When the snow is hard, practise side slipping, because it will help you out of many difficulties and once you know the feeling of it, you will find that it replaces the downhill side-stepping, which is so slow.

On hard snow, it is possible to go down broadside on by merely standing on one’s Skis and turning one’s outer or lower ankle outwards and one’s inner or upper ankle towards the other, so that the Skis are lying flat on the snow, instead of the edges biting into it.  Push off with your stick from the slope above you and weight your heels or your toes according to whether the Skis are sinking in front or behind.  Have confidence, keep upright, lean away from the slopes and let your Skis slide and don’t blame me if you suddenly slide into a soft patch of snow, which stops the Skis dead and you fall head downwards.  This is all in the day’s work.  If the surface of the snow is uniformly hard you will slip down without difficulty.

Seriously, side slipping is a huge help and should be learned at once.  Mr. Caulfield gives first-class instructions, which are easy to follow in detail.

When going uphill never try to climb steeper than is easy.  If the Skis are slipping back, you are going too steep and should turn off and traverse instead.  No time is saved by too steep a climb; the man who goes easily gets to the top first, while the other clambers up almost on all fours, gets hot and exhausted and has gained nothing.  If I am leading an elementary run uphill, I can soon pick out the experienced runners by the line they take and the pace at which they climb.  The puffing, panting, stumbling people, who forge ahead, herring-boning or turning their ankles over their Skis so as to get a grip with their boots, are not included in my “experienced runners.”

Another hint for uphill work is that when traversing a slope, the Skis should be edged so that the inner edge of the Ski bites into the slope.  A Ski with its whole surface flattened to the slope is bound to slip especially on hard snow.  By standing upright as you go uphill and keeping the ankles straight, the Skis will be edged in the right way.

A quick way of getting up a steep slope is side-stepping.  As you stand with your Skis horizontal across the slope, lift the upper foot and place it on the slope a few inches higher.  Then lift the lower foot and place it beside the upper.  You will soon be able to do this while advancing across your traverse at the same time, but it is hard work and should only be used for short climbs.

Side-stepping is a very good way of climbing, but should be avoided when descending, except when approaching a narrow gap in a fence or crossing a stream where the approach is steep.

I have known a party almost benighted by a beginner, who had discovered the joys of side-stepping and proposed to descend some 1,000 feet by this safe method, instead of sliding in the proper way.  Allowing eight inches to each side-step, how many hours would it take to descend 1,000 feet?