Alpenglühen

Sarah Burke

2012-01-19T14:06:00.000-08:00

This season seems to be off to an awful run. First we have had a complete lack of snow all around in the US (with one storm now dumping a lot on the ground). Now I read that Sarah Burke, Canadian freeskier, has passed away due injuries sustained in her January 10th 2012 accident. Full story can be found here.

ski-blog

2012-01-12T16:02:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to give a shout out to Justin over at ski-blog.com for a quick recover back to a season on the snow.

2012-01-12T16:00:00.000-08:00

For those who haven't seen it yet, Sh*t Skiers Say is making the rounds now thanks to Whistler Blackcomb.

What Snow?

2012-01-10T15:00:00.000-08:00

This has been a topic of conversation for most of this season. For the folks in the West coast the season started early (mid to late November) and then entered a drastic warm spell for December. For the folks on the East coast it's been a lot of warm with man-made snow being used as much as possible. Then a friend sent this little link to an article called Wheres the Snow?. It's an interesting read to see how things are going this season despite it being a La Nina season. Despite my attempts at laughing at the lack of snow, I've come to the conclusion it must be bad. CNN has published an article talking about it as well.

2012-01-09T16:28:00.000-08:00

Back alive on the blog. This one comes from the folks at Teton Gravity Research (TGR) to remind us to take care in the back country:

Puckerface avalanche from Jamie Culp on Vimeo.

Other details on this slide according to the American Avalanche Institute include a 36-inch hard slab, on a greater than 45 degree angle at about 11:30 am. Thankfully no one was caught in the slide. TGR also provided this interesting link to the current tally of deaths due to avalanche this season: http://www.avalanche.org/accidents.php

Snow on the ground

2011-11-07T15:17:00.000-08:00

Spent this weekend up at the mountain, cleaning up the rental cabin with my new roommates, and in general preparing for my home away from home. Ended up sitting around having a few drinks with the group when we got the brilliant idea to go climbing towards the summit for the sunset. About halfway up we found snow. Not just the usual dusting or few inches. Nope, we found knee deep left over from last season with several inches of fresh from the recent snow falls. The start of the season is just around the corner, is anyone else excited?

Shake out the Dust

2011-10-10T17:41:00.000-07:00

It's that time again... yep time to shake out the dust on this blog. The winter season is fast approaching. Or really, correction:

Wolf Creek has already opened for a bit this season.

The End of a Class

2011-03-01T16:36:00.000-08:00

This year at Corpy provided me with my first chance to take part in a multi-week school program. Meaning one of the local grade/high schools would bring up a bus load of students on the weekends for instruction time.

For the past 8 weekends, I spent each morning with 9 junior high school students who wanted to learn to ski. The afternoons were spent with 2 grade school students, and 2 junior high students.

At the end of this past weekend, both groups expressed their disappointment that our time had come to an end. A few of the students also asked if they could continue on taking more lessons from me. They all seemed to say the same thing to me, they enjoyed learning to ski with me because we didn't do just drills. We did a few, but we spent more time going down runs fast, going down runs slow, cutting through trees, taking jumps, bumps, and learning to ride a box together. I watched one student move from never having skied to riding the black diamonds with us, only to consistently crash on the flat run outs back to the lifts. I watched all of them learn about the joys of riding in powder.

For me it was a sad end. I really enjoyed working with these students over the weeks. It gave me a better clue as to how they were progressing as skiers, and really became a lot more fun once we got to know the names for each other. I'll miss my classes. But hopefully I'll see them on the slopes as the season continues.

Plague of the Mountain

2011-02-22T18:12:00.000-08:00

It happens every year, regardless of any corrective action taken by a resort. It swamps in and fills the resort both with money, but also with lots of frustrated, irritated customers. The "it" I'm talking about is high school ski race season.

If your local mountain has any kind of slope to it, it's likely at least one local high school will be practicing, running races, or do some event at your slope. Every year these racers swarm to the resorts, and it's always entertaining to see the young racers working through their lines and showing off their skills.

But there is also the dark side. Lift lines get insanely longer, with many of these racers feeling they are privileged to push in front of other paying customers. And then there is the lunch time rush. I'm not talking about the rush to get in line for the food at the resort. No, I'm talking about the tide of skis left strewn about the entire base area with reckless abandon.

At my previous resort, we tried to keep the racers contained to an area. We built an entirely new building for them to connect and have lunch at, with a huge open area in front. But this didn't work, and their skis continued to liter the entire base area. Eventually management's answer was a lot simpler; "step on them." As employees we were encouraged to just walk on the skis when we found them laying on the ground. When that didn't work, we bought a large push-shovel that we ran across the top of the snow and collected 20-30 pairs of skis in a push. We'd then pile them up in an area in front of their lunch stop without care. This worked a few times because it had a direct impact on the racers. They had no idea where their skis were, and only a limited amount of time to get to the start.

It also had the effect of generating one great over heard conversation:

Ski Racer Dad: Are these your skis?
Ski Racer: Yeah.
Ski Racer Dad: (dropping skis and kicking them) How do you like seeing that happen?
Ski Racer: DAD!!! YOU'RE DESTROYING MY SKIS!!!
Ski Racer Dad: You think I'm doing it? By leaving your skis here the ENTIRE mountain steps on your skis. What's the difference if I do?
Ski Racer: ....
Ski Racer Dad: (grabbed another pair of skis) Look at this! See these burrs, those are from the staff here stepping on the skis.

I was actually proud to hear Ski Racer Dad telling his son to take care of the equipment. Only a little disappointed to hear him blaming the staff for the burrs and not the fact that little Johnny probably got those from any number of people stepping on them.

At my current position, the solution was to put up large amounts of ski racks for the racers to use. Judging from the carnage the past few weekends, this hasn't worked at all either. The racks, while used, were not enough to break the habit of the racers. Management's answer has been to not touch the equipment and raise the issue with the training staff directly.

Just curious what other resorts do to contain this infestation of skis.

Overheard

2011-02-21T14:19:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite overheard quotes from this past week at the resort...

Skier 1: I just went over there and helped some people.
Skier 2: Why'd you do that?
Skier 1: I thought they were bro's, but they weren't.

Over-Protective Parents

2011-02-16T13:22:00.000-08:00

Sometimes parents get to be a little overly protective of the children, or really over state some special needs for their children.

In a recent class I had two students, one young boy (we'll call him Charles) and a young girl (we'll call her Amy). When the class card was handed to me, the management of the kids school told me specifically that Charles was not to ride a chair lift alone. Apparently he had some issues with paying attention on the exit for the chair.

Out on the slopes he really did well skiing, and was more advanced than Amy was. I spent more time with Amy trying to get her up to speed with Charles through the morning. She was struggling a little bit on the beginner slope with some of the ideas we were working on, but nothing too bad. Each time we made it to the bottom though, I rode the chair back up with Charles as directed to me. We eventually broke for lunch.

