for a long day of skiing & muscles need energy to burn. In the morning, a healthy breakfast is key. I enjoy hot oatmeal with a bit of honey, a banana along with a glass of O.J. The banana and orange juice will give you potassium & the oatmeal give to some healthy carbs. This is a quick, healthy meal that only takes 5 minutes to prepare. Don’t forget to Hydrate throughout the day too – Water and sport drinks will keep you hydrated and it is just as easy to become dehydrated during the winter months as it is during the summer. So, remember these healthy nutrition tips to keep your engine running while enjoying your day on the mountain.

A combination of tuned gear, stretching your muscles, a healthy pre-ski meal and hydrating throughout the ski day will keep you skiing smooth and flying down the mountain at your favorite resort!

Doug’s tips for the new season

By creating proper upper body position, your lower body can create the angles needed for solid ski technique. If the upper body is positioned over the feet, with hands and shoulders slightly in front of the feet, your feet will then follow your body downhill, creating the proper lower body position for edge pressure. A very pronounced proper upper body stance will provide many benefits including less fatigue and more control over a variety of terrain.

Many skiers are skiing in a neutral stance, or slightly aft of center, with shoulders over their heels. This is compounded when hands drop or linger behind between turns. To correct this, keep your arms extended and reach for each pole plant. As you plant your pole to initiate the next turn, move your hip to your hand. This keeps your upper body over your feet and by doing this between turns, your upper body will realign its self between turns.

Remember skis are designed to accelerate. If you carve a turn correctly your feet will jet out in front of your body. When you don’t realign your body over your feet, your speed will increase with each turn and your only defense will be to skid your tails at the end of the turn to keep any sense of control. However, if you focus on your pole plants and reach your hands down the hill and snap your hip to your hands as you initiate the next turn ( again, I don’t think this is clear) you will find that your speed will become consistent while you gain more control and confidence. Then you can ski more diverse terrain such as steeper trails and a variety of conditions.

Proper Upper Body is the key to good skiing. The realignment of the upper body I am suggesting will allow the lower body to find its natural position, remain in balance, and this will allow you to create edge angle as your carve your skis.

With yet another great loss in the ski world with the passing of Jamie Pierre in an avalanche in Utah, please remember that early season ripping has its hazards.  Here are my top ten things to be aware of for early season snow fall.

10. Check your equipment make sure your bindings are working
9. Untracked snow in Nov and early Dec is Mother Nature way of sweeping things under the rug
8. Ski good or eat wood
7. In December remember the days are short, the season is long
6. Don’t be stampeded by the herd mentality
5. Stop above water bars and mountain roads
4. No BLT’s (Bad Last Turns)
3. If you’re over 40 and you think you’re as good as you were in your 20’s….you weren’t very good in your 20’s
2. Rock, Stumps and Bumps are buried yet
1. Savor the mountains, your friends, family and give thanks for the blessings in your life.

We will miss you Jamie, may God bless your family in their time of need!

The day is perfect, it snowed last night and the entire population with in a 300 mile radius has come to the resort to ski and ride.  The ski patrol has just dropped the rope and its game on! Skiers and snowboarders race down the mountain road and onto the traverse to cut across the bowl to find fresh tracks!

Have you been there?  In the front of the line when cutting the traverse when the riders behind you stampede pass because you got tied up in the deep snow.  Or have you been in the middle of the pack when the person in front of you stuffs a tip into the uphill side of the traverse and spins off downhill into the powder.

Let’s face it if you want fresh tracks traversing is part of the game, it’s a mix between roller derby and short track speed skating.  Here are some tips to help you survive the powder dash.

1)      Keep your head up and be watching two or three people ahead to see if there are any potential traffic jams.

2)      When you first enter the traverse you’ll be traveling faster than the riders already on the track, use the fresh snow above the track to slow down.

3)      Once you’re in the toboggan track remember to keep your shoulders slightly square to the hill

4)      Always keep you tips slightly downhill of your tails this will keep you from stuffing a tip into the uphill snow bank

5)      To decelerate in the track use the downhill side of the track where the snow has piled up, with your tips slightly lower than your tails push your feet into the pile of snow to slow down

6)      If you’re a skier pass snowboarders on the downhill side and just give them a verbal “passing”

7)      If you have to stop to rest try and get up hill of the traverse and let others pass this is the safest place to be, out of the way and not in danger of being taken out by a passing person

8)      If there is an uphill climb involved don’t look at your feet while climbing especially if there is exposure below.  Keep your head up and looking around.  Looking at your feet will only make your world smaller and you’ll lose perspective of where you are.

9)      For really rutted traverses anticipate the humps and bumps and retract your legs so you don’t get launched

10)   When in doubt bail out, most traverse lose vertical and many times there is great skiing to be had and being passed up by the powder frenzy herd, so bang a big turn and drop in

This is just one of the many tips we share with our skiers on our adventures around the world at skiclincs.com

Have fun and ski more powder!