The idea of learning to ski on short skis was developed in the United States in the 1960s by Cliff Taylor, and imported to Les Arcs in 1970 by Martin Puchtler and Robert Blanc.

Known as the Graduated Length Method (GLM) in the States, and ski évolutif in France, you start on 1m skis, then graduate to 1m35 after a couple of days. Progressing a few centimetres at a time, you end the one-week course on 1m60.

Using these methods, you can skip snowploughing and stem turning and leap straight to the parallel level. On the positive side, it's good fun and you can make quick progress. On the negative side, you miss out on snowplough and stem turns, which play an important part in the learning process and provide an essential fallback in poor conditions.

It is also hard to follow the GLM or ski évolutif in a resort that isn't geared to its specific needs: your rental shop needs a full stock of skis in all the different lengths, and a willingness to exchange equipment every few days.

The best solution is to adopt a modified form of the method, whereby you start on fairly short skis, and promote yourself by 5cm each week.