At lunch, I joined my class eating lunch, which means the barely controlled chaos of kids school was everywhere. In keeping some of the chaos slightly contained, the front office people asked me to come out and talk with one of the parents who was wanting to talk with me. Turns out it was Amy's mother, who told me that Amy was feeling left out of the class. Specifically Amy felt that I found Charles more fun because I rode the chair only with him and never her. The front office rep and I spent some time explaining what was going on, and Amy's mom seemed to be very understanding of what was going on. I also went and spoke with the kids school manager regarding the earlier statement that I cannot let Charles ride without me.

The manager and I spoke, and the reason this statement came down was Charles's parents put him in the class with the understanding that Charles would be distracted by the bullwheel on the chair lift. This was somehow translated to him being a danger to himself on the chair through a discussion with the front office staff and the parents.

After skiing with him, it was clear he was neither distracted or a danger to himself on the chair. In fact he was just like every other kid on the lift; eager to stand up and ski some more. With my manager's approval I now moved to Charles riding every other chair ride with another adult. Amy's enjoyment of the class improved in the afternoon as we now addressed her major concern.

In the end, we learned some new questions and behaviors to ask parents. It also became clear to me that, despite the best efforts of the front office and the school practices, some parents do provide misleading information in an attempt to get their child more attention. Please don't do this.

Pre-class Discussions

2011-02-16T12:11:00.000-08:00

I recently had an all day student, we'll call her Julie. I first met Julie in the morning, she was already bundled up her gear, trendy goggles on, and ready to go. When I was looking for her in the children's lesson room, she quickly identified herself as Julie, and I brought her over to join the rest of my class. While talking there, I asked her to share her name with the rest of the class, at which point she told me her name wasn't Julie. Getting that sorted out took a little time, but in the end was kind of funny to me. I quickly made the connection that she was slightly shy and made a mental note of what I'd have to do to get her skiing.

Once outside, she was skiing with a snow plow that turned constantly to the left. We began working on what we could do to fix this. We'd start at the top of the hill, she'd repeat exactly what she was going to do, and then proceed to not do any of it while skiing down. It was a little frustrating, but happens often enough. While talking to her, I noticed that she was calling things randomly different words making talking with her confusing. For example, she'd say a chairlift was an elevator. After a little while we stopped and broke for lunch.

After lunch my class grew 3x larger, and a second instructor was added. We split the group up based upon skill levels a little later on. The second instructor opted to take the kids who were still on the beginner section and Julie went with the second instructor. At the end of the day I caught up with the second instructor who was frustrated beyond belief at how he couldn't communicate with Julie. We talked a little bit and I had noticed many of the same issues earlier. I had attributed them to her being a little stubborn 5 year old. It wasn't until Julie's mom showed up for the report card review that everything made sense.

Julie wasn't a native english speaker.

She had no accent, no indicators for us in why we might need to say something slower or a little different. In fact, after talking with her mom, we discovered english wasn't her second language either. It was her third. Both the other instructor and I felt we could have done a much better job describing things if we had just known this one detail.

This highlights the most important detail for parents. If your child has some special needs, please let us know. Despite everything Corpy's children's program had setup, we're still not mind readers.

Breaking Stereotypes

2011-01-25T19:19:00.000-08:00

I was running late arriving to the mountain the other day, getting to the parking lot along with a large number of customers. I was parked several rows away from the standard employee section, which just means I'd have to walk my gear and self to the lodge area a little further. While suiting up for the walk, a car next to me starts blasting some current alt-folk music by Mumford & Sons. This isn't the sort of music you expect to hear on mountain so I turned around to see who it was.

To my surprise, the car blasting the music was a modified Subaru WRX, two snowboards attached to the top, with two early 20-somethings inside. Front windows were drawn just a little bit, with a little bit of smoke drifting out.

Snow Tires

2011-01-09T20:09:00.000-08:00

For a long time now there has been a debate between my friends, coworkers, and I over the best type of tire configuration to use while traveling through the snow. There are essentially 3 main ways:

Studded Snow Tires - These are snow tires with small metal "spikes" on them. They aren't typically sharp, but they are good for pushing through the snow and providing a better grip in most areas. The downside I've found to these tires is on normal roads, they tend to rip up the roads. I also have found on wet roads they are completely dangerous, with sliding accomplished very easily. Oh yeah, they don't do any better on ice

Stud-less Snow Tires - These are tires made with a softer rubber that often utilize much different tread to accomplish a better grip while in snow. Some may have sipping in between the tread blocks. Currently these are my favorite type of tire to use (Bridgestone Blizzaks to be precise). They work really well in the snow, excellent on normal/dry roads, don't tear up the road, and hold on the wet roads really well. Downfalls to these tires are the fact that the softer rubber wears down quicker, and the noise level on dry roads goes up (a bit) Like the studded tires, they're not terribly good on ice.

All weather tires with chains - This would be your standard tire wrapped with your choice of chain. I'm not a huge fan of putting on chains mostly because I do not trust the other drivers passing me while I'm attaching them. That said, there are times where chains are the only possible means to moving around on the mountain and I carry a set of 4 for my car at all times. That said I feel there are many downfalls to chains including damage to your tires if improperly installed, damage to others tires if you've improperly installed them, lower speeds mandated (unless you like replacing wheel wells), having to attach/detach on the side of the road. Unlike the other two options, chains appear to work wonderfully on icy roads still.

We debate the merits mostly between studded and stud-less tires a lot. I feel the Blizzak is about as good (if not better) than any studded tire I've had. Now I find a new argument for not using studded tires; Studded tires may harm your lungs and heart over long term usage.

Huh? Over on MSNBC, they highlight a bit of research by some Swedish scientists observing the effects of studded tires. Anyways the MSNBC article is light on content. Either way, it's a fun fact for the next time we have this discussion in the instructor lounge.

Winter driving basics

2010-12-31T13:58:00.000-08:00

One of the biggest changes to come from my changing resorts, is the need to commute for an extra 30 minutes. Some days I take the employee shuttle, and some days I don't. It's usually a case of which classes I'll be teaching that day, or if I need/want to leave earlier than the first return shuttle operates.

With that additional driving time comes the added danger of winter driving. And drivers. It's pretty common to hear everyone at the resort(s) talk about what an idiot this or that driver was. Never do we wish to believe we are that driver. Having said that, we're all pretty lousy drivers in the snow. Even the best of us. Just a few pointers to remind us how to be a better driver in the snow.

