Tired of sweating it out in the gym? Time to learn to skate ski. After relocating to Utah from the Upper Midwest flatlands to Utah in my mid-20s, I let my classic-style cross-country skis gather dust for about a decade while I rode chairlifts and searched for face shots. But then one February, during an unusually extended period of high pressure, I got an invite to attend the Bryce Canyon Winter Festival, a weekend of mostly free activities held on the edge of Bryce Canyon National Park. There I took my first skate-skiing lesson and was hooked. While classic cross-country skiing is similar to going for a stroll along a flat sidewalk, skate skiing is as exhilarating as going for a trail run. Skate-skiing’s simultaneous upper-and lower-body workout checks both the cardiovascular- and muscle-building boxes while torching a whopping 600 to 800 calories per hour. And because most of Utah’s state-skiing tracks are in super-scenic wooded or rolling hills locations, the experience is much more mentally rejuvenating than spending an hour indoors in the stuffy gym.
The only downside: learning proper skate skiing techniques takes time and practice. I had, misguidedly, tried to figure it out on my own before my first lesson at Bryce Canyon. But each time I went, I’d shuffle along awkwardly, bathed in sweat, trying to move my arms and legs in the effortless rhythm I’d see other skiers on the track demonstrate seemingly effortlessly while they passed me on the track, greeting me with an always cheerful, “good morning!”
Taking a lesson, especially for beginners, affirmed Don DeBlieux, a PSIA Level 3 Nordic instructor with 30-plus years of experience and who teaches at White Pine Touring Nordic Center in Park City, will “save you a lot of frustration and you won’t develop movement patterns that are inefficient and hard to break,” he says. “And I’m not just saying this to get more business. I’d much rather have a blank canvas than someone who tried to figure it out on their own.”
Learn the Proper Skate-Skiing Techniques
Start in a basic athletic body position: Feet shoulder width apart, slight bend in your knees, hips are directly over your feet.
Next, lift your left leg and center your body weight over your right leg. Focus on maintaining a straight line from your armpit down to your toes. Now return back to your basic athletic position. Repeat by raising your right leg and balancing on your left, maintaining that straight line.
While there are several factors in mastering a skate-skiing’s V-shaped stance, solid technique boils down to getting comfortable with balancing on one leg. “Make sure you commit completely to one ski before pushing off onto the other ski,” DeBlieux says. “And keep that head up and eyes down the trail, you don’t have to keep an eye on your skis, if they fall off you will know.”
There are boatloads of drills new skate skiers can do to get accustomed to balancing on one ski, but one of the simplest, DeBlieux says, is this: when on a slight downhill, attempt to hold a glide on one ski a bit farther with each stride. “When we coach kids, we do contests to see who can go the farthest on one ski,” he says. “Hopping on one ski is also a good one. Some skiers practice by always standing on one leg when they brush their teeth.”
For what it’s worth, mastering one-leg balance is beneficial to classic skiing techniques, too. “[In classic skiing] the ski is moving down the track and we want to be over it and moving with it,” she says. “The most efficient classic skiers are moving from leg to leg just like we do when we walk and run.”
Where the pros are
Avoid the inevitable frustration of trying to learn how to skate-ski on your own by taking a lesson or clinic from one of the following Nordic schools or learn-to organizations.
Learn-to-ski programs for kids, juniors and adults are held at TUNA’s Parleys Canyon home base at the Mountain Dell Golf Course.
White Pine Touring Nordic Center
Located at the Park City Golf Course, they offer separate men’s and ladies’ learn-to-skate-ski-lesson series, weekly in January and February.
This group offers an eight-week skate-skiing series for beginners/never-evers starting January 8. Each lesson in the series is held at a different location around Park City, based on weather and conditions.
ON offers skate and classic ski lessons at North Fork Park in Ogden. Classic and skate-skiing group lessons for beginners are offered on Saturdays; private lessons are available with reservations seven days a week.
Skate and classic group and private lessons, equipment rentals and track passes are taught on 20K of groomed trails adjacent to Solitude Mountain Resort. The Center also hosts a four-session women’s beginner skate-skiing clinic that includes equipment rental and a track pass.
Offering skate-skiing newbies a one-hour classic ski lesson that includes a Nordic track pass and equipment rental.
Sundance Resort’s Nordic Center
Offering weekly Ladies’ Day classic and skate-skiing clinics in January that include equipment rentals and a pass to the resort’s gorgeous 15K track.
