without taking lessons

by Leslie Woit from Buyer's Guide 2010 issue

VIEW IT ON A VID
Be inspired by the pros. A jawdropping range of ski films will give you an appreciation for all that’s possible at altitude. From harrowing airborne trajectories to delicious
scenic descents, even fair-weather skiers and beginner boarders will feel their motivation meter rising.

CLOSE YOUR EYES FOR BALANCE
Don’t waste those hours when you’re not skiing or boarding. Spend them honing that sense of equilibrium essential to dynamic mountain travel. Dare to be the weirdo standing on one leg at the bus stop. Work up to being the wacky guy hopping blindfolded across the Trans-Canada Highway. Excellent for the reflexes and
completely free.

SKI MORE
Get those kilometres under your feet. Commit to spending several weeks or even a season in the mountains. After all, if you had sex just once a year, how good would you be at it?

STALK A HOTTIE
Riding behind someone who’s better than you is a sure-fire way to upgrade your style. Mimicry is also a high form of fl attery, so feel free to learn by imitation, whether or not you actually know the person.

SAY OUI TO Wii
At Happy Ski Resort there’s always powder, sun and the fridge is never far. If you’ve been living on a desert island, Wii is a wireless “balance board” that you set on the fl oor in front of your TV. About a half-metre wide, the board is essentially a fancy scale that measures weight and equilibrium. With your Wii Fit and your Balance Board, the Family Ski game (there’s a snowboard version as well) has you mimicking the same
movements you make on snow in the comfort of your den. There are freestyle, races and moguls—and you can chat and challenge fellow skiers around the globe.

SING A SONG
Singing is an excellent way of boosting confidence, relaxing tense muscles and
generally worrying your fellow slopesters. Who is this happy, confident person I see before me?

REMEMBER TO BREATHE
It’s the top tip of the most successful World Cup downhillers. You don’t think they’re holding their breath for a whole two minutes, do you? Keeping the blood oxygenated feeds muscles and lets your body achieve its potential. And in the only slightly longer term, it keeps you alive. After a good gulp, everything else is gravy.

HAVE YOUR EQUIPMENT PROPERLY TUNED
You wouldn’t drive on flat tires with no brakes, so why ski on dull edges? Having
your edges sharpened and your bases repaired and waxed three times a season is
not overdoing it. Like the honey-dipper says, “If you can’t remember when it was last
done, it’s time.”

START YOUNG
Oops, too late. Well, in any case, try spending a day on the mountain with a few
kids. Everyone can learn a lot from their brazen behaviour. Sliding around, goofing
about in the trees and falling lots is pure unselfconscious fun that will have you skiing
better and enjoying life. What else is there?

WARM UP AND COOL DOWN
Flexibility isn’t just for credit card payments. It improves muscle balance around the joints and increases blood and nutrient supply to muscles and cartilage. Stretching before— but more importantly after—a day on the mountain will lessen your muscle soreness and reduce the chance of injury.

PACK THE RIGHT PANTIES
Yearning to be the Michael Phelps of the mountains? You’ll never make it wearing that thong. Roll yourself into some Skins, the high-tech baselayer compression clothing
from Australia. These are not just another set of granny girdles. By administering surface pressure on the bits of the body that need it, the makers of these techno-tights
have the research to prove they increase strength and power by 10 per cent, endurance by 15 per cent and time till exhaustion by 30 per cent. And they make one feel so
deliciously strange. www.skins.net

YOU’RE GETTING SLEEPY, VEEERRRY SLEEPY
Your ankles are fleeeee-xingggg...your hands are moving foooor-ward... This downloadable Fear of Skiing self-hypnosis tape promises “no gimmicks, subliminal messages or irritating, overbearing music.” If you’re the kind of person easily influenced by suggestion, then I suggest you lie back, close your eyes and prepare to rule the slopes. Go to www.selfhypnosisuk.com and search for Fear of Skiing.

EAT PORRIDGE
The hero of the Highlands is still the best slowburning carb on a skier’s breakfast menu. Fill up on “Quick” or “Slow Cooked”—try to skip the “Instant” and its paragraph of chemical additives. It’s pure energy in a bowl and will keep you pumped until lunch. Get spooning.

