What kind of skills do I need to feel comfortable with,before challenging the blue-diamond run (intermediate)?

Question

Correction: "Blue-Square", not diamond.

Answer 1

Cor' blimey! No disrespect, but skiing in the US sounds a bit complicated! In Europe it's either Green (very easy) blue (easy) Red (hard) black (very hard). You just stick to what you're confident with or have a go at the next challenge. None of this you have to be able to do this that or the other. As long as you can parallel ski, have the confidence and stick to the rules of the piste there souldn't be a problem. If you find yourself on a piste that's a bit harder than you imagined, just take your time to get down it, on your butt if necessary! Having said that it would be foolish for a beginner to go from a green straight to a black, so just use common sense. Talk to someone who know's the run or is a more experienced skier and maybe get them to go with you first time.

Hope this makes sense. Have fun and good luck!

Answer 2

The trail rating is dependent on the ski area.  There are intermediate trails at some places that would be expert runs at another place.  You see the opposite too.    

For a particular area you should be able to ski the hardest novice terrain before you attempt the intermediate.  

I would recommend being able to do the following:  be able to load and unload the lift, able to link turns, and able to do hockey stops.

By the way the ratings go like this:  Beginner, novice (green circle), intermediate (blue square), expert (black diamond).  If you see 2 symbols, i.e. double diamond, then that is harder than a single diamond trail.

Answer 3

Blue runs are still easy runs. You don't need a lot. I say you just need to be able to..

- link the turns properly,

- control your speed by turning when you need to,

- pick your path around gentle bumps, and

- hockey stop.

And, while on blue runs, to move up, you want to practice..

- planting your poles at the right time to initiate turns,

- quick turns,

- parallel skiing,

- keeping tips down to avoid crossing skis,

- keeping your body straight to where you are going (instead of to where your skis point),

- skiing with medium-to-fast speed, and

- selecting the right path on bigger bumps (to condition yourself on mogul skiing).

Answer 4

What you need to have before you go on diamonds and intermediates is that you NEED to know how to do full parallel turns, keep your skiis close, do QUICKstops,and most importantly you Have to keep conrtol of your Speed. If you fall due to spped you will break or bruise something.Als you need to know how to ski on ice. I have skied for seven years. You  MUST know THIS!!!

Answer 5

Stop when you want and control your speed by turning when you want.  If you control these you're ready. If you panic at the need for a sudden stop or can't link turns to control your speed keep working at it.