First Timers
Are you brand new to snowsports? Well then you've come to the right place! It's never too late to start skiing and snowboarding, and Gunstock is the perfect place to learn. Our friendly and certified snowsports instructors are passionate about enjoying winter outside, and pride themselves on their ability to transfer their knowledge of their favorite pastime onto their students. Your adventure starts here!
Intro to Skiing & Riding
Think of this as Skiing/Snowboarding 101. Everybody has to begin somewhere, and this is the perfect place to start! Think of this as your syllabus:
Skiing
- Walk the Walk: You will first learn how to walk in your ski boots, to put your skis on, and how to walk on skis in the snow. You'll become well versed in using your edges to walk uphill on a gentle slope and to stand on a hillside.
- Get Up, Get on Up: Nervous about falling? Don't worry, it's going to happen at some point, no matter what. It still happens to the best of us, even to this day, so think of it as a silly rite of passage! Your instructor will show you all the ways to get up after you fall, so when it does happen, you'll know exactly what to do!
- Time to Slide: You'll become familiar with our learning terrain as you study how to slide on a gentle slope. You will learn how to balance yourself while sliding gently down the hill. Don't worry, we have a big berm in the snow to catch you at the bottom! Congratulations, you just got your first run in!
- To Everything Turn, Turn: You will learn the skill of making cautious turns on a gentle slope and stopping.
- Movin' On Up: Once you're comfortable turning and stopping, you will learn to load and unload the chairlift and be introduced to Green Circle Terrain! Ask your instructor what Tips Up means for extra credit!
- How Do YOU Get Down? Once you graduate to Green Terrain, you will utilize your newfound skills to make cautious turns and control your speed on a downhill slope. Never heard of a J-Turn? Well get ready, because you're about to! It's all downhill from here!
Snowboarding
- Regular or Goofy?: Which stance are you? Your instructor will have you take a leap with your boots on to see which foot you instinctively land on first. This will determine which foot you lead with as you ride downhill sideways on your board. It's kind of like the choosing hat of the snowboarding world!
- Gear, Shmear: You will first learn how to strap into your board. Snowboard boots are pretty easy, so your focus here will be on securely tightening your bindings to stay comfy and safe. You will also get comfortable with the board by strapping in with both feet and playing with your balance. Get ready to learn new vocabulary words like "Ollies," "Nollies," "Manuals", "Flat Spins," and "Bowties!"
- Get Up, Stand Up: When you're learning to snowboard, a little time on the ground comes with the territory. You will learn how to stand up while strapped into your board, both facing uphill using your toe edge, and facing downhill using your heel edge.
- Magic Carpet Glide: You will learn how to skate on the snow with one foot strapped into your board and one foot pushing you forward. This will be the skill you'll use to move around on flat surfaces and approach the carpet and lifts. Then we will get right back on both feet to learn more!
- Heel, Toe: On a gentle slope, you'll become familiar with gliding downhill and stopping using both heel and toe edges.
- Stop Like A Boss: Your instructor will teach you the best way to stop on both edges.
- Movin' On Up: Once you're comfortable making half turns and stopping, you will learn to load and unload the chairlift and be introduced to Green Circle Terrain!
- How Do YOU Get Down?: Once you graduate to Green Terrain, you will utilize your newfound skills and learn to make cautious C-turns to control your speed on a downhill slope. Once you've got C-turns figured out, you'll begin linking them together to make S-turns, which you'll get better and better at with practice on Green Terrain. It's all downhill from here!