Ski and Snowboard School — Lessons enable beginners to hit slopes with correct techniques

The question often asked is: Why take a ski or snowboard lesson?

The obvious answer is to learn. A better answer, however, is to learn good techniques and avoid bad ones.

Self-taught skiers and snowboards tend to pick up bad habits along the road to learning a sport, which sometimes becomes impossible to shake and can hold back progress.

Teaching skiers the right way to make turns, keep balance and avoid mistakes were all reasons why the Deseret Morning News/KSL Ski and Snowbird School was started — skiing 60 years ago and snowboarding nine years ago.

Skiing and snowboarding look easy when accomplished people perform ... right turn, left turn, then a longer arcing turns, followed by shorter ones, then a cloud of snow and a complete stop.

Skiing starts with the basics — how to stand, how to walk and how make a stationary 180-degree turn around.

The stance is like a football player waiting for a snap or a basketball player on defense or a baseball player waiting for a grounder ... eyes forward, feet apart, knees bent.

Turns are made while in this balanced position. It involves little more than putting slight pressure on the ball of the left foot for a right turn, and on the ball of the right foot for a left turn — while moving, of course.

Knees bent, eyes forward, feet apart and a little pressure in the right spot, and the skis will turn as if they were on tracks.

Without someone there to point out these things, skiers can fight it all day and get nothing but tired, wet and cold.

A little instruction makes skiing a lot safer, more fun and puts people on a much faster learning curve.

Snowboarding is a little different in that people stand sideways on the board.

Heel, toe, wrists or backside. That's the way things usually go for beginning snowboarders — heavy on the backside. It's the preferred body part to hit the snow first.

Snowboarding is much easier than skiing for a lot of people to grasp — young and old.

Snowboarding continues to grow. About 30 percent of all lift tickets are sold to snowboarders. National studies also show that the average age of new snowboards is rising. Many times it's a case where parents simply want to be able to snowboard with their kids. The kids rave about it and the parents want to try. Also, a lot of people who ski want to try something new and different.

Actually, the first steps are easy. Learning to carry the board — and look professional — is a snap. Same with getting into the new step-in bindings and pushing the board like a scooter to get to the lift.

The heelside, toeside moves doesn't come as easily.