How I learnt to ski

In March 2017 I bought a monthly pass to the Chill Factore in Manchester, ahead of my first skiing holiday. I had taken a beginner’s day lesson a year earlier than this, so was able to ski to a very basic level.

I highly recommend beginners to top up any lessons by going and practicing on their own. You kind of teach yourself and get better naturally. It also gives you that independence and confidence to know you can ski by yourself before heading out on those big mountains.

Our skiing holiday to La Plagne in France

So, once I had mastered coming down from the top of the Chill Factore slope I was pretty much ready to jet off to France. My partner and I went with a large group of skiing ‘experts’, who go skiing every year. His auntie and uncle used to be ski holiday reps, so we had lots to live up to.

Some of the Ski Group – La Plagne 2017

I am happy to say we did not disappoint! Despite it being our first holiday and the snow conditions being the worst they could remember for a lack of snow, we were able to make it up to the glacier and ski all the way back to the resort before the end of our week’s holiday.

Millennial Natalie at the Top of the Glacier

The whole group were impressed and we were suitably chuffed with our achievements. It made the hard work worth it and I would definitely recommend anyone considering learning to ski to do so.

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Some of the key benefits of learning to ski:

• Skiing is a great life skill to have. Learning to ski is on many people’s bucket list and it’s great to be able to say you know how to ski.
• It improves your fitness and you can have fun whilst you exercise.
• Skiing makes for an active holiday combined with lots of fun and apres-ski! Definition of après–ski: social activity after a day’s skiing.

Our next holiday

As we sacrificed our summer break to go skiing, we decided that our 2018 holiday will be in the summer. This unfortunately means we will likely not be going on a skiing holiday next year.

Although we’re not going on a holiday, we’ll be sure to make a couple of visits to the Chill Factore so we don’t become rusty for when we next decide to go on a skiing holiday. I would love to try skiing somewhere like Austria, Switzerland or even Canada in the future.

So why not give it a shot?

In the meantime, here’s a quick guide for learning to ski.

Natalie x