The Pure Joy of Skiing - The Austrian Ski Instructor Curriculum
Skiing is as much a part of Austria as Mozart and Wiener Schnitzel. For many Austrians, the magic of the slopes remains one of their favorite leisure activities, as the combination of enjoyment, exercise, and beautiful scenery evokes deep emotions and allows them to forget the everyday world.
To emphasize these timeless benefits of skiing, the Austrian Ski Instructors Association has modernized and adapted its curriculum. The central focus was on highlighting the exciting aspects of skiing: the experience, the effortless movement, the feeling of freedom – in short: the pure joy of life on two planks.
As a result, ski schools no longer view the pursuit of the perfectly carved turn as an immutable ideal. Instead, the focus is on a more elegant style of skiing: "beautiful skiing." This new emphasis on enjoyable and intuitive skiing is increasingly shaping the landscape on the slopes and has become a contemporary hallmark of Austrian ski schools.
Everything is constantly evolving.
It's well known that recreational skiing is continually changing and developing. This is due, on the one hand, to constantly improving equipment, and on the other hand, to the content taught in ski lessons. Previously, the focus was almost exclusively on learning a razor-sharp carving turn – for ski instructors as well as ambitious recreational skiers. The flawlessly executed turn was the great challenge to be mastered if you wanted to be a piste hero. Only carving was considered the "ultimate skiing experience." The majority of winter sports enthusiasts therefore believed that only with carving could you truly let go and feel the speed – simply put: enjoy it.
However, the result of this zeal was very often that skiers all over the world worked doggedly to get as close as possible to this one ideal. Risks were frequently taken to achieve this, because true carving only works above a certain speed. That's fine if you're alone on a wide and open slope. But in practice, it usually looked like this: far too many uncontrolled skiers crowded into far too little space, and they were going much too fast.
It's only logical that enjoyment suffers as a result. It's anything but a good feeling when you realize you can no longer properly control your own movements. But it's equally disconcerting when the person next to you on the slopes can no longer hold their line and can't brake in time in dangerous situations.
The new ideal:
The Austrian Ski Instructors Association has recognized these challenges and – as it has often done in the history of skiing – has taken on a pioneering role. Modern ski instruction is no longer just about rapid edge changes and carving turns, but rather about elegant, safe skiing and the enjoyment of the snow and nature. These new aspects are summarized under the term "beautiful skiing".
Characteristic features include a narrower ski stance, a pleasurable and sensitive skiing style, and natural and economical movements. This focus on stylistic and emotional elements also has a significant influence on daily life in Austrian ski schools, where "beautiful skiing" has now become a hallmark. According to the old curriculum, even beginners were confronted with learning the basics of carving, also known as "well-controlled turning." With more advanced skiers, this was practiced further and attempts were made to perfect it.
In the current Austrian ski curriculum, "carving along the sidecut of the skis" is only used in the "black zone," the level for very good skiers. The best thing about all these changes and additions: switching to the new technique isn't difficult at all if you get help from a ski instructor. From the perspective of local ski schools, the motto can only be: Get out on the slopes – but safely and elegantly!
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