Just because you can't see the traffic lines on the road does not mean they can be ignored. Case in point, this past weekend. There are two routes to the resort (call them East and West access), each brings you to the main resort access road. Access road East often has a large number of accidents on it and this day was no different. Word among the employees was that the East road was closed by three different accidents all currently being cleared out. I opted to drive the West route. It's a smaller two lane road that winds through the mountains with minimal up keep by the state road services. Traffic was running slow, about 25-30 mph, when a car passes me on the left. About 10 minutes later, all traffic on this road ceased to move. An hour later it starts moving again, at which point I pass by the cause of the delay. There on the side of the road is said car, T-boned smashed in the oncoming traffic lane along with three other cars it ran into in the aftermath of the impact. It appeared that everyone was alright, but the whole accident could have been skipped if he'd just payed attention to the traffic rules.

Turn signals are still necessary. Similar to the previous statement, just because you believe you know what lane you're in, or what you're doing, doesn't mean the rest of us do. Turn signals still help communicate that to the rest of us. It's very difficult sometimes to discern if that sudden swing from your car to the right was intentional or because your car just slid off the road.

Give plenty of space between cars both driving and parked on the side of the road. It sucks having to put chains on. Not only do you have to deal with the cold, winter weather, but you also have to deal with stringing out chains, laying on the side of a road with traffic passing, and sometimes the significant other hovering over you. Often the road is plowed while the shoulder is not, forcing a driver to use the road itself. While I don't encourage this behavior (chain up in the chain up areas if you think you'll need to), it's no reason for passing motorists to be dangerously close (especially in slippery conditions).

Bad Resort Behaviors

2010-12-30T18:42:00.001-08:00

As seen this week, while skiing down the main crowded beginner run with another new recruit (who just finished his shadow time). I stopped to re-plant the SLOW warning sign in the snow (normally a Ski Patrol job, but if it's down it's employees job to replant it) when I overheard the following conversation:

Snowboarder1 (kneeling on the ground behind me in the center of the run): Hey Susie, you still need to go in?

Susie (who wasn't easily seen): Yeah I need to pee.

Snowboarder1: Yeah so did I, but I'm taking care of that right now.

After hearing that statement I turned around. This guy was kneeling behind me, his snowboard was laying up against his body covering up his crotch with the un-mistakable line of yellow snow was running through his legs.

Folks, if you're going to pee while out on the snow, PLEASE head into the trees. No one wants to fall and get a face full of piss.

Changes around

2010-12-23T15:29:00.001-08:00

I said earlier that this season is bringing with it several changes. Since the deal has been done now for several weeks, I guess it's safe to talk about it. Over the summer, the resort I have been teaching at was sold to a new owner. Along with the ownership change came a large number of other changes at the resort. I didn't appreciate some of the rules being placed upon the staff and decided it was time to move on. I've left my formerly family run resort (now Corpy2) and gone to join Corpy.

That said, I'm told I have to remind readers that this blog is my own opinion and not affiliated with the Company. All things said in this blog are my own. I am not authorized to speak for the Company.

Best quote of the week

2010-12-17T17:57:00.001-08:00

Best quote of the week comes from an overheard conversation between a skier and snowboarder.

Skier: You alright man?
Snowboarder: Yeah, I just..

Pause...

Snowboarder: Looks like I won't be masturbating with my left hand for awhile. That really hurt.
Skier: What?
Snowboarder: I think I broke it bro!

Snow Travels

2010-12-08T16:19:00.000-08:00

In case anyone missed it, MSNBC had a nice little article on where the winter travel deals are for snow sport enthusiasts (they still call them ski deals). Check out the full article here

2010 / 2011 Season Starts

2010-12-08T15:56:00.000-08:00

Had my first few days of instructing this past week. While the weekdays matter little, it's the weekend where the majority of our clients arrive. This past weekend gave a clue as to how the rest of the season will go.

Clients wise, we still seem to have no end to younger 4 and 5 year old children. Every season I'm more convinced that some how they magically end up here. The return of the 1970s and 1980s gear also took root. I watched one woman who proudly displayed her recently purchased used equipment (recently was 2 days ago) for $100 (boots, poles, skis) that was last used in 1982. First run, said skis disintegrated on the slide down.

Snow conditions, if they continue like this will be pretty epic. Not all the lifts and trails are open yet. Nor is the coverage all complete. But that's not important. The snow itself feels different this year. It's feeling a little lighter than usual, which makes for some excellent gliding.

My skiing skills have slacked off in the off season. The entire first day on the snow I spent trying to recover from lost edges, a crossed tip, or sitting back and using too much body to turn. I spent most of the summer cycling around the states and have built up some great leg conditioning for skiing. What I didn't expect with this was a change in calf muscle shape, which has resulted in some seriously painful boot pinch going on. Right now I'm debating if it's worth trying to reshape the boot or wait until the calf muscle atrophies a bit.

Skis are now showing the signs of needing to be replaced. This is my 6th season on them and it's clear their rebound is disappearing. Looks like I'll be investigating some new gear and hope that the end of season deals will be kind.

Kids and Snowsports

2010-12-02T13:29:00.000-08:00

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I attended several dinners at different homes. Each time, there were several people at each table surprised to hear that I am a ski instructor, and had plenty of questions on the profession. After the initial "oh how interesting" comments and questions, I typically received the "can you make a living at that?". (The short answer, only a handful of instructors seem to make a solid living doing so without a secondary job.) Regardless people begin to ask for your expertise as a professional. Much the same way a doctor tends to be cornered at parties and asked about PainA or Obscure-Body-IssueB. In my case the common question was kids.

Let me start this off by saying at the resort we teach skiing to children ages 4+, and snowboarding to children ages 8+. Why the difference? I used to joke that it took an extra 4 years for a child to build up the proper angst and disrespect for their elders to properly snowboard. Then a new instructor took that seriously one day and passed along the information to a customer. The real reason has to do with physics; specifically the distance needed between the feet and the strength in the legs to bend the board. Does this blanket statement mean it's correct for everyone? Nope.

The PSIA and AASI both have what they call the Advanced Childrens Educators (ACE) certification available in two levels (the link is the best found via Google). The PSIA has the basic guidelines up for review here (as a PDF). Before you scoff at some of the requirements, realize that a 4 year old has difficulty in explaining when something is wrong. It's at this time checklists such as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs come in handy. I have attended the ACE 1 training and never finished the certification point. Does this make me an expert at teaching children? Not at all. It's taken several years to feel confident in teaching young children and I still learn more each season.

Back to the basics of the questions received now. Most of these parents tell you their child is 4 or 5 at this point, which serves as a great indicator for how the conversation will continue. Attention spans are still short at this age. Depending upon the child basic needs can be an issue yet to be clearly spoken. While the child can walk, their physical strength may not yet be up to the point of competency when skiing. (If you don't believe me, try laying on flat ground, rolling to your feet, and standing up. Even adults have issue with this one.) Even with these limitations there is still one overall challenge that tops them all; parents.

