Like a casting call for a '50s B-type movie with the tentative title of "Zombies of the Slopes," three initiates held out their arms, looked forward, pushed their booted right feet in the snow and tried to glide on skis on their left feet.

"I want you guys to feel how it is with one ski," instructor Jacob Ahlquist told them Saturday morning.

"Keep your right leg pressured on the snow," Ahlquist said.

Kristin Taylor, her 8-year-old daughter Hannah, and 7-year-old Isaiah Carson did their best to follow Ahlquist's instructions, master this new move on the Morning Dew bunny hill, and above all stay vertical.

The three students were among 50 who took advantage of Hogadon's $30 learn-to-ski package including a lift ticket, rental equipment and a lesson, ski school director Ken Bale said.

"This is geared to neverevers," Bale said.

Despite the warm weather and the low snowpack, 50 rookies drove up Casper Mountain to take advantage of the deal, Bale said.

The cheap, below-cost deal can reap profits in the long run if new skiers buy equipment and return for more fun, he said. "If they come back, we're successful."

Kristin Taylor said the lesson marked the first time for her and Hannah to try the sport even though she's lived in Casper most of her life.

As for other sports, Taylor said she has rollerbladed and ice skated; and eight-year-old Hannah added the family plays volleyball.

Isaiah was left on his own, as his experienced mother Becky walked with her daughter, Annabelle, to another slope.

After suiting up at the rental shop, Kristin, Hannah and Isaiah walked in their bulky boots and crunched their way to meet Ahlquist.

"The No. 1 rule is 'give me all your attention,'" Ahlquist said.

He hasn't had anyone injured during a lesson and he wasn't about to start, he said.

Ahlquist showed his three charges the parts of the skis - "front is 'tip,' back is 'tail'" - and the basics like how the brakes work when the boots slip off.

Which happens right before the inevitable falling down.

"When you wreck, don't put your hands in front," he said. Trying to break a fall that way could result in a broken wrist, he said.

To put on the skis, he told his students to place the skis perpendicular to the slope o the hill and demonstrated putting the toe of the boot in the binding and then pushing with the heel. "Press down like you're squashing that bug."

Isaiah wasn't so sure of himself, saying he couldn't do it.

"There's no such word as 'can't,'" Ahlquist responded.

Hannah could, but that didn't mean it was easy with her legs locked inside plastic boots attached to bindings.

"Weird" was her only comment while standing in the snowplow position while bending her legs, leaning forward, and pointing her toes.

Fifteen minutes later, with leg muscles tightening and poise growing, Hannah believed she was gaining some mastery, she said. "I hope to be better."

Reach Tom Morton at (307) 266-0592, or at tom.morton@trib.com.