No app can improve your ski game. Only racking up the vertical feet can do that.
Similarly, technology cannot alleviate loneliness. Social engagement is the most effective remedy for that.
Enter the ski clinic.
Unlike basic ski school, which focuses on foundational skills with instructors and groups changing daily, clinics are goal-specific, multiday camps to fast-track advancement alongside skiers of equal ability. Since the premise is skill-building and includes lunch and après-ski activities, it feels comfortable to show up solo, which many people do.
There, in a stunning alpine setting, during drills, runs and hot chocolate breaks, participants’ guards come down over triumphant high fives, and bonds are formed. “It’s so hard to find people who ski at your pace,” said Dan Egan, the extreme sports pioneer who runs Summit Pursuits at Big Sky Resort in Montana. “Clinics attract people with passion and vision. They mean instant camaraderie.”
From learning how to negotiate moguls and backcountry to improving confidence on groomed terrain, these six clinics offer an opportunity to build skills in an engaging social setting.
Aspen, Colo.
The Clendenin Method
Level: Intermediate
The World Freestyle Skiing champion John Clendenin thinks the stem turn entry — the subtle snowplow maneuver that most beginning skiers learn to control speed — is the root of all evil on the slopes. His clinic focuses on the micro adjustments that get “stuck” intermediate skiers more parallel and balanced so they can conquer steeper terrain with fluidity and control. The four-day clinic, which progresses from blue groomers to ungroomed, but not-too-terrifying moguled terrain, is guided by four simple principles — touch, tip, drift, center. “The goal is to find what I call the epiphany pad, which is a specific stance that delivers stability, balance and structure without being dependent on big toe edge,” Mr. Clendenin said. “When you employ it, your knees don’t hurt and you have the power to ski all day.”
Clinics are $2,595, excluding lift tickets, lodging and rentals; discounts on rentals are available.
Deer Valley, UTAH
Jillian Vogtli’s Empowerment Ski Clinic
Level: Intermediate
The two-time Olympian and certified holistic coach Jillian Vogtli, who spent 13 years on the U.S. Ski Team, offers one- and two-day camps that integrate ski instruction with exercises designed to strengthen the mind-body-soul connection and boost confidence. The day begins with meditation to quiet the inner critic and experience the majesty of the mountain. Then comes goal-setting, followed by drills (initiate turns from the “shovel” of the ski, not the tail; keep shin pressure on boots with weight on the balls of the feet; anticipate, don’t react) and video analysis for instant feedback. “Fears off the hill show up on the hill. The goal is to identify the limiting beliefs and reroute them so you ski with joy, not trepidation,” said Ms. Vogtli. Most clinics are women-only, with one coed date.
One-day clinics are $850. Two-day clinics are $1,700, excluding lift tickets, lodging and rentals.
Sun Valley, Idaho
EdgeWise Women’s Camp
Level: Advanced Intermediate/Women Only
The popularity of Sun Valley’s eight-week women-only clinic for locals led to the creation of an abbreviated version focused on taking skiers’ skills to the next level. Over three days crisscrossing Bald Mountain’s bowls and ungroomed glades, participants refine their technique to boost versatility, meaning a skier’s ability to adapt to varying terrain (slope angles, moguls, steepness, run widths) and changing conditions (whiteout, slush, corn) with confidence in a supportive, all-female environment. Off the slopes, there are group dinners and activities, such as line dancing.
Clinics are $1,950, excluding lodging. Discounts on lift tickets and rentals are available.
Big Sky, Mont.
Summit Pursuits
Level: Advanced-Intermediate
To take on steeps, trees and bumps under the tutelage of an extreme sports pioneer who has starred in more than a dozen Warren Miller ski films, you have to be an advanced intermediate skier with a daredevil streak. “I teach toward manifestation. Clients share their goals, and need to be ready to change the way that they ski,” said Mr. Egan, who heads up the camp. The three-day clinic is designed to dismantle limiting beliefs, such as inadequacy and the fear of acceleration. You start on wide-open, groomed terrain and progress to double-black-diamond chutes, moving off-piste (to ungroomed slopes) into the trees and steeps, which means becoming comfortable with rock stumps and other unpredictable conditions. It all builds up to skiing Big Sky’s triple-black-diamond Big Couloir, which drops more than 1,400 feet and has a sustained pitch of 50 degrees. Snowboarders can also sign up for the camp.
Clinics are $1,665, excluding lodging and rentals. Discounted lift tickets available.
Jackson Hole, Wyo.
Steep & Deep Camps
Level: Advanced/Expert
For the past 20 years, advanced adrenaline aficionados have flocked to these four-day camps for technical coaching exclusively on off-piste terrain. The program begins on ungroomed black diamond runs at Rendezvous Bowl and progresses rapidly to more challenging slopes rife with chutes, bumps and cliff bands, before moving into an uncontrolled environment outside the resort’s perimeter for backcountry skiing.
“Jackson is an aspirational place famous for gnarly runs. Steep Camp opens the door to the resort in a supported way,” said Lexey Wauters, assistant director of Jackson Hole’s Mountain Sports School. “The bond is powerful. We have groups that return every year.” There is also a snowboard version of the camp and a toned-down one for those over 60 called Steep and Deep Masters.
Clinics are $2,280, excluding lift tickets, lodging and rentals.
Multiple North American Locations
Rippin Chix
Level: Expert/Women Only
Susan Medville and Meredith Eades, both former ski racers, specialize in pushing advanced skiers out of their comfort zones on off-piste, super-steep terrain. Their two-day, women-only camps, which include resort skiing, ski touring (in which you hike up mountains using special skins on your skis, then ski down), and cat skiing, are held at lesser-known resorts like Whitewater, Apex and Pemberton (with Backcountry Snowcats) in British Columbia, Canada; Alpental in Washington, and Alta in Utah. They focus on the “toolbox” required to navigate natural jumps, chutes and glades, all features skiers encounter outside of the patrolled boundaries of a resort. “We laughingly say women experience ‘trauma bonding’ at our camps since the skiing is spicy and they go to such vulnerable places and cheer each other on,” said Ms. Medville.
Two-day camps at resorts are $625, excluding lodging and lift tickets; cat skiing ($2,400) and backcountry ($1,850) packages include lodging and meals. Complimentary demo skis are available, except at Alta, on a first-come, first-served basis.
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