The real challenge of teaching skiing isn't the kids, it's the parents. Overall kids this age are just excited to be playing in the snow, making snowballs, sledding, falling in, eating, or building snowmen. The introduction of a snow sport just provides yet another avenue of excitement for the children. Which is the key take away from snow sports; to have fun outdoors. For younger children, associating the concept of skiing with a fun time out in the snow is the most important step to creating your future Olympian. Many parents have difficulty understanding that a great ski day may include putting on the ski boots and building snow forts. Yet their kids have already started to bridge the concept of skiing with a fun time outside.

The goal is to build up great memories for your child of having fun outside. This isn't going to happen on the first, second, or (depending upon the age) maybe not even the third visit.

Ski Pass Defender

2010-11-01T12:42:00.000-07:00

Former ski instructor faces off against Vail Resorts over invention. Read the full article here. Short version, Breckenridge ski instructor Jon Lawson created a device to block the RFID of the new Vail Resorts ski pass. From the article, it sounds as if Vail management tried a little strong arm tactic which sent Jon on his way out of the resort. Good luck Jon at Loveland, maybe I'll see you on the slopes there sometime this season.

Thanks to Justin over at ski-blog.com for bringing this to my attention. Yep it's old, but it's a rather important piece. Justin also brings about some valid concerns about this RFID usage with this post

Breaking silence

2010-11-01T12:33:00.001-07:00

I've been silent on the posting for a long period here. Several events transpired over the course of the summer that had me re-evaluating my time instructing. Not to be vague or confusing, they'll be posted here in due time, as soon as I can work out the words to describe them.

I've also found myself to be not nearly as excited about this season as I have in the past. It's not clear why, but overall the excitement is lacking. I've only seen one of the recent snow pr0n films going through town (TGRs). The recent PSIA off-snow re-certification classes I took part in just seemed to be a continuing rehash of things said before. Uninspired.

Mogul Physics

2010-03-31T16:29:00.000-07:00

Moguls are pretty much the bane of existence for most skiers. On the east coast, there tend to be more runs that are open and accepting of such runs. Although over the past few years I've found less and less resorts with dedicated mogul runs. On the west coast, there seems to be a very strong attitude that moguls are not any fun (minus the folks at MJ). I've been told that the public just doesn't care for them.

For our tiny resort, the problem has been that customers do not want mogul runs on the mountain, as such they get milled away each night. Our customers would prefer to have steep, deep, and when thats not possible tree runs. The same can be said for the neighboring two resorts as well. Corpy will occasionally create a tight zipper line run down some of their black runs though, which is usually self contained off to the side.

I've never been a good zipper line rider. Maybe it's that my skis are too long, too heavy, or not able to execute a tight enough turning radius. Maybe it's that I'm overly knock-kneed in one leg, weak on my inside half, too stiff on moguls, scared, or trying to rush through the run. Or maybe I just ski poorly and that's pretty much the end of it (I'm told I lead with my head too much). All of this doesn't matter as the PSIA Level 2 and Level 3 exams require passing a mogul proficiency test. For Level 2 it's moguls on a blue run, and Level 3 is on a black run (or greater).

Due to some interesting weather patterns recently, one of our double black runs has been able to actually build up a collection of large bumps (they purposely stopped grooming the side of the mountain). I'm not talking about mere animal sized bumps you regularly see, but VW bug sized bumps that go on for the entire hill. These dumps had deep enough troughs on them that the skier would literally disappear for a second or two. Things I've learned from 3 days of playing on the moguls with other Level 2 and Level 3 cert wannabes:

I'll never be an Olympic quality bumps skier.

Speed hurts on smaller bumps.

Speed hurts even more on bigger bumps.

Air carving (the act of launching off of one mogul top and landing on another's downside) isn't all it's cracked up to be if you mis-judge the distance.

Repeat last learning except on larger bumps it can result in double ejections.

Moguls tend to move up the hill as time goes on

It was this last one that got me confused. I repeated crashed near the top of one mogul and noticed only after a few days that I was no longer on the same treeline I had been originally. This had me go searching online to find an Physics Today Journal on moguls with a really interesting read. Well worth it!

Spring Break

2010-03-23T17:35:00.001-07:00

It's spring break time, and as per usual a few trees end up with a collection of ladies underwear, typically bras, covering it. I've always been curious who/how they get the bras out as I've never seen or heard of anyone doing so. Anyways riding up the quad-chair with another instructor (me in uniform him not) and two women in their 30s. As we passed the tree in question the two women started to giggle and turned to me and asked:

How do they get the bras in the tree?

Without missing a beat my coworker responds with

Hand me your bra and I'll show you.

The next 40 seconds of the lift ride left some rather interesting banter between the four of us and drinks at the end of the day.

Making the Rounds

2010-03-11T16:37:00.001-08:00

I haven't been able to play online much in the past few weeks, and suddenly find my email has been subjected to a few people sending me this link:

#1 Skier Dad

It's an interesting video (safe for work although language gets a bit foul), and I'm sure one that will be around for a long long time. Anyways, watching the video I've got a couple comments upon seeing this.

Watching the snowboarders trying to turn a relatively flat cat track into something more enjoyable is actually inspiring. They seem like they're pretty stable on their boards as well until one of them has to do some massive recovery moves. At this point the camera swings back enough to see that this is a really busy section of the trail and probably not the best place to be pulling tricks. I'm not sure what type of terrain this run feeds into or out of, but regardless of that no one wants to come to a stop on a cat track. It sucks to get moving again (especially for a snowboarder) and there typically isn't very much area to avoid people with.

The Dad's request wasn't unreasonable, but the quick remark back (while not incorrect) most likely wasn't helping the situation any. Then it went downhill from here. The boarders were doing alright, staying calm, and keeping their language pretty clear. If I were to have arrived on the hill at this scene until this point I would side with the snowboarders. It's once the guy starts taking off his shirt while people are moving to break things up that the snowboarders enter the douchebag level they were so nicely skipping.

In the end, I'd have pulled all passes for the day. What's your take?

Snoqualmie for the win

2010-02-10T14:31:00.001-08:00

It seems the folks at Snoqualmie Pass have needed to one up the avalanche control methods. Taking the next logical step beyond a Howitzer, Snoqualmie Pass now employs the use of the first M-60 tank to clear avalanches. I first heard about this the other weekend from a resort guest, and went to Google immediately. I was able to find a few videos of this online and news stories too. My guess is it isn't that old an addition. Now the question is, how do I get to shoot one round out of this without having to sign up for 4 years of active service.

Random YouTube video:

KOMO News coverage

Odd Ski Designs

2010-01-26T16:40:00.000-08:00

While out riding this weekend, I came across another skier in a rather remote section of the mountain. Having both just bombed through a hill we, were standing on the crest of another checking out terrain. He was waiting for his friend, I was waiting to see what he was about to do (as he was lower on the run than me). That's when I noticed his skis.

