What is my Skiing Level?

A snowHead

Just a heads up that we have redone our website and have made a few minor changes to our levels guides. https://www.insideoutskiing.com/level

As always any comments gladly received

A snowHead

Having been lucky enough to ski with two genuine professional competitive skiers I can confirm that they are, like most pros compared with amateurs, at a wholly different level to even high expert amateurs. It’s the combination of perfect technique PLUS a level of strength and fitness you can only achieve if you are prepared to devote your life to it.

I watched with awe as one skied very fast mid-radius turns … everywhere. Piste, off piste, mogul field, through the trees and down a couloir with metronomic precision irrespective of the terrain. And appeared to be putting in no more effort than required to stroll to the bar.

Awesome to watch but very humbling too …

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@Blackblade, so your mate was a solid British Intermediate then Wink

(I keep meaning to add that level to our guides as everyone looks at them in detail and then puts down "Intermediate" no matter how good they are !

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[quote="skimottaret"]@Blackblade, so your mate was a solid British Intermediate then Wink

(I keep meaning to add that level to our guides as everyone looks at them in detail and then puts down "Intermediate" no matter how good they are ![/quote

I can see how that's a problem. People who are ignorant of what absolutely top skiing is or rate themselves purely by groomer skiing in limited places they have visited will likely rate themselves proportionally higher than those who have skied a fair bit more, know what being comfortable all over the mountain really is ( including mandatory airs and boney chutes), and have been up close with really good skiers.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Dave of the Marmottes, I was actually thinking the opposite, a lot of our solid skiers put themselves down as Intermediate to be understated, stay under the radar, don't want to seen as Billy Big Trousers, etc....

You'll need to Register first of course.

Yeah it's the self awareness thing combined with the difficulty of self grading which is often a function of ego and ambition as much as reality. The modest can really score themselves down relatively on workplace appraisals.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

This graph sums it up nicely:

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53b0589de4b03bad691b9fd2/1554927462196-UOIMAC404EOOERW84UJJ/Experts+and+beginner.jpg

As someone that's done a few seasons, I would consider myself comfortably above average. But having seen the FWT guys in person I know I'm lightyears away from the top level. So I'd probably score myself 7 out of 10. I could totally understand a 1-2 week per year skier scoring themselves similarly as they are likely one of the better skiers in their groups, and they simply don't have the experience to know how far they are behind the true experts, and how much stuff is really out their ability.

There is also apparently a thing where people (particularly men) dont want to consider themselves below average. So one a 10 point scoring system you may see a cluster of "not so good" skiers giving themselves a 5 or 6.

After all it is free

I don't think you can put a simple one dimensional scale onto skiing ability. Some people are good at some aspects but poor at others. For example I know some skiers who are excellent at slalom skiing with very impressive angulation and drive, but cannot/don't want to do moguls.

When I'm asked my skiing level I always reply "rubbish" and then talk to the coach about what I want to work on for that session.

ps I'm probably intermediate.

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@boarder2020, we do have a complimentary What's my Off Piste level https://www.insideoutskiing.com/offpistelevel

snow reports

@skimottaret, my point was that I think lots of N American skiers probably have a similar level of off piste to on piste skiing. Whereas I guess the fact you have separate levels for off piste suggest the same is not necessarily true in Europe.

@johnE, in a private lesson situation "im rubbish" is fine as the coach will quickly work out what needs attending to. But if you sign up to a group alpine based lesson it is essential for the ski school to have at least a rough idea of what terrain you are comfortable on and what sort of skills you possess or lack. Not fair on the others in the group, big schools with multiple groups running can cope but specialised schools, independent operators will struggle with a wide range of abilities in a group setting

You know it makes sense.

@boarder2020, the two guides are meant to be complimentary. As you say some people spend all their time on piste and can rip carvers turns but struggle in bad snow conditions, others head off piste as soon as they can and are competent in variable snow but may lack a skill base to expand into more difficult terrain, moguls etc..

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

Got to say that I think a one-D scale (with an off piste fork) is sensible.

A snowHead

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What is my Skiing Level?

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