Skill levels
Ski and snowboard levels 1–9 explained — from your first snowplough to off-piste — with a level chart, a skills calculator, and ESF, ESI and Swiss Snow League conversions.
Rate eight skills and we'll place you on the nine-level ladder — or convert an ESF, ESI or Swiss Snow League award you already hold. No account needed.
This is an indicative placement aid, not a qualification, medal or official level. Your ski school or instructor confirms practical lesson placement on the day.
This nine-level ladder is Find a Ski School's own framework. It is not an official or governing-body standard, and no ski school is obliged to use it. Its purpose is to give you one consistent way to describe what you can do, so you can compare lessons across schools that each grade differently.
| Level | Award | Focus | Milestone |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bronze 1 | Mobility & gliding | Snowplough gliding |
| 2 | Bronze 2 | Basic turns | Linked snowplough turns |
| 3 | Bronze 3 | Turn development | 10 linked turns (no falls) |
| 4 | Silver 1 | Speed & line control | Consistent plough parallels |
| 5 | Silver 2 | Parallel development | Synchronised skiing |
| 6 | Silver 3 | Basic parallel | 6+ basic parallel turns |
| 7 | Gold 1 | Carving skills | Off-piste & bump runs |
| 8 | Gold 2 | Skill development | All terrain & conditions |
| 9 | Gold 3 | Performance parallel | Advanced performance across varied terrain |
Each level builds on the one before it. Work through the skills with an instructor, tick off the required manoeuvres, and move up the ladder.
Your first steps on snow. You get comfortable with the equipment, learn to walk and side-step on skis, and glide your first few metres in a straight run and a snowplough.
You can glide and brake in a snowplough — now you use the lifts confidently and link your first basic snowplough turns with good posture.
Your snowplough turns become reliable. You vary their size, handle small bumps and rollers, and link 10 turns in a row without falling.
The bridge to parallel skiing. You control speed and line on more varied terrain and start closing your skis into a parallel stance after the fall line — the plough parallel.
Your skis come parallel earlier in each turn. You side-slip, adapt turn shape to the terrain, and ski at least 10 synchronised turns with a partner.
The classic breakthrough: both skis turn together. You link basic parallel turns with rhythm, understand pole planting, and control speed and line on steeper terrain.
Parallel becomes performance. You add an accurate pole plant, carve the last third of the turn, and take your first controlled runs into bumps and off-piste snow.
You ski the whole mountain. Short and long radius turns — carved and skidded — in variable conditions, bumps with a more direct line, and full control of speed and line on steep red and black runs.
The final award: performance parallel skiing. You show the same all-mountain command as Gold 2, refined to a consistently higher standard — ready for racing, freestyle, or instructor training.
Some ski schools grade group lessons on a numbered scale, and where that scale runs from 1 to 9 our awards line up with it one to one: Bronze 1 is level 1, Silver 1 is level 4, and Gold 3 is level 9. Plenty of schools use their own names instead — ESF's Ourson, Flocon and Étoiles, or Swiss Snowsports' Blue, Red and Black — and a number on one school's scale need not mean the same as the same number on another's. Treat your award as a description of what you can do, and check it against the scale your school actually uses when you book.
School search and booking pages use a simpler six-point experience scale. Here's how the nine award levels line up:
Bronze 1–3levels 1–3
First Timer → Beginner
Silver 1–3levels 4–6
Intermediate → Advanced Intermediate
Gold 1–3levels 7–9
Advanced → Expert
When you search for a school, pick the experience level that matches where you are on the ladder — if you sit between two, choose the lower one.
Instructor qualifications are separate from student levels. Associations such as BASI, CSIA, PSIA-AASI, IASI, and CASI certify instructors — they don't grade students. Four things get run together when people say an instructor is “qualified”, and they are worth keeping apart:
If it matters for the lesson you are booking — off-piste, touring, or an unaccompanied child — ask the school which certification the instructor holds and what it permits in that country.
Record your levels with your instructor, keep lesson notes, and download a certificate as you complete each award.
Congratulations on completing the level system! Consider these next steps: