Took Indoor Ski Lessons in Santa Monica and Here’s How It Went

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Feb 5

One of Santa Monica’s, Virtual Snow treadmills. The blue stool is for the coach, and the black hardness is to the left of the skis; they strap you onto the treadmill so you won’t slide off. (Image: L.Tran)

Bingo, booked our flights to Aspen, excited to ski in a mere four weeks. Then I remembered… I don’t know how to ski. I’ve skied twice in my life so not helpful when going to the world-class, winter sports capital of America. Aspen is known for its four monumental mountains (ski paradise, anyone) and fine powdery snow (the perfect conditions).

Thanks to a quick Google search and an overzealous Instagram ad campaign, Virtual Snow Los Angeles showed me an ad and I clicked (converted customer right here, baby). Indoor ski or snowboard lessons with a one-on-one coach, without ever having to leave LA? YES, please.

My ski goals

I’ve been roller skating for one year, so familiar with the challenges of balance, edging, and shifting weight. I knew skiing overlapped with similar principles. From my limited skiing experiences, I wanted to progress beyond the basic wedge/pizza to parallel (french fries) and to start trying the hockey stop.

I wanted to unlock as many runs as possible by upping my skill, in a short amount of time; get some fundamentals down as rapidly as possible, to better enjoy my time in Aspen. As a total beginner, I wanted to jump to the good part as soon as possible; which meant taking care of as much beginner fundamentals beforehand. And yes, I am dreaming of safely doing a few blue runs while in Aspen (fingers-crossed).

With limited ski experience, we’re complete beginners. Previously, I skied the entire timing using the wedge method, so have limited control and abilities. Thus my next-level goal is to ski in parallel (french fries!) and do some early versions of the hockey stop; would love to get a better grasp at stopping at higher speeds, as that’s key to more challenging runs — control.

How does it work?

Virtual Snow has a custom-carpeted, extra-wide, treadmill, sprayed with silicone (to get that slicker snow feel). You’re then harnessed to a waist belt and bracket, that attaches to the back bar, so you won’t slide off the treadmill. Then to complete it, they tilt the treadmill at a sharp incline to mimic the ski mountains. Ingenious!

So the concept is pretty simple, the perfect solution to get my ski technique in without leaving my comfortable SoCal weather.

As a tip, people who are more advanced skiers/snowboarders often have a harder time adjusting to the machine since it’s more friction than snow (you are using carpet). So I hear it’s easier to go from the indoor lesson to the outdoors with a few adjustments than the other way around. Good to know!

What’s an indoor lesson like?

The intro lesson was a mixture of lessons on a tablet with headphones and constant attention with a coach. The iPad had a Virtual Snow lesson plan (complete with a very 80s robot voice) which went over the machine basics. Interspersed with the videos, our trainer Ralph would turn on the treadmill, and we’d attempt the drills. Ralph would also explain the concepts in his own words and answer any questions while giving us feedback on our own stance and technique (this is already way more attention than I’ve ever received in a group lesson!). Overall, I’ve already learned 10x more at Virtual Snow than I ever learned at a group ski resort lesson.

After 40 minutes, beads of sweat were forming, and the position and stance really work muscles I was not aware I needed! I cycle (bike) to work often, so was not expecting to tire, but then I was sore the next day! The website brags, that an hour-long lesson is akin to a full day at the slopes and I believe it! On the slopes, you have to spend a lot of time on the ski lift and getting ready to do the run. Here, I was constantly in the ready position and had to engage my muscles to maintain the proper ski stance.

By the end of the introductory lesson, we were so impressed and purchased a package of six classes and booked weekly lessons to prep for our Aspen trip! I went home and proceeded to binge on YouTube ski lesson videos (many of the English ones were filmed in cold places like Denmark LOL). Thus, I am mentally preparing myself for the next lesson and continue progressing as much as I can before the big trip.

Miss Veraa’s own Virtual Snow Experience:

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About Virtual Snow

Virtual Snow is that it’s a family-owned and operated, unique, indoor ski experience with three locations in Santa Monica, Woodland Hills, and Mountain High, A distinctly a SoCal chainlet, they let you practice ski technique and muscles without having to leave the big city or needing snow!

We arrived at our lesson early, so I got to speak to the owner himself, Rob, a youthful, middle-aged man with a hint of a beard - who looked like a guy straight out of a Colorado catalog (it was a chilly LA night). He graciously answered all my questions and reassured me that I’d learn the basics and was in good hands.

The Santa Monica location has three, full-sized treadmills. This is the kind of place where you need to book your lessons in advance as they fill up their limited three slots. Each person on the treadmill had their own trainer - so you get super one-on-one attention.

How’d I do on the real slopes?

Overall, I feel everything I put into my ski technique really helped me enjoy my Aspen trip and maximize my times on their long-run, beginner-friendly slopes! I was able to ski beginner slopes independently, and work up my confidence doing longer and longer slopes. There were even a few baby steep slopes where I got to practice leveling-up.

Due to my earlier wipe-outs (where I took on a Blue run too soon), I decided to play it safe and only did 1 portion of a Blue run while there. In the future, I’d love to keep increasing my abilities to more confidently do a Blue run (perhaps with some friends who don’t mind waiting for me!). I was a little scared as one skier dislocated his shoulder and had to be retrieved via a medical sled (he looked very cozy and well cared for). However, I did not want to wipe-out and bang myself up on an already amazing, epic snow trip!

As a look back, let’s summarize all the real work I put into my ski practice so we can keep it real:

4 Virtual Snow lessons
1+ hours of self-directed, YouTube videos (technique-centric tutorials)
1 Day Trip to Mount High
Asked my Virtual Snow instructor lots of questions (based off of my experience and additional thought put into the technique)

In short, I spent 10+ hours on my ski practice. Once I finally hit the slopes in Aspen, I felt really good! I was able to really work on my carving and even started doing baby hockey stops (left side is stronger than my right lol). Aspen slopes (particularly Buttermilk Mountain) had plenty of long-run beginner slopes (nearly 3 miles on one run!), perfect for a newbie like me to really hone my technique!

My favorite part of Virtual Snow was (1) being introduced to the basic concepts; and (2) I was able to maximize my time by watching videos, and my own day trip to come back with questions specific to the skills I wanted to focus on.

I did survey my partner, and he said the Indoor Ski lesson (the feeling of carpet over treadmill) was too different so I did not believe it was as helpful after the first two lessons. For me, it was 100% helpful for my ski goals and worth it for me; so highly recommend the lesson for those who are motivated and have specific goals. One caveat is that some instructors were way more experienced and gave better feedback than the entry-level instructors. I hope they let you get assigned one experienced instructor and stay with them the entire time, as sometimes I had to get the instructor up to speed on what I worked on earlier.

Overall, I recommend Virtual Snow for a total beginner!