PSIA-AASI & SNOW Operating Launch New Beginner’s Guide to Skiing and Snowboarding Videos

The Professional Ski Instructors of America and the American Association of Snowboard Instructors teamed up with SNOW Operating (providers of the Terrain Based Learning™ program) to provide a new and free YouTube video series that shows beginner skiers and riders how to ski and snowboard and what to expect on their first day.

  • How to Ski: A Beginner’s Guide
  • How to Snowboard: A Beginner’s Guide

PSIA-AASI and SNOW Operating encourages the snowsports industry to link and share these videos in their communications outreach to their current and potential guests. PSIA-AASI CEO Nicholas Herrin said that “as a result, your guests will feel more confident and comfortable getting started, so they can focus on the most important part of skiing and riding when they hit the slopes, having fun!”

“We’re excited to roll out these videos as a resource for ski schools, retail shops, and resorts,” said Herrin. “These videos will meet your guests’ needs by providing them with simple getting started tips in a way that’s convenient to access from home and easy to understand. The video series is created for the beginner, to help get more people started, which will hopefully help grow overall participation in winter sports.”

The video series is broken out into skiing and snowboarding, so guests can focus on their chosen sport. There are three videos for each discipline, and each video features content provided by  a PSIA-AASI Team member, Eric Lipton for alpine, and Chris Rogers for snowboard. Lipton and Rogers cover skills such as how put on socks and boots, carry skis and snowboards, turn and stop, get up after a fall, and ride a chairlift.

Herrin said that the videos are simple and easy to understand for any viewer with little to no skill or experience in winter sports. The course does not take the place of an on-snow lesson, but it does cover the basics so that guests are ready to work with an instructor to build their skills when they arrive at a resort.

“Clear and simple YouTube instructional videos is something we all felt like the industry desperately needed.  If you look at how today’s market learns to do anything, from working on their cars to learning how to play guitar, YouTube is the place where they start,” said Hugh Reynolds, SNOW Operating vice president of marketing and sales.

“Up to this point nearly all the online content related to learning to ski or snowboard has been focused on the intermediate to advanced participant, people who have already committed to the sports,” said Reynolds.  “There was nothing for the never-ever or would-be first-time participant and we wanted to fill that gap.  Our partnership with PSIA-AASI is something that we’re very proud of and this is just one example of how we’re working together to grow our sports.”

The Beginner’s Guide to Skiing and Snowboarding video series is available to instructors, ski and ride schools, rental shops, and anyone else who wants to get never-evers or returning participants excited about skiing and snowboarding.

Herrin and Reynolds encourage everyone link to or share these videos on your social media channels or play them for guests in person to help them get started. “Encourage your marketing team to add a link to the videos in email blasts, or if you have a ‘learn to’ section on your website, add a link to these videos,” says Herrin.  In addition, they said that instructors can show students the videos on their phone before starting on snow, or resorts can loop them in their ticket or rental operations to ensure high visibility.

To Link to the Videos on a Website:
Add the below text and links to your website’s “learn to section”

To Embed Videos and Playlists:
Copy and paste the HTML code into your blog or website HTML.