Normally most skis have a shovel on the front side that provides some kind of gradual curve. This scoop mechanism is basically provided to help the ski roll over terrain changes such powder stashes, bumps, small children, rocks, and the occasional annoying gaper. (At least that's what I tell my students.) This man's skis held no normal scoop, instead opting for a hard defined cut upwards from the flat of his ski. It basically looked like he had broken his skis and super-glued on the remains after hacking them up a bit.

When I asked about them, he laughed telling me they were designed that way. When I asked how well that changed the ski initiation for turns he said they were awesome. Pointing out that he just bombed down the run and wasn't even tired. I let a little snide remark slip at this time, something along the lines of "so did I, and I've got no weird scoop on the tip." This kind of angered him and he told me to watch.

I proceeded to watch the skier take the run down the hill, Z'ing each turn, and over-rotating with his shoulders to make each one. Thus promptly answering my question for me.

At the bottom of the hill he yelled back and said let's see me do that. I smiled took to the hill, helix'ing each of his turns in what I felt was perfect form. Right up until my right foot edge wouldn't dis-engage for some reason and pulled me out of the track I was following. No falling but it gave this guy a good reason to boast.

Video Inspiration

2010-01-22T16:45:00.000-08:00

Looks like the PowerWhores of Utah are hurting a little for snow, much like a large portion of the West Coast US has been. Unlike the rest of the West Coast though, they went and did a little traveling through the back country in search of some pow and put together an excellent little video. With amazing visuals and only minor amounts of skiing, it's some absolutely beautiful scenery to take in. Check out the video...

Re-Booting Up

2010-01-20T15:30:00.001-08:00

Since the death of my regular ski boots happened, I've had to pick up a new pair that has proven to be not so much fun to break in. The Atomic boots I selected apparently have a decorative plastic flair near the toe box that has resisted much of the efforts to stretch or re-mold the plastic. I've been in with the boot fitter several times over the past two weeks now working on tweaking the stretch, and kept returning to find the same areas causing pain in my foot.

Finally in a plea to get me out of his hair, the boot fitter offered to come to the slopes with me and do some on hill adjustments. While he was there he set up several other sessions with various folks who have been stopping in with him to just make a work trip out of it. We gave him a pass for the day in exchange for his time with the ski school staff and went to work.

Watching this guy work on adjusting boots to compensate for knock-kneed or bow legged stances (aka 'canting') was as close to magic as I've ever seen.

One instructor, who has been skiing for 30 something years was with me. We did practice balance runs across the hill;
holding the up-hill foot in the air one time in each direction
holding the downhill foot in the air one time in each direction

Basically this is a great test of your ability to balance on edge. The senior instructor though could not get his edge to hold, regardless of what he did. His body was shaking all over, arms moving in directions to support balancing movements, and when he did hold an edge his ski started to turn. We attempted to do some medium radius (about a 2 second count in length) carving turns, where the senior instructor was just skidding out each and every turn. We basically were watching more of a Z shaped turn than a C or S shaped turn pattern.

The boot fitter spent a few minutes taking measurements from knee to toe angles and then placed some temporary shims below the instructors feet, allowing the boot+binding pressure to hold the shims in place. Taking one run with the new shims, the boot fitter recalled the instructor placed different shims in and asked me to join for the third run. This third run, on the same terrain with the same skier/instructor, appeared to be a completely different skier. Each turn the skis were on edge, lined up, angled properly, and allowing the skier to be in control. I was shocked to see the transformation by simply putting shims under the feet.

My own skiing was changed with the discover that I'm a little bow legged and knock kneed in my stance. Canting my left boot out 1 degree, and my right boot in 2 degrees gave me a noticeable difference in my carved turns.

End results, go get your boots aligned this season. You'll find it was worth every penny.

Cheap Ski Movies

2010-01-15T15:11:00.001-08:00

Okay I'm sure this has been going around for a bit and I've just not been careful to see it. But this movie looks like it'd be a lot of fun. Welcome Cheak Ski Movie!

Fun Videos

2010-01-11T15:30:00.000-08:00

Found this video today on the Ski Channel website. The short version, it's a collection of everyday people trying to ski on a World Cup run. It's entertaining...

Just curious

2010-01-11T14:15:00.000-08:00

Anyone have experience with the Marker Royale series of bindings? Specifically the Marker Jester or Dukes? Maybe even the Schizo idea.

I picked up a pair of park/powder skis and I'm trying to decide what to mount them with. Right now I'm contemplating between the Salomon STH14's and the Marker Jester. But then comes the question of where to mount them... park style, power style, or center-line. I'm leaning towards park as it should be the more versatile setting, but the Schizo series from Marker have caught my attention.

Goodbye Boots

2010-01-05T15:11:00.000-08:00

I've spent the last five seasons in a pair of Nordica boots that have lasted me rather well. I'm told by several people they're probably too big for my feet, but they've always felt good for me. The toe box being large enough for the front of my foot, with a good amount of coverage around the rest of my foot.

Turns out though, those people I question were probably right. This holiday season was enough to finally pack in the liner enough that I can now turn my foot without turning my ski. This pretty much ensures I cannot control my ski when I want it now. It was a weird feeling to realize while skiing down a bunch of bumps.

Thefts Continue

2010-01-04T14:46:00.000-08:00

Maybe it was just the holiday times, maybe it's the economy, or maybe it's just more stupid people. Whatever the reason, this season everything seems to be on a free for all grab at the resort.

Over the past week things taken:
- In the men's restrooms above the urinals the baskets for gloves, hats, etc.
- In the women's restrooms paper towel dispensers are all gone now.

Attempted thefts include a team of rather bold thieves who tried to walk off with the 60-something inch flat screen TV in the bar during open hours. The bar staff thankfully called the police, watched the events unfold quietly, and delayed the thieves a bit more pretending to think they were maintenance guys replacing the TV. Police apparently stopped the thieves at their car only to find the car held an unaware family.

Interesting details

2010-01-04T14:34:00.001-08:00

I enabled the Google Analytics on this blog awhile back and find myself constantly forgetting they're there. I don't remember what sparked the conversation at the old Beer Stube, but I got home with a reminder to check the analytics.

Thanks for linking to here Colin's Blog and Proskauer34.

Why Lie about it

2010-01-03T18:45:00.000-08:00

Okay a minor rant here....

This is currently the tail end of the instructing staff and resort super busy time. Holidays tend to bring out lots of people looking for lessons on their new gear, or just because they're visiting family/friends. I was booked out for the entire day between reservations and requests, which in itself is highly unusual for our school.

My 1pm session began with a mother and young male child walking over to me, about age 7. They were to be my next class. After introductions were done, mom pulled me away to talk to me. She informed me that her son just had a complete temper tantrum and meltdown in the lunch room and he was not at all interested in skiing. She wished me good luck and then left.

Working with this young boy, I was able to cheer him up, motivate him and get him skiing. When mom stopped by at the end of the class, we were just coming up the rope tow at which point he yelled out "Mom can I keep skiing?" He didn't really wait for an answer and started down the hill regardless of what mom would have said. I walked over to her to tell her what we'd been working on, how to help him progress, and really what motivated him. She thanked me a lot and ran off to pick her son up as he arrived up the rope tow again.

Two lessons later, I'm working with a different student when angry-child's mom comes up to me and says she left a tip for me in the school. I thank her, and she says a few more words resulting in myself needing to stop the chat as I was teaching. Arriving in the school, the office staff said no one had come in to leave a tip for me today, and there weren't any on the credit card charges seen. We looked around all day but found none.

I have to ask, why lie about it?

Return of the students

2010-01-02T14:41:00.000-08:00

Every year it happens, the moment where a past student will come up to me and say something like "Hey how are you? Remember me?" Since we typically teach younger students (ages 4-8 a lot of the time) I find I have had to restrict my initial gut reaction of "Nope" and pretend that I do. Occasionally I actually do remember the students too. Sometimes it's not the names, but the faces, the skis, and the ski styles that I can recall... occasionally it's also what we've worked on.

I had the joy of running into one of those students again. I distinctly remember the lesson with the young boy last season, having had a great time on the snow with him. He started excited to ski and left making some great wedge turns and snow plow stops. In the middle of our busy holiday weeks I heard the familiar "Remember me?" question, turned and was shocked to see this little guy again. His mom informed me that he would only go skiing if he could have a lesson with me again. So off we went to go play in the snow and have a fun one hour private lesson. Apparently I was to be skiing with him later in the day too, his parents having bought a two hour session but decided to break it up for a long lunch stop.

In the meantime I ran across his younger sister whom I also had as a student last year. She still sits back on her skis way to much, and loves making snow angels more than skiing. She was paired with one of our female instructors and was having a blast. She too remembered me.

Having a student/client base that remembers me is what convinced me to stay at the smaller family run resort this season.

Second Thefts

2010-01-01T13:15:00.000-08:00

A short while ago I made a post (Alpenglühen: First Thefts) regarding the series of thefts that had been running on the resort. Since that post, things have gotten a lot worse, which is a surprise to all of us as the resort is typically overlooked for the larger places nearby.

Several folks like to park their RV's in the lot over the winter and have tires stolen, broken into, etc. One instructor had their car broken into taking a snowboard+boots, and a select handful of CDs (suggesting there was no rush to get out of the car).

There has been some good news though. A few nights ago, the state and local police stopped a man swiping a board from a rack and running back to a vehicle. The police have been more present since the thefts started and overall it didn't seem to do much. I'm not sure what line of questioning they used to determine if this man actually owned the snowboard in question either.

It became clear though that this wasn't his board when the police found his car after closing and inside were 30+ snowboards and 5+ pairs of skis. Rumor has it that collection of gear was all freshly stolen from that day.

The sad part to this is the man is an enlisted solider in Iraq, home for two weeks leave over the holidays.

Congrats to MySnowPro.com

2010-01-01T10:33:00.000-08:00

Congratulations need to go out to Jon and Greg on getting the MSP article in the recent issue of the PSIA magazine. Now I'm curious to see if there is any change in membership/posting with that article being released.

Go check them out at MySnowPro.com

(Yes I know it's a few weeks late, but better late than never, right?)

Chair Jumping

2009-12-31T13:51:00.000-08:00

In this past month, the Devil's Head resort in Wisconsin had a complete chair lift malfunction. In this case it sounds like the lift stopped all forward motion, did not lock into place, and began to pick up speed during a rollback down the hill (WKOW TV's coverage).

Reading through a lot of internet posts regarding this, I see many mentioning they would jump off the lift no problem. Aside from the heights many chairs run to, there are many secondary factors to consider (beyond it being illegal in most states). But the talk reminds me of an afternoon several years ago....

We have a low speed double chair that provides service on one side of the hill. At several points on the route up, the chair can sag and reach heights around 9 or 10 feet above the ground vs it's usual 15 to 20 feet. On this particular day, two men got onto a chair not knowing each other. At some point, Man-A, a 230 lb 6'3" male, decided to disembark from the chair early into a stash of powder he had been hunting for awhile.

Man-B, a 5'10" 200 lb male, was apparently not made aware of the impending maneuver and sat watching the rest of the hill enjoy itself. With Man-A leaving the chair, the sudden weight change launched the chair with Man-B into the air several feet, adding a swing to the chair. Man-B rediscovered some basic laws of physics where his body continued it's projection off the chair, clearing the chair, and providing him with enough space to come back down to earth.

Man-A upon landing was fine and instantly looking for any gear he might have lost. Man-B proceeded to land on top of Man-A, breaking a hip on Man-B and a neck for Man-A.

Other chairs behind and in front also received the chair bounce, causing several other guests to lose their seats and hold on until patrol could rescue them (which was surprisingly fast).

All said and done, Man-A was charged for breaking the law by jumping off the chair, and a few other things (attempted homicide keeps popping to my mind but that doesn't sound right). He was also charged in civil suits afterward for reckless endangerment (of both minors and adults) and for Man-B to recover lost wages.

2009/2010 First Accidents

2009-12-14T14:38:00.000-08:00

For over a decade I've maintained a Red Cross CPR certification with the idea that you never know when you'd need it. I've never had a need for it and have been thankful for that. The 2009/2010 winter season marks the first time I've ever had to use my CPR skills on anything other than a certification dummy in what could be considered a rare mix of bad.

Most resorts get an ambulance that resides on site. If not directly on site it lives within 5-10 minutes drive (in bad weather) to the resort. Some resorts even go one step further by contracting with a hospital to put a local urgent care facility on site. In any case, there is emergency personal ready to respond immediately.

Just the past week we had weather that created very odd road conditions. A mix of snow and rain fell for several hours before the freezing level dropped. This left the roads in a bad state with the better known "black ice" issue, basically the rain froze as a thin layer over the road. A two car accident happened immediately outside of the resorts' entryway. Our emergency personal responded and were dealing with the accident. During this time the fog that had been sitting in our upper mountain section moved lower and now covered the entire base area.

