How to Shake Off Negative Ski Gremlins with the Warren Smith Ski Academy

3rd January 2025 | Kisia Cove, Verbier.

Last modified on January 4th, 2025

I had such a bad end to last season that one family member suggested it might be pertinent to hang up my skis. My reaction was to get rid of the gremlins in my head and book a ski course with the Warren Smith Ski Academy in Verbier. NEW

I’ve been skiing for more years than I care to remember, but in recent years I’ve started having some negative thoughts about my ability.

To be honest my confidence has been ebbing away and I have felt my skiing has started to spiral downwards.

Was it an age thing?

Or, was the problem all in my head?

I mulled over my options and decided some early season ski lessons might knock me into shape both mentally and physically.

I REALLY wanted to improve.

I set myself a mental goal to switch from falling over at every darn turn, to ‘possibly’ overcoming a mental block and also learning to ski in powder snow.

My choice was simple.

The Warren Smith Ski Academy was offering lessons in small groups of four people across 5 days, the 4Max course was exactly what I wanted.

Their on-line blurb describes the course as:

“Designed to build and develop skill and confidence, to enable people to ski all terrains including Moguls, Steeps, Variables, Powder and how to Carve effectively on piste.

“The course is suitable for Academy levels 1-6 on our rating scale.”

Absolutely Perfect.

It broadly covered everything I wanted to address including possible powder which nature doesn’t always supply in volume for tuition.

As the start date approached, I became increasingly apprehensive and anxious.

Maybe ‘terrified’ might accurately describe my feelings.

Lots of “What ifs” crowded into my head…

What if everyone was better than me?
What if I’d set my target too high?
What if I just embarrassed myself?
My biggest fear was, What if I just fell over the whole time?

Fellow skiers Chris, Will, Millie and me were assigned to WSSA instructor, Jordan.

He put me at ease immediately.

Jordan and me. Day 1. Image © PlanetSKI

My worries and concerns sneaked back in as we headed up the mountain.

To calm my nerves I told myself that others were probably like me.

They probably hadn’t skied for months either, had unfamiliar skis too, and the terrain might also be new.

Warren Smith Ski Academy. Image © PlanetSKI

Our three warm up runs in Lac des Vaux were a god-send before our extensive gang of 40 skiers were sorted into small groups of four of similar ability.

Instant relief – I wasn’t the best and I wasn’t the worst.

Day 1 – Wide inside arm to aid confidence with lateral movement/centre of mass movement

The sun was out, the temperature perfect, the snow soft and the focus on Day 1 was to be on our arms and centre mass movement and understanding the extremes of lateral movement.

Lateral movement: Jordan helping to remove a mental block to moving laterally – inviting our body to embrace the extreme angle

Jordan describes the extreme angles of moving laterally.

We all had the similar issues with our arms that randomly flailed all over the place, along with some flamboyant pole planting.

All our quirky arm movements had to be ironed out.

We were filmed early on during the first day so we could understand our faults, and we could view our daily progress and improvements across the week.

Smart phones for filming and What’s App Groups are such brilliant tools for instant feedback providing a record of our progress.

Jordan videoed each of us with commentary, at the start of the day without any tips or tuition, then once again in the same area at the end of the day to understand our progression.

Jordan explained a wide arm stance, and more especially a ‘wide inside arm’ stance would give us core stability helping our confidence on all terrain and in different conditions, especially on steep slopes, in deep powder, and in poor visibility.

I had an added fault of leaning my shoulder into the hill, and that had to go.

I therefore had extra ‘notes’ on keeping my inside arm up and forward to overcome my lean into the hill

And so we drilled … on gentle slopes, on steep slopes, on icier slopes.

Possibly a little repetitive, but that is the point.

The wide arm stance really helped with my turns and stability, and when I forgot, the consequences were predictable.

Much to learn from video shot on Day 1 without any instructor tips – some way to go:

Day 2 – Focus on inside leg development to improve lateral movement/centre of mass movement

We started off with some basic Warren Smith Ski Academy warm ups that help to wake up the muscles in our hips, legs and arms ready for skiing.

Lower body warm ups

It should be said we perform warm up exercises before we start all other sports, so skiing warm ups should be no exception according to the Academy.

There are more warm up videos at the end of this article.

While emphasis, today, was still on keeping our arms up and forward for stability, we started to focus on knees, leaning or tilting on the inside leg (the uphill leg) a little bit more to get some grip on the ski.