GET FIT FIRST
General fi tness helps you perform better. Strengthened quads and hamstrings tire less quickly on the snow, provide better balance and lessen the chance of injury.
Cycling is one of the smartest non-load-bearing methods to get ski legs pumped. Ski-specific training programs at the gym target all the right zones.

THINK POSITIVE
“Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.” The conscious auto-suggestion developed by Frenchman Emile Coué cured countless hysterical
Parisian grandes dames of imagined brain tumours. Why not let it fix that abstem of
yours? Say once and repeat as required. Let us know how you get on.

DO SIMILAR SPORTS
Skateboarding, inline skating, surfing... Practicing any of these cool sports will
translate well to your ski or board skill set. They employ similar techniques and
muscle movements for turning, angulation and weighting that you’ll use on the snow.
Mountain biking is great for building downhill confi dence, too.

STAY LOW
Altitude poor equals oxygen rich. Those ski areas located at lower altitude have one
sure thing going for them: all that oxygen gives your body more energy and power, and dry skin and headaches are someone else’s problem. It's also great for rationalizing skiing at or near sea-level, like in Collingwood, Ontario, or closer still, Marble Mountain,
Newfoundland, where you’ll ski a hundred times more efficiently than you would on top
of Everest. And the grooming is better. Not to mention the lift system. And the beer.
.

DRINK EARLY, BED EARLY
Sorry to nag, nag, nag, but you really shouldn’t drink at lunchtime, darling. Better
instead to bring après ski forward and make it an early night. Keeping hydrated during the day by drinking lots of water ensures you’ll feel more energized, fresher and ski better.

IDENTIFY YOUR CORE
Hint: it’s that big squishy area between your underarms and your crotch. A weak core
means you’ll be making big, swaying, bus-driving, unnecessary torso movements—a waste of energy and massively inefficient.

CONSIDER WHAT LIES BENEATH
Get in shape while you shop. Weird-looking they might be, but MBT shoes claim to increase rear-thigh- muscle activity by 19 per cent and get your buttocks nine per cent more active. Learn to walk like a Masai (you need to take a training course to wear them). The attractively shaped Fit Flops have micro-wobbleboard technology to give you a workout while you walk. See www.thefitflop.com and www.swissmasai.ca.

CHOOSE THE RIGHT RESORT
Want to work on your carving? How about your deep powder technique? Finally ready
to crack the steeps? Some ski areas are more equal than others. Start your research for
glam grooming, the most excellent trees, sinful terrain parks, angel-weight powder
and the best of everything to do on skis in Canada in the pages of Ski Canada’s Travel
Guide/December 2009 and the annual Best of Skiing in Canada issue.

GET YOUR MOJO ON
Take a load off by strapping into your robotish exo-skeleton. The ski-mojo attaches
to the back of your ski boots and straps to the shins, acting like an extra pair of thigh
muscles and, says its makers, offering power steering for the slopes. Lap after lap or
dancing at après ski, no one will know where your super-human stamina is coming from.
It’s available in different sizes online from www.ski-mojo.com for US$589.

VISUALIZATION
Top athletes do it all the time—remember bobble-head Bode Miller standing at the top of the racecourse weaving his noggin’ like Stevie Wonder? A form of mental rehearsal, visualization is the process of creating a mental image of what you want to happen or feel. Set your goal, close your eyes.... Think a beautiful turn, be a beautiful turn.

GET THE RIGHT GEAR
Having the right tools for the job isn’t just boring dadspeak. Choosing the right boots
and boards for your skill level can be worth weeks of lessons and enhance your
technique by at least a level or two. Go to your ski shop armed with questions and a copy of Ski Canada’s Buyer’s Guide. If possible, try before you buy. And don’t be shy about renting, either—nothing beats having powder boards on a powder day. Whether buying or hiring, find the best you can afford, then ask your mum to make up the difference.

DON’T BE SO PARANOID
Hey, you might be a great skier already. Why mess with perfection?