Progression: Magic Carpet to Easy Rider Lift, a mild green slope.
Goal: Control turn shape to manage speed and begin to link turns.
Ideal Student: 2-3 days on snow. Familiar with lifts, working on turning but not linking turns yet.
Lift Ticket Package: Lower mountain only. At Hoodoo, we see no reason to charge people for terrain they cannot use. Beginners get a heavily discounted lift ticket that is only good for the lower mountain. This way you are not wasting money on the terrain you can’t use yet.

You have got the very basics of turning, but it’s time to hone those skills and start to put a left turn and a right turn together to form the common “S” shape to link turns. To progress to the next level the student should be comfortably riding the chair and linking turns down Easy Rider.

Progression: Easy rider lift to larger and slightly steeper green runs.
Goal: Leave the bunny hill and begin to explore other green runs.
Ideal Student: 3+ days on snow. Mastered linking turn and learning to make sharper turns to control speed on steeper terrain.
Lift Ticket Package: All mountain. The increase in cost between a level 2 and 3 lesson is the upgrade to an all mountain lift ticket.

It’s a big jump from the bunny hill to the other greens on the mountains. You’ll start on the Easy Rider lift where the instructor will assess if you’re ready to move to steeper terrain. Speed control is the name of the game: steeper isn’t scarier if you know how to make quicker turns.

Progression: Move from greens to blue runs.
Goal: Learn new tactics to master greens and navigate blue runs.
Ideal Student: 10+ days on snow. Easily moves down all greens, but struggles to navigate blue and black runs.
Lift Ticket Package: All mountain. By far the largest level in downhill Snowsports. You can spend years progressing through level 4.

Level 4’s learn proper technique for multiple types of terrain from groomers to mild moguls, off-piste (trees/bowls) and yes, Level 4s are also ready for Freestyle 101. This doesn’t mean hucking off jumps, it means focusing on proper body position to set you up for success, not a slam.

Many people wrongly associate levels to the slopes they go down. Just because someone can go down a black run, doesn’t make them higher than a level 4. Most level 4s have progressed beyond greens to blue and even black runs. The trouble is they never learned the specific tactics and techniques needed to navigate multiple types of terrain.Our instructors will teach a myriad of tactics through various drills that will get you properly navigating more difficult runs.

Progression: Blues, to gradual blacks,
Goal: Learn various tactics and techniques for all types of conditions and terrain.
Ideal Student: 100+ days on snow. Mastered blue runs and ready for groomed black runs as well as ungroomed blue runs.
Lift Ticket Package: All mountain.

The jump between 4 and 5 is easiest to understand by “days on snow”. Where 4’s have over 10 days, 5s have over 100 days. At 5 trips/year you can see why this is pretty much the last level most recreational sliders will reach. You can get down any trail, but that doesn’t mean you make it look easy. You know the difference between a carved turn and a skidded turn, powder is not a problem anymore…in fact it’s fun!. You can handle just about any run on the mountain, but you know there’s room for improvement because you still struggle on the steepest runs and ungroomed terrain. Specific drills that will hone your turn shape and improve your balance will allow you to tackle the toughest terrain.

Freestyle: Your balance is on point, so now it’s time to start applying more advanced techniques to get you ready for jumps and boxes as well.

Progression: You tell us! At this level you can shred anything, but you know you can always get better.
Goal: learn specific tactics and techniques for conditions of the day.
Ideal Student: 10+ YEARS on snow. knows their shortcomings and where they want to improve.
Lift Ticket Package: All mountain. The increase in cost between a level 2 and 3 lesson is due to the fact that you’re ready to explore more of the mountain.

Ready for double black diamond bumps, steeps, cliff drops and volcanic bowls? Rarely do we ever see level 6 students. People often assume that if you can get down a black run, then you are a level 6. That is incorrect. Level 6s know proper technique, not just how to get down a black run. They have multiple tricks in their bag to make it look easy. At this level of knowledge and skill, it becomes the students’ job to tell the instructor what they want to improve on.

Only our most experienced and highest-ranking instructors typically teach at this level as they are all professionals in the sport with well over 10 years of experience teaching at this level.