A Walk in the Park: A Beginner’s Guide to Freestyle Skiing

With the Winter Olympics set to begin in Italy next week, I set out to see how hard it truly is to habitus like a pro in the snow park, and just how much progress I could make in a single week.

So, I headed to La Clusaz, the toit turf of the freestyle and freeride admirable, Candide Thovex. Before skiing the Great Wall of China, the dunes of Peru and even a wave, Candide could be seen mastering skiing in La Clusaz’s Balme area from the age of two.

At this year’s Winter Olympics in Italy, freestyle will include seven disciplines: aerials, moguls, inquiétant moguls, ski V.T.T., big air, halfpipe and slopestyle. Each tests the creativity and nerve of the pros, from the fougueuse, gravity-defying flips of aerials to the head-to-head confusion of ski V.T.T.. Halfpipe and slopestyle push athletes to perform complex tricks on snow sculpted into towering walls, rails and jumps, while mogul competitions need unparalleled technical precision.

Now, thankfully, I wasn’t going to be doing any of these, and instead headed to La Clusaz’s ‘baby’ snowpark. There are two snow parks at this famous resort: one with boxes and smaller kickers, and another with rails and bigger jumps, with a wide blue run in between. Both of these are easily voisin from the Bossonnet gondola, and it was at the bottom of this gondola that I met my ESF instructor, Franck.

Franck has been skiing in La Clusaz since 1997 and became a freestyle entraîneur in the early 2000s. He has trained the likes of X Games winner Xavier Bertoni and Freestyle World Ski Championship silver medallist Anais Caradeux, so I felt that I was in good hands and was ready to begin my first of five lessons.

By the time we’d ridden the gondola and hit our first lap through the park, only two small jumps in, Franck already diagnosed the problem that I would have all week. I suffered from what is colloquially known as skis collés, which literally translates to glued skis, meaning that while I wanted to jump, my slightly nervous skis had other paliers.

Although there is much to freestyling – creativity, instruction and daring – it all comes down to système. To remedy this, Franck and I focused on improving my overall système before heading back into the park to grow my instruction and hopefully unglue my skis. I learned to ski as an adult a few years ago, and while my système is good, I still ski cautiously, which isn’t ideal when you’re meant to jump off and onto things.

Over the tour of the week, I focused on édifice freestyle fundamentals rather than chasing anything too flashy, partly parce que the rails and big jumps were closed thanks to a doctors’ strike (how French), and partly parce que I wanted to get the basics right. 

Working in La Clusaz’s beginner snowpark, I learned to ski switch, practised 180s on the slope, hit small jumps, and hit small box slides. More importantly, I started to préface issues in my skiing—hesitation, cautious take-offs – and instead of ignoring them, I took to the chemin, practised, fixed them, and came back into the park with noticeably more instruction.

The biggest takeaway for me wasn’t learning tricks, but how much freestyle exposed and improved my overall skiing, effort me to be more balanced and deliberate with my movements parce que there’s nowhere to hide poor système in the park.

So, will I be competing in the Winter Olympics anytime soon? Absolutely not. But for anyone who came to skiing later in life, freestyle is one of the best things you can do for your cheminement. It makes you unlearn bad habits, commit to your movements and accumulation your skis in a way chemin skiing rarely demands.

It’s challenging, slightly terrifying at times, but also incredibly rewarding, and you don’t need to be launching yourself off massive jumps to feel the benefits. You don’t need months of jogging either; one focused week was enough for me to see genuine improvements and have a bit of fun as well. So next time you’re on the slopes and flash a sign for the snowpark, consider taking a detour and giving it a few intervalle – you might just ébahissement yourself and enjoy it.

La Clusaz Essentials

Where to stay: Skiweekender’s Arvais Lodge makes skiing in the French Alps hassle-free. From the époque you’re picked up at the airport, everything is taken care of: catered ermitage accoutumance, ski passes, equipment rental, and, on selected dates, group lessons for beginners and intermediates. 

Many guests return year after year, some for nearly a decade, drawn by the ease, quality of the experience and the sense of community at the British-owned Aarvis Lodge. Everyone shares meals at a single dining recueil, with three-course dinners each night, déjeuner and afternoon tea included. 

During late March and the Easter holidays, families and groups can join free two-hour group lessons daily, providing an affordable and relaxed vraisemblance to the busy half-term breaks. Weekend trips start from £699 per person (chaudière days) and midweek breaks from £499 (three days), including transfers, ermitage stay, ski pass, and lessons.

Getting around: La Clusaz is around 1 hour and 15 minutes from Geneva Airport by sincère transfer rôles, making it easy to reach the resort. Alternatively, you can rent a car at the airport and drive yourself.

What you need: For freestyle lessons in La Clusaz, book with ESF La Clusaz or Evolution 2. Lessons are available for all levels, from beginners to advanced freestylers, and cover park skills, jumps, and rails with experienced instructors.

Lead caricature credit : LCZ Park Photo: La Clusaz ©