Best Ski Books

This is really a wonderful, full-featured and practical reference book on all things skiing. It covers literally e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g from teaching you the actual skiing techniques to accessories information to lift-line etiquette to money saving strategies to get lift tickets to how to photograph skiers in action and then some.

It provides authoritative advice on every aspect of the sport. Every possible skiing technique finds itself in a short, summarized, well-written paragraph or page.

The book features lots of black and white pictures, as well as some sequenced photographs in its skiing technique section.

This book definitely has the encyclopedic vibe of a technique reference book and takes a detailed look at skiing techniques and offers tips on improving your skills in all kinds of terrain, in any condition. The All Mountain Skier goes beyond simply teaching to how to survive the slopes while looking good and administering the appropriate techniques. This book also introduces the aspiring ski bum to the world of waxing, tuning, and general ski maintenance.

Although it does have a detailed section on basic skills, the book quickly moves to and focuses on the intermediate and advanced all-mountain skier who is ready to stray off the corduroy.

It also offers a healthy amount of black and white illustrations and photographs.

This is a very colorful book with plenty of photographs and illustrations. It is definitely geared to the visually oriented learner. The New Guide to Skiing provides clearly written and short, bullet-pointed paragraphs discussing the sequenced photographs of demonstrated skiing techniques. This book is loaded with techniques, tips, and tricks straight from the expert to you.

The New Guide to Skiing thoroughly covers everything from the beginners turn to advanced techniques such as carving, bump, and powder skiing.

Even though Tejada-Flores’ book is from an older date, it incorporates all the basics a good “learn-how-to” book should provide. What I really liked about the approach of this book is that it does not just tell you the facts but really spends time explaining just “how” everything works.

Taking a more linguistic/verbal approach, the book reads more like a novel than an instruction manual, and it gives you the feeling as if you are actually participating in a lesson. Tejada-Flores’ instructions and explanations are clear and simple. This book is definitely a fun, informative read written by someone who has been there and done it.

I decided to list these two books of a series as one book, since the second book is a direct continuation of the first. Harald Harb teaches what he calls the “primary movement technique” and really focuses on the efficiency of skiing. A very good approach in my opinion though his exercises and techniques differ from the traditional skiing progressions. The terminology he uses is also unique.

This is a great combo of books which are, in my opinion, a definite “must-read”. These two will greatly complement any traditional book on skiing you may already own, because they are taking a different approach.

In some ways a summary and a simpler version of the more detailed books I and II of the Anyone Can Be An Expert Skier series, Essentials of Skiing makes a great bargain. Even if you already own the above mentioned two books, you will still gets lots out of this one as it offers additional new material. Also, the style of presentation, i.e. explanations and diagrams, are updated and slightly different.

This book oozes with information and drills of fine tuning your skills no matter what level skier you are. And remember: It comes with a DVD! If you could put one book in your boot-bag to read in between runs, this is the one.

I find the Essential Guide to Skiing a great value because it provides both the aspiring and the accomplished skier with a wealth of knowledge on all things slopes and beyond. This book will nicely complement all other ski books while being able to stand its own in every category it offers. A great source of reference!

Finally somebody demystifies the bumps in a clear, easily understandable way that even beginning and intermediate skiers can benefit from. I live for the moguls (among a few other things)… and standing at the top of a nice bump slope on a sunny day, doing some final stretching in preparation for the ride certainly does make me extremely happy. So did reading Dan DiPiro’s book on mogul skiing. True, this book is written for the advanced skier, and the mogul skiing technique does differ from what is done on the groomed slopes, but DiPiro teaches basic drills and skills that can be used on all types of slopes by skiers of all ability levels.

The book includes many tips on such things as posture, basic body position, focus, ski/snow contact, etc. that this book is a wealth of information for all skiers. And it can be purchased at a very reasonable price, and at the time of writing this review, seems to be available in most stores.

Although it’s now ten years old, The Skier’s Edge by Ron LeMaster will be a valuable asset to your ski book library. In this very well written book, LeMaster really delves into the mechanical principles of the sport, making it the ideal companion for analytical learners. Visual learners won’t be disappointed either as they will find excellent sequential black and white photographs and illustrations showing every step of a given technique. He also does a superb job of describing what skiers need to do to improve their technique, as well as what they should “feel” while doing it, using spot-on analogies to deliver the point. LeMaster doesn’t just list the steps to mastering technique, he provides a detailed analysis of “why” particular drills are done. All in all a highly informative read no matter what level skier you are.