Hone your skills at these fantastic progression resorts offering something for all levels
Building basic skills is easy enough with all kinds of resorts providing lessons for beginners. If you want to progress quickly from stage to stage, however, you’ll need to choose the right resort. These resorts all offer something that will help you to push past a plateau and work towards your goals as a skier.
Sun Valley, Idaho
This beautiful resort offers something for everyone when it comes to progression. There’s plenty here for beginners or for those of you who want to ease back into skiing. Take on some of the tamer runs to find your feet then think about where you want to go from there.
There are plenty of intermediate runs to tackle across the two mountains at Sun Valley but you can do more than just improve on your skills here. This resort gives you the chance to try something new too.
The Red Tail Hawk trails are a great chance for you to try your hand at trail skiing through some varied terrain. Once you’ve tried these trails, perhaps move up to the Huckleberry Bear trail that offers a little more for those of you who feel confident and want to explore.
Heavenly, Lake Tahoe
This resort has a fantastic Ski and Ride School that makes learning to ski and snowboard a lot of fun. There are the usual beginner lessons but even if you have a bit more experience and want to hone your skills, you can get some help from an instructor.
The intermediate lessons can really benefit those of you who feel you’re stuck at a plateau. Perhaps you want to push yourself and get our of your comfort zone but under the watchful eye of an experienced skier.
Even expert skiers can benefit from a few lessons at Heavenly. Whether you want to try moguls, tight tree-lined runs, or want to get into racing, you’ll be able to improve at this resort.
Fernie, British Colombia
You can learn to ski here but the real fun is for intermediates and above. For those of you who are confident on skis, challenge yourself to try some glade or power skiing on the Cedar and Lizard bowls.
If you want to work on your carving turns, head to the well-groomed Cruiser run where you can get in plenty of practice.
You’ll never get tired of Fernie’s gorgeous glades, steep terrain, and tons of powder to play in. Spend enough time at this resort and you’ll see some definite progression.
Squaw Valley, California
With more than 170 runs, you won’t get bored at Squaw Valley. Almost half of those runs are suitable for intermediates, with 30% classified as expert terrain. This gives you plenty of chances to progress through to the more challenging terrain. You could spend days tackling the intermediate runs with the view to build your confidence ahead of hitting the expert snow.
For beginners, a quarter of the runs are suitable. With a ski school on site too, this is a great place to learn or perhaps refresh some rusty ski skills.
If you want to try something new or take on a new challenge, head on over to one of the five terrain parks.
Killington, Vermont
The Killington resort and its sister resort Pico Mountain are made up of seven mountain areas. Build your basic skills and confidence on the easy runs around the Killington Resort before heading over to more challenging terrain over on Pico.
For those of you who want to tackle a terrain park or two, start at the Easy Street Progression Park. The 15 small features are perfect for beginners and the fun, learning environment makes it easy to progress. Once you feel confident, perhaps head to the Timberline Park where you’ll find 20 small and medium jumps, jibs and rails.
If you need a bit of coaching to reach the next level, Killington provides all sorts of lessons, including race and mogul camps.
By Jess Shanahan
