Skiing, and annual ski school, have both come a long way over the years

Imagine trying to ski on seven-foot wooden skis, boots that were as stable as street shoes, where bones gave well before the bindings released, and the only packed snow was where skiers fell.

In the early days, people had trouble simply standing on skis. Turning was nearly impossible for the beginner. It involved weighting, unweighting, twisting and turning, along with great balance and lots of energy to break through deep snow. Even riding a chairlift was a challenge. Early stories tell of chairs slipping backwards and skiers being thrown because chairs dragged in the snow.

Today, new teaching methods have taken out all that twisting and turning and turned it into a much more fluid, much easier, less strenuous, more enjoyable and a more efficient way to ski.

Today's ski teachers, said Scott Mathers, training director of the Alf Engen Ski School, have shortened learning time and made the sport much more enjoyable.

Progressing with the new instructional techniques has been a part of the Deseret News/KSL NewsRadio Ski School, now in its 63rd year, and the Deseret News/KSL NewsRadio Snowboard School, now in its 12th year.

Even though early rock art dating back 5,000 years hints that the artist may have moved about on skis, alpine skiing was a mystery to most in the United States as early as the 1930s.

Here in Utah, alpine skiing drew the attention of locals when Alta, using an old hoist left by early miners, built what is said to be the second chairlift in the world in 1938. The first was in Sun Valley in 1936.

Recognizing the growing interest in snowboarding, the Deseret News program created classes at Snowbird in 1998.

Both sports — skiing and snowboarding — have evolved over time.

Take skiing, for example.

Mathers points out that today's instructors "better understand how all the skills build towards parallel skiing and are able to teach these movements at a beginning level. The wedge (formerly called the snowplow) and wedge turn now lead right into parallel skiing. That wasn't the case 20 years back. Movements then were the (snowplow) and stem Christi, which led to the parallel. This involved a lot of unweighting and twisting, especially to start the turn."

Today's equipment, and more refined teaching methods, lead more directly to the parallel for a more fluid, more relaxed movement. And a much more rapid progression for a more enjoyable experience.