If you grew up on a ski team of any kind, you may have had these things drilled into your head. But if you're like me and grew up skiing with your parents as your instructors (read: they probably told you many of these things but you didn't listen because they're your parents), here's a list of things that improved my skiing enough to somehow land me on the Freeride World Tour last season.

Icelantic athlete Rachel Croft begins her season competing on the Freeride World Tour tomorrow in Hakuba, Japan. Last year she won the Freeride Qualifiers tour earning her a coveted spot on the World Tour. Here Rachel tells about her process of upping her game when it comes to visual inspection. Wishing her the best of luck tomorrow. We'll be watching as it airs live on the Freeride World Tour website. 

Icelantic athlete Rachel Croft sees the top of another FWQ podium. This win in Taos currently lands her in first place on the Freeride World Qualifier tour. If you're wondering what skis she shreds on they're Nomad 125's.
Stay tuned as Rachel continues her competition journey hopefully making her way on to the World Tour. Way to go Rachel, keep up the strong work.

Words by Rachel Croft:

It was hard to feel nervous standing in the start gate on day one of the Revelstoke 4* FWQ event. I had clicked into my new Nomad 125's for my competition run, but their predecessor, the Gypsies, were waiting in my ski bag, freshly mounted with tech bindings, itching to take me on an adventure in the breathtaking British Columbia backcountry. If I didn't qualify for finals day, I had plans to go touring with friends. I was almost hoping I'd fall.