The next part seems to be conflicting to me, and my understanding is only built by the fragments of memories from those there. Basically I gathered another vehicle (possibly two) lost control and slammed into the accident scene, and continued down the mountain running into other vehicles waiting to pass. What seems weird is the first step to emergency roadside stuff like this is to secure the area so that you cannot be involved in another accident. My best guess is the car(s?) ignored the line of stopped cars and came down the oncoming traffic lane only to realize why everyone was stopped and discovered they couldn't themselves stop. Or they had to come from some other location down the mountain (off-roading in the snow?) that was not expected.

When the call for any one with emergency first aid training came across the radio I had been enjoying a beer at the mid-mountain stop with a student of mine (who happened to also be there). Running out the door, I made it down the main run pretty quickly, only to realize I hadn't paid for my beer (later on the staff said that my student paid for it, so thanks Ron if you ever see this). The fog was really thick causing me to be oddly disoriented in a place I know very well, but the emergency lights glow and noise were enough to help direct me. Arriving on the scene I was immediately put into place doing a rotation of CPR on a victim.

Watching the Patrol member do the steps I knew, I had enough time to realize that I'd never practiced on or used my CPR anywhere but on the classroom dummy. When my turn to rotate in arrived, I found myself hesitant for what felt like minutes (which apparently were only seconds). Placing my hands in for the chest compression portion, the feeling of someone's chest was noticably different than a test dummy. To begin with, skin moves and the breast bone cracks (or cracked), while a dummy is... quiet. We rotated out every 2 minutes hoping to keep our energy up. I rotated in 3 times before the patient revived and the EMT took over checking vitals from the Patrol member.

Total damage, 9 cars destroyed, several more damaged, 2 broken legs, several cases of whiplash, a few broken arms, 1 heart attack, and a lot of smoke inhalation (flare smoke hung in the air with the fog).

Drive safe out there. It's not worth rushing home at the end of the day, really.

First Thefts

2009-12-07T12:58:00.000-08:00

Nothing says welcome back to the winter season like having your gear stolen. Several days ago one of our instructors had his snowboard stolen mid-lesson. Apparently he took his board off to work with a student on the road accessible rope tow. While working with the kid, someone grabbed his board and took off with it.

Not only did this screw the students over as their lesson was now... over. But the instructor is out a board right before what is typically the busiest time of the season. Just a reminder to everyone to keep an eye on your gear, and use the Ski Check when possible.

Why does that...

2009-12-02T13:57:00.000-08:00

One of the interesting things about working at a resort is the knowledge people can gain over time working there or really in the snowsport industry as a whole.

Take for example a recent conversation I had with a DCL ( while having my own skiing picked apart (he claimed it wasn't personal, but I disagree). Standing in line at the lift, we watched several people step out of the rental shop, throw their skis down, and ride off. This illicited a comment akin to "Oh those folks are going to have an awful time in just a few minutes" from the DCL.

He explained to me that this is what causes the giant ice build up on the bottom of skis. Stating that the warm ski from the rental shop (or car) lays on the snow, melts the snow, and then steadily loses heat allowing a refreeze on the base.

In theory this makes sense to me, as every object moving from one temperature to another will retain some bit of the former climate until the object and the ambient temperature reach some agreed upon middle ground. This can be seen easily by dropping a piece of ice in warm water.

What I've always believed to be the cause of ice build up on skis to be has been simply a case of ski care. I've never seen a case of ice on a pair of skis that have been properly waxed. While every ski I've seen with ice, it was clear from the white base that there was a lack of wax currently on the ski.

In an effort to help solve this issue, I've been working on setting up an experiment with two sets of skis. The rental shop manager thought this sounded like fun so he's on the lookout for a ski to fit my request. Basically two sets of skis, one needing wax, and one freshly waxed. Both will be brought out of the rental shop, dropped on the snow, and given a 1 minute resting period on the snow. In theory both should develop ice proving the DCL's opinion. If only one develops ice, we will need to push the experiment further.

Return of the Season 09-10

2009-12-01T13:23:00.000-08:00

The snow is back and in force. Several wonderful days of skiing these past weeks have left me very happy the season is back earlier than usual. With it come more regular updates to this blog for the handful of people reading it.

Biggest changes this season from last...

Co-operation between resorts for the instructing staff to co-train*. The local PSIA representative has been successful in convincing the resorts to allow cross training between the resorts. This means I will be attending the Certification sessions and classes over at our neighboring larger corporate (aka Corpy) resort that happen on a 3xweek basis in the hopes of finally passing the on-snow portion of my exam. Judging from the first day of review and being on snow, I've got a lot of work to do.
The loss of many coworkers. I somehow was kept out of the controversy over the summer, but it seems several of our more senior instructors have all left the resort and moved on to Corpy's staff. It was quite a shock to see my former co-workers arrive at the Certification training sessions decked out in Corpy's gear.

My big issue this year has now been moved to do I stay at the smaller resort or do I move on to Corpy? Both have advantages and disadvantages. The main draw for Corpy is the heavy recruiting their senior staff is making on me. They've pointed out how they are setup to help instructors move through the ranks of the PSIA with regularly scheduled on and off snow training and review. They've also got several features setup a little better like a true ski school location for their staff to store gear and meet (not that I mind having our morning meetings in the bar). They've also been pushing that the minimum age for students is 6 unlike my current school's minimum age of 4 (from 4-6 Corpy has ACE certified instructors and schools to handle the students). The pay is a little better as well, although that gets lost when you realize the cost of items at Corpy is about 10x greater ($3.25 for a 12 oz Coke? WTF?). My guess is these were all things that helped convince my former coworkers to move over.

For me, the big seller is the regularly scheduled training bits. Oh, their complete lack of a rope tow (how my knees and gloves hate thee), and a very nice beginner hill area are also big draws for me. But it's hard to give up being with people you enjoy working with too. Since I'm not signed up for either school yet, I've got a week to think about this.

* To be clear, the ski schools have never had an issue sharing time or knowledge, it's always been a challenge with getting the resorts themselves to allow the other instructor's letters for a pass.

PowderWhores: Flakes

2009-11-02T20:16:00.000-08:00

The last few years, PW has been one of my favorite film collections. They're always a little more innovative each year. This year was no exception, with the inclusion of cameras on remote controlled helicopters (rumored) and the night shots, it was a lot of fun. The women of PowderWhores section was great as well as the family interviews.

And their filming has gotten a lot better this year, with better camera placements, better quality footage, and some great local stops. This year they did introduce some travel to other countries, and while I like that they've grown large enough to do that it's left something to be desired. One of the features of PW that I've always enjoyed before was the fact that these were simply guys going out their front door, or a friends front door, and finding some absolutely amazing places to ski. It was bound to expand beyond that. These are guys who are in extremely good shape, looking for bigger challenges, and well Patagonia and Alaska will provide those. But I hope they continue to focus on their local back country fun.

