Skiing Facts
By Lauren – Age 10
Do you want to go skiing? First you need skis, boots, and a helmet. If you can’t see or can’t hear, you need extra equipment. You might need an FM system or an extra helper, or a bamboo pole. Your guide helps you go down the slope to tell you turn or go straight or stop. I learned with Oregon Adaptive Sports. People with other special needs like leg problems or arm problems can use other equipment like special skis or poles.
At the beginning you have to learn to snowplow, and learn how to go straight with just a tiny bit of wedge. You start on a gentle slope, then you go on steeper and steeper and steeper until you go on black diamond slopes, which are the steepest. You practice turns, and learn to carve a sharp turn. You put a lot of weight on the leg you are turning on. You put your arms out front to help you balance. You can hold the bamboo pole, and you can have a teacher on each end of the pole with you in the middle, or you can have just one teacher holding on. One or two teachers are easy to ski with.
You use a lift to get up the mountain, and your teacher will tell you, “1,2,3,” and then you sit down. To get off the lift, the teacher tells you, “1,2,3,” and you grab on the pole or the teacher’s hand. Then you put your ski tips up, then you slide off the little snow ramp. You turn left or right to the slope you want to go to. Some slopes lead off to other slopes.
The most important thing is learning to stop. You stop by making a large snowplow, or you can turn and stop by putting a lot of pressure on one of your feet, and point your skis up hill.
I hope you love skiing as much as I do. I think it is fun because you can go really fast. It is not easy when you start, but you get used to it and you get better. You have to start slow and only go fast with control. I think that if you keep working hard you will get better and better. I know you will!
