At first glance, terrain parks are complex. Some resorts take them to the extreme, like Mammoth Unbound. For many people, it takes years of training to even ride these setups.
At a high level, the park can be split into two categories like a slopestyle X games run, Jumps, and Rails. They are quite different, but it’s always a good idea to learn the basics of both!
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Everyone started somewhere. If you find yourself having the option of taking a park lap or a groomer as you’re heading back to the lift, try adding something different to your run by learning these first ski tricks for beginners:
Jumps:
The best place to start in the terrain park. You can take these skills all over the mountain!
1) Popping
Just as easy as it sounds, jump. You’ll find it difficult now that your ankles are stuck in place. Start in a flat area and use force from your legs to see if you can “pop” off the ground a few inches. Try this a few times, then take it to a small jump. You’ll realize even with a little effort, you can get quite a bit more air. Use this in the park, on side hits, and you’ll instantly have more fun on the mountain.
2) Grabs
While you’re in the air, try out some easy grabs. A safety grab is probably the easiest, just reach down and grab your ski under your boot. Try it a few times on a flat surface while not moving to see how your weight transfers. In the air, too much transfer could cause you to land off balance.
3) Shifty
A shifty is when you twist your skis in a direction while in the air. It’s an easy way to get stylish quickly. Be careful not to twist your body the same way, or you’ll find yourself landing sideways. While in the air, rotate your skis in one direction and your upper body in the other direction. Think of Newton’s third law here: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. As long as you rotate your upper body and lower body/skis in opposite directions with equal force, you’ll be able to land just like how you took off. Don’t forget to add some pop on the takeoff!
4) 180
While standing on a flat surface with your skis on, like how you learned your pop, see if you can pop up and do a 180. Once you have this down, try it on a jump. You’ll realize you tend to favor one direction over the other, so stick with that. It’s an easy way to connect a pop and a shifty. Just do a pop, a shifty then turn your upper body the same way as your skis. Easy.
5) Switch
Once you do a 180 and find yourself landing facing the wrong direction, you’ll quickly realize you need to learn to ski backward (switch). This is a balancing act that will feel uncomfortable at first but look over one shoulder and practice on the bunny hill. Over the shoulder you choose, open up your hips and body so your skis should be offset like in the picture below. This will make it more natural to turn your head backward. Start adding a bit more speed until you can carve. This will take some time, but soon enough, you’ll be doing it all over the mountain.
Rails:
These are the next progression once you get some basic jump skills down. A bit more technical but nothing you can’t master with practice.
6) Boxes
Try finding an easy box you can ski right over. All you have to do is line up straight to it and don’t move when you’re on it. They’re slippery for a reason. Once you get this feel, find a box that isn’t crowded and try to stand on it. You’ll realize you have almost no grip and may fall a few times. Try standing on it at a 90-degree angle and see if you can slide down it. It may help if you have a friend in front of you in the snow holding your hands and helping pull you down the box sideways. Really test the limits of how much grip you have to realize boxes minimize friction. Now try a 90-degree jump on flat snow. Then take this slow onto a box and add some speed. If you’re left foot forward at 90 degrees on a box, try to center your weight and lean left more than you think. Many people lean right too far, and their skis slide out from under them.
7) Rails
Once you can slide down a box and keep your weight centered, look for a wide metal tube low to the ground. When it’s not crowded, have a friend hold your hands or experiment with stepping on and sliding down at slow speeds. It will hurt much more to slide out and fall on a metal tube than a forgiving box. Once you have this down, start adding some speed, pop off the lip of the jump onto it, rotate 90 degrees, and slide. You’ll realize it will be much easier with a bit more speed than a box.
If you want more tangible advice, Stomp it Tutorials has great beginner lessons on its YouTube channel.