MSP In Deep review

2009-11-02T16:05:00.000-08:00

Had the opportunity to catch the In Deep presentation as it rolled through town. First off, musical selection... an interesting mix of sounds from all over the place. Some was expected, talking about Sean Pettit and showing his riding to the "Teenage Wasteland"... regardless of the musical selection cheese factor, Sean's got some great riding. Hopefully he'll take care of those knees and keep showing up for years to come. I also have not been in a theater where Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight" drum ramp up has been air drummed by so many in the crowd. It was rather comical.

Footage wise, I liked that they focused less on the park and pipes this year and more on the big mountains. Actually they even focused more on people finding some naturally fun areas to play on in the snow. That was pretty great to see honestly.

The tribute to Shane was hard to watch. I laughed seeing all the moments from MSP films in the past and what I felt were just a collection of candid cutting room floor bits as well. I was really impressed at the amount of video they decided to use from final filming trip. I was also glad to see it was tastefully cut at the right moment. It was a little hard to hear TJ talk about the event, and it was clear that he when recording he was still having some difficulty with the events.

The closing Piano Man looked like it was a lot of fun to film.

All in all, I wouldn't say this is their best film, but it clearly does come together very well.

Cycling Food: Power Bar

2009-07-23T13:48:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a lot of cycling again this summer, mostly longer distance. Part of doing that kind of riding is learning what does and does not work as far as nutrition and things to eat while riding. Last season I spent a lot of time with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, nuts, fruits, and salty lemonade. This season I've decided to try the other side, pre-made energy foods. In an effort to help me remember them I've decided to make some posts about them.

I remember the first time I had a Power Bar several years ago. I was convinced the "power" gained from it was lost in the process of chewing and trying to remove bits from your teeth. Then I discovered what happened to the bars when they got just a little bit cold. Outside of the "chocolate" flavor, I couldn't stand the taste of the bars. It felt like I was eating sand.

Since then a lot has changed in both Power Bars and myself. For one, I've learned not to let the things get cold... ever. In fact, keeping them warmer has made the eating prospects a lot better for me, so on the back or under a spandex leg they go. Power Bar has also introduced their "Energize" series of bars with flavors like Creamy Citrus Fruit, Berry Blast Fruit Smoothie, and Tangy Tropical.

I'm finding myself for the first time actually enjoying the flavors of Power Bar. The Berry Blast (pictured) and Tangy Tropical tend to be my preferred bars for a ride. They haven't quite figured out how to remove the sand texture of the bar, but the tangy clearly helps remove some of the harshness of it.

Does it work? I don't know, when riding I feel like I could eat 9 of these and still feel hungry.

2009 Ski Trailer Season

2009-07-21T15:12:00.000-07:00

It's here.... and I don't have to do any work to find them this year! Thanks SkiFilmReviews.com, you're the best!

Summer Time

2009-07-16T16:18:00.001-07:00

Yes indeed, it's summer time. I've been spending a lot more time outside, and less on the computer. This is a good scenario in my opinion, but it has left this blog a little quiet. Worry not it will be back to active status.... soon. Especially given the recent news of: snow porn trailers!

That's right, I've found two already and I didn't even go looking for them. They kind of found me.

Teton Gravity Research's Re: Session
Matchstick Productions - In Deep

Looks so far like the trick this season we'll see on the slopes is a hand-plant/drag off a kicker of some kind. I can only imagine the cost of fixing that afterwards... I sound old.

Spring Corn

2009-04-20T14:50:00.000-07:00

While resorts around the country start shutting down operations, the seasonal change tends to bring out the hardcore outdoor enthusiasts. For example, now is when you will see plenty more people hiking up the mountain to enjoy a run down.

Over the weekend I joined a few folks doing just this. There was some early practice on self arresting if needed, a lot of hiking, a bit of cursing, a short break on top, and then 4 minutes of pure downhill bliss. Not a single person on the groomers, and having first tracks at noon was kind of a thrill. Too bad about the sunburn though, my face has some awful goggle burn going on. Need to remember to re-apply on the bluebird spring days.

Season Ending

2009-04-08T20:37:00.000-07:00

The economy slow down is now hitting the ski school. We had a long discussion this past week regarding the current state of the school with the owner/manager. End result, I took an option to end my season early and switch over to my spring/summer activities. Oddly enough the weekend after doing this, I received a phone call asking me to come in due to an overwhelming number of students. Sadly this call came on the same day as a huge dump of snow (8" of fresh), which means my phone was unable to be answered. Go figure.

For those who haven't been out there yet, go get the slopes now as they are quite nice.

RIP Shane

2009-03-26T18:21:00.000-07:00

For those who haven't heard, Shane McConkey has passed away in a BASE skiing accident today in Italy. His Wikipedia page has more details. As does ESPN.

Boot Rentals

2009-03-23T11:27:00.001-07:00

Reason #1782 on why not to use rental boots:

During a busy day, I had a half hour break between two classes and went inside to warm up a bit. It'd been snowing constantly for the past two day, and today was no different. Talking with the front desk lessons rep, we witnessed a man burst into the Ski School with his young child in tow. The following conversation took place.

Man: Where is your bathroom?
Front Desk: We don't have any in this building, you'll need to go to the main lodge.
Man: Shi...

He stopped himself from fully swearing as he began realizing that he has now walked the complete opposite direction from a bathroom. It's a short walk (30-40 seconds) to the main lodge, but in a rush moment it can seem like it's very far away.

Man: Okay, let's go.
Son: It's okay daddy.
Man: Huh? What do you mean?
Son: I don't have to go anymore.

There was a 10 second silence in the room while this statement registered on all parties.

Man: Oh no, we have to get you out of those rental boots.

Rental boots, you never know where they've been.

Teaching the Teachers

2009-03-20T17:38:00.000-07:00

I had a chance to spend an entire day with one of the district clinician leaders (DCL) for my area. The only interruptions through the day were a handful of bathroom breaks and a lunch break. This scheduled session was to be attended by many of the local instructors, but turned out to be myself and one other instructor (a third joined us randomly through the day).

Several things came out of this session for me that were enlightening and disheartening.

First the bad. From the feedback, it sounds like this will be yet another year that I do not try to test for my next PSIA certification level. The general feedback went something like "you've got some obvious skills, now you just need to make them more fluid". I took this to be the standard "sugar coat the bad news first" approach, calling him out on it. He went to great lengths to prove otherwise. He pointed out several areas that would allow me to pass on the more difficult sides, but the easy stuff I wasn't fluid with.

This feedback only adds to my constant question of advancing skill sets, where advancing in the PSIA appears to favor those who work at larger destination style resorts. This favortism isn't really aligned to a school itself, but rather the fact that more clientele of various skill sets arrive requesting lessons at resort style schools. While the smaller resorts tend to get a lot of younger children and first timers, limiting the chances to work on advanced skiing and teaching. This is strictly my opinion, though it seems very difficult to prