Certified Ski & Snowboarding Instructor
This article is based on an expert interview with Kent Bry, conducted by wikiHow Staff Editors. Kent Bry is a certified ski and snowboarding instructor and the director of Adventure Ski & Snowboard, a school based in the San Diego, California metro area. With over 50 years of skiing and snowboarding performance and instruction experience, Kent is certified by the Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA). Adventure Ski & Snowboard is a member of the PSIA and the American Association of Snowboard Instructors (AASI). Kent holds a BS in Recreational Therapy from San Diego State University and is also a California-registered recreational therapist.
If you’ve never been skiing before, lessons are a great way to get ready for the slopes, but exactly how many lessons should you be taking? In this video, ski and snowboarding instructor Kent Bry offers his expert opinion on just how many lessons it really takes before you can feel confident skiing on your own. He also shares some advice for intermediate and advanced skiers who are looking to learn more and get even better.
Key Takeaways
- There’s no limit to the number of ski lessons you should take—even advanced skiers benefit from more lessons.
- If you’re a beginner, at least take lessons until you’re comfortable skiing all of the green runs on the mountain.
- If you want to ski on intermediate runs, take more advanced lessons to learn how to parallel ski and pole plant.
Video Transcript
There's no limit to what you can learn through instruction. I still take lessons and I'm a professional instructor for 50 seasons. And I still learn every single year and I get better every single year. And so if I feel that at my high level, I can improve still, then if you're a beginning skier or even an intermediate skier, you should take as many lessons as you can afford and have time to take. A beginner should take lessons until they're very comfortable and confident skiing all the green runs of the mountain. To be able to ski a blue run or intermediate runs, you should take some more lessons and learn how to parallel ski and pole plant. And then when you get to the advanced level, you can take as many lessons as you can and be able to handle anywhere on the mountain.
