Nursery Slope

A nursery slope is the shallow, open piece of ground that a ski area sets aside for people learning. Gradients are gentle, the run is short, and the lift serving it is typically a slow drag or a magic carpet that a beginner can use without needing to load or unload at speed.

It exists because the first hours of skiing or snowboarding involve a great deal of stopping, standing up and starting again, which is impractical on a normal run with faster traffic. Lessons for beginners almost always start here, and riders move on to longer marked runs once they can turn and stop reliably.