Skill levels
Ski and snowboard levels 1–9 explained — from your first turns to demanding marked pistes — with a level chart, a skills calculator, and ESF, ESI and Swiss Snow League conversions.
Describe what you can do for an indicative lesson level, or compare a supported alpine ski award. Your instructor confirms placement on snow. You can try the questions without an account.
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 | Carving & shallow bumps |
| 8 | Gold 2 | Skill development | Adaptable marked-piste control |
| 9 | Gold 3 | Performance parallel | Consistent performance |
Each level builds on the one before it. Practise the skills with an instructor. Completing a checklist records the evidence; an instructor then confirms the award. Optional practice exercises do not count towards the required criteria.
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. Add an accurate pole plant, carve the last third of the turn and control your line through shallow bumps on marked terrain. Off-piste development is a separate pathway with a qualified professional.
Link short and long turns, carved and skidded, on varied marked terrain. Adapt to changing snow and bumps while keeping control of speed and line on steep runs.
The final FASS stage: repeatable performance parallel skiing. Across full runs, link accurate short and long turns, adapt edge and pressure smoothly, and maintain a chosen line in the conditions assessed. Your report records the terrain and conditions demonstrated. Racing, freestyle and instructor qualifications have their own requirements.
FASS uses nine levels: Bronze 1 is FASS 1, Silver 1 is FASS 4, and Gold 3 is FASS 9. A school’s own level 4 may describe different skills. Compare the descriptions and required skills, not the number alone. Equivalencies are approximate placement guidance; the receiving school confirms your group on snow.
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.
Keep instructor feedback, practice goals and earned awards together. An instructor confirms an award after reviewing its required skills.
Congratulations on completing the level system! Consider these next steps: