Ski School Part 1: Getting Up When You Fall

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Today is our first post in our ski school series, where we are going to focus on several different skiing basics.

Our first topic, which is vital, is learning to get up when you fall (since you will fall – a lot).  Before you ever get on a chairlift, make sure that you are capable of getting up when you fall, since chair lifts have their own special way of making people wipe out.

This is the WRONG way to get up!

Note:  If you’re teaching a young child to ski, this is important to teach before going on the lift, but they probably not master it for a while so just be patient with them and be prepared to hike up and pick them up a lot.

 

With our kids, we use a few simple cue words to help them remember what to do:

1.  Point your skis sideways.

Make sure that their skis are pointed across the hill so that they can get up before they start sliding again.  Also, make sure that their legs are not crossed.

2.  Put your hands in front of your boots.

This gets the kids leaning forward and more off of their butts.  We do our best to encourage BOTH hands on the snow (this will be especially helpful on steeper terrain).

3.  Push up.

Push up off of the snow with their hands.  If they are having a difficult time, getting all the way up, have them hug their knees and pull up that way.

 

Here are a few really good videos that we found that demonstrate this well.  

About Jessica Averett

Hi, I’m Jessica, a mom of 5 kids and married to my favorite adventure partner. I love to bike, ski, camp and hike. We've visited over 40 countries with our kids, but are equally happy on the road as we are exploring our home state of Utah.

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