Dr. Kevin Stone, former physician for the U.S. Ski Team, talks the magic of a day on the mountain — and how to stick it out in one piece.
Sliding down a snowy mountain while balancing on long, slippery double-edged knives sounds a bit ludicrous — but that’s what skiing is, really. And no one is wiser to the risks than Kevin Stone, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at The Stone Clinic in the Bay Area, former physician to the U.S. Ski Team, and author of Play Forever: How to Recover from Injury & Thrive.
“Even though I'm a huge fan and lifelong skier, the reality is that I think if anybody understood how dangerous skiing was they probably wouldn't do it,” he says. “And it's unfortunate because it's one of the greatest sports of all time.”
All things considered, Dr. Stone is still the first to recommend giving it a try. “There are few ways to have more fun on the mountain than skiing,” he says. “It's social and it's lifelong — I see skiers in their 70s and 80s.”
The trick to shredding comfortably for decades? Building a strong skill base and body so you can stay safe on the slopes. Here are his tips to do exactly that, whether you’re a newbie or heading down a favorite run for the hundredth time.
Beginners, keep these considerations in mind.
It’s easy to have a bad first time skiing between the outside elements, injury risk, and steep learning curve to master the sport. But Dr. Stone says keeping two factors in check can go a long way: warmth and difficulty. “If you're cold and it's scary, it's hard to see the fun at first,” he says. “So the first rule of getting started in snow sports is to make sure that you're warm and make sure it's not scary.” That means layering up properly with base layers, snow pants, a proper ski jacket, and gloves, as well as starting on the bunny slope — and staying there until you’re truly ready to move on.
The aim? Not to pick up skills as quickly as possible but to enjoy yourself. “Once you can learn how to play and laugh on the snow, then you can progress pretty nicely,” he says. “As you advance, getting a little bit of great teaching or coaching can really help you excel. In skiing, there [are] some really basic principles that are easy to teach that help beginners progress.” Though your partner, parent, or friend may try to help, it’s generally better to trust a pro. Repeat: You’re never too old to take a lesson.
If you can’t head to a mountain often, there’s another skill set you can hone in the meantime that translates well to the slopes: skating. It’ll teach you how to glide and use the edges of the skate to turn. “If you can start a new skier in that mindset, they can very quickly progress in their skiing confidence and skills,” Dr. Stone says.
Don’t discount the importance of gear.
It’s no secret skiing is a gear-heavy sport — and it can make or break your time on the snow. A warm, comfortable helmet, goggles that fit right up to the edge of your helmet, and waterproof gloves or mittens are all must-haves.
And if you own skis, it’s important to have tuned gear, a sharp edge, and a clean, well-waxed bottom, Dr. Stone says. That said, he heartily recommends rentals since you can tailor the type of ski to the conditions on the mountain. “Getting skis that match the conditions has become much more important than it used to be,” he says. “If you show up at a mountain and it's hard, kind of skied off, pieced, you want to have a ski that turns super easily — a more shaped ski with a narrow waist. On the other hand, if there's a ton of fresh snow, you want a wider ski that's tipped up in the front and tail, so it's much easier to turn in powder and float on top of the snow. Having the right skis for the right conditions makes skiing so much easier.”
Another pro tip: Forget the pole etiquette you’ve learned. “You'll never see an orthopedic surgeon skiing with the straps on their wrist,” Dr. Stone says. “Unfortunately, the hand is most commonly injured, as people fall with a pole strap on their hand and suffer a very common injury to the ligament on the side of the thumb called ‘skier’s thumb.’” Instead, hold your poles sans straps, and simply let go if you fall — you’ll find a way to get them back.
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Train mobility over brute strength.
If you’re keeping skiing in mind when programming your workout routine, you might think to tackle some squats, lunges, and speed skaters — and while those can definitely help you build quads and glutes of steel, strength moves actually aren’t the priority when doing ski prep.
“We used to think that it was all about strength, and a lot of our pre-ski season training focused on power strength, building quads, building hamstrings, building core strength. It turns out that even in our strongest skiers or alpine racers on the US ski team, their injury rate is still extremely high — and muscles just can't prevent the injuries that we see most often,” Dr. Stone says. “It's probably far more important to focus on mobility; the more flexible your knees, hips, and back are, the more likely you are to be able to put yourself in the necessary positions for skiing and adapt to the terrain than if you’re not flexible.”
If you’re notoriously stiff and have a ski trip coming up fast, don’t worry that your mobility isn’t there yet. Dr. Stone just recommends giving your body a little day-of TLC: Use a hot tub in the morning before you go out to ski, take a warm bath or hot shower, and do some dynamic stretching. “Go out warm and loose rather than cold and stiff,” he says — even if all you can do is turn on your car seat warmer and do some shakeout stretches in the parking lot.
Dial in your mental game.
Honestly? More than having a sharp edge on your skis or quads that can cut glass is your ability to mentally focus on the moment. “The number one cause of injuries in almost all sports that I care for are mental errors — your mind just isn’t in the game at that minute,” he says. “And if you ask anybody, they say: I shouldn't have been going that fast, I didn’t mean to do that move, or I shouldn't have been in that position. They almost always realize just before they get injured that they made a mistake and that they were distracted or just not prepared.”
Perhaps you’ve heard or seen it happen, or you’ve done it yourself: a perfectly capable skier shreds down a green at the end of the day and wipes out because they were mentally checked out.
“And so the first thing is to leave the cell phone home, leave the thoughts of other things at home, and really put your mind in the game,” Dr. Stone says. And though this all might sound very serious, his best advice for staying in the moment is to have fun. Joy and mindfulness go hand in hand. “I think keeping it fun is the first part of staying in the zone because if it's fun, you're there,” he says. “I think that's an underrated part of skiing safety.”
To help you use your mental energy wisely, Dr. Stone highly recommends taking advantage of mountain guides (sometimes called hosts or ambassadors) — an underrated service offered at many mountains where a ski pro helps you navigate the runs — when and if you can.
“People often forget that there are people on these mountains who will take you around, and if you're going to a new ski area, your enjoyment of that area will be magnified if you're not spending the time trying to figure out which runs to go on or where to go or where the best conditions are,” he says.
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Remember to play.
If you aren’t out there to have fun, why are you there at all? Dr. Stone quite literally wrote the book on playing as an adult and feels passionately about encouraging the mindset because the alternative, frankly, is quite bleak.
While skiing offers an excellent opportunity to tap into your inner kid, you shouldn’t save play for special occasions. Dr. Stone stresses that learning to play every day, no matter what age you are, is a game-changing skill to hone for life.
“I think it would be helpful to get rid of the words ‘work out’ and go ‘play out’ instead. You can play out in the gym, you can play out wherever you're going,” he says. “Just take some friends and make it fun. I think the earlier you learn that skill and make it part of it every day, the longer it carries you through life in a happy way.”