I had developed an annoying habit of dragging my uphill arm, and therefore leaning into the hill – I really had to concentrate hard to stop.

We headed up the Jumbo cable car that goes up to Gentianes – higher, slightly steeper terrain where we drilled and practised.

Then drilled some more, tilting our inside knees.

We were so lucky with the conditions, the sun was shining, the snow was soft, and there weren’t too many people on the slopes to get in the way of our drills.

Just before our second video run of the day Jordan demonstrated how in an ideal world the the perfect run should look….. just fabulous.

Our key video of the day was on steep terrain, and, while our attempts were improving, they were not to be near as good as Jordan’s.

My video on the steep slope slightly further down.

My skiing technique was improving… slightly:

Jordan’s video commentary is so useful and I intend to revisit my video and to also view the videos of my fellow skiers.

Day 3 – Confidence chat relating to bad light conditions then technical focus on driving outside leg through towards end of turn. Also some muscular work to help stance – abductor activation exercises

Wednesday started off somewhat gloomy.

Visibility was border line and we did feel the weather was changing.

Jordan emphasised, the weather would be closing in dramatically on Thursday with the promise of deep powder snow by Friday.

Therefore the clock was ticking.

Powder snow was on its way

We needed to ensure we had a strong upper body stance and our legs had to master some basic improvements to be able to enjoy the powder snow with confidence and stability.

We started off with some muscular work to help with our stance… effectively trying to drive our outside leg toward the end of a turn, bringing our feet together while maintaining an “O” shape with our legs.

Jordan demonstrating the ‘O’ shape

Jordan technically referred to this as ‘adductor activation exercises.’

Easier said than found.

It felt so weird.

I didn’t feel I’d achieved anything with this one, though Jordan’s comments were surprisingly different.

We headed down the mountain to Le Châble then taking the gondola up the other side to Bruson, we skied the tree lined terrain that helped with visibility.

We continued with our drills on some very quiet steep slopes.

The Warren Smith Ski Academy started in Verbier 25 years ago.

There are 20 full-time instructors this season and the Academy also runs courses in Cervinia in Italy across the summer and pre-season.

For the adventurous there are holidays in Georgia, Canada and Japan.

Plus courses over the summer and autumn at some indoor slopes in the UK.

Warren himself coaches full-time and conducts post-ski seasons in the resort for those (me) wanting more.

Warren Smith Ski Academy, Verbier. Image © PlanetSKI

I came across the Academy at one of their autumn presentations in the UK.

Day 4 – More confidence building & tactics decision making for bad light. Focus on upper body movements and pole planting.

It was definitely the day to change my goggle lenses, and more importantly to get a pair of wider skis.

Swapping skis at Mountain Air for a wider pair more suitable for powder snow

The Academy recommends Mountain Air for equipment – it is one of the best ski shops in Verbier and WSSA’s clients get superb service.

Visibility was poor, and, as we went up the mountain, it was still snowing gently.

There was a lovely layer of fresh snow, not a huge amount, but enough to make a difference.

Today’s main focus was on pole planting.

This was the biggest reveal.

Along with kicking other bad habits my ‘pole plant’ was being reinvented too.

The Warren Smith Ski Academy pole plant is a wide arm stance, simple tap adjacent to the ski boot.

No other flamboyant flicks or movement are required.

And so we drilled all the elements from Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 adding the precise pole plant into the drill for Day 4.

It was all working well in my head, however, the reality may not have had the same fluidity.

Day 5 – We teamed up with Lewis’s group – power focuses. No specific new things today but a lot of skiing in new powder terrain. Main reminders – keeping stance close and strong upper body.

With all the building blocks from Day 1 to Day 4 in place, we were now going to be skiing in deep powder and 30cm is deep enough powder for me.

I gripped my ski poles tightly, tried to keep my upper body strong and I was off.

In fact this was one of my first attempts at powder skiing and I was cautiously thrilled.

What a day!

What a week, I didn’t fall over (much) and I skied in powder.

I have a lot more to learn, but the five days of skiing lessons have set me up for the rest of winter.

Maybe I should do a refresher course at the start of each season.

Thank you Warren Smith Ski Academy, and thank you Jordan.

Warren Smith Ski Academy Videos:

Find out more about the 4max Warren Smith Academy 5 day ski course below:

Pre-ski warm up of lower body:

Pre-ski warm up of upper body:

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