The Skiing ABCs L

The Skiing ABCs L — Lutsen

Lutsen is a ski resort on the northwest shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota of the USA. The ski resort consists of three separate hills and offers the full gamut of winter activities during ski season. The area around Lutsen is a four season vacation area also offering fishing, cycling, golf, and just general outdoor activities.

The Skiing ABCs L — Laps

Skiers often refer to their ski runs as laps, especially when repeating the same run. For example, when we were skiing at Lutsen we were getting many tasty laps on Lutsen’s Moose Mountain, aided by some fast blues and a high speed six pack (ie a six seat lift).

Lapping runs is very common here in the Midwest due to our shorter runs and short rides back up.

The Skiing ABCs L — Lift

While a lift is often a contraction for chairlift, it is any mechanical aid to get a skier or snowboarder from the bottom of a run to the top of a run. Snow resorts typically have a number of them scattered throughout their terrain.

Different types of lifts include chairlifts, gondolas, t-bars, magic-carpets, rope-tows, funiculars, trams, and so on.

The Skiing ABCs L — Ligament

Ligaments are type of soft (but tough) body tissue connecting one bone to another. When used in a skiing context we are often talking about the anterior cruciate ligament (aka the ACL) and unfortunately that context too often involves ACL tears or ruptures. Sometimes we hear of the medial cruciate ligatment (the MCL) or evern more rarely other ligaments.

The Vermont Ski Safety Institute addresses things you can do to reduce the risk of injury to your ligaments.

The Skiing ABCs L — Ted Ligety

Ted Ligety is a member of the US Ski Team and specializes in the Giant Slalom event on the FIS World cup tour. He has won the FIS World Cup Giant Slalom series five times. Ted Ligety is originally from Utah.

In addition to dominating the GS event on the annual world cup tour is also a dominating figure in Olympic skiing.

The Skiing ABCs L — Legs

How can I forget? Legs are the most important part of our ski anatomy! Without our legs skiing would be a very different sport as is evidenced by those who do engage in legless skiing! Take care of your legs and make sure they are well conditioned to handle the rigors of skiing. Take care of your legs and they will take care of the rest of your body while skiing!

The Skiing ABCs L — Lessons

Take skiing lessons. Even if you have been skiing for a long time taking lessons can help you stamp out subtle flaws in your ski technique and help you to enjoy the mountains more. Last winter when visiting Whitefish I was able to get down all of the blue runs safely but I took lessons anyway. The instructor pointed out a subtle flaw in my skiing that I believe allowed me to ski well in the powder we received later on the trip.

Taking lessons is a sign of desire that you want to ski better. Your buddy may get you started skiing and take you far but will the notice the subtle things? Subtle things such as turn shape? Go with a pro and get some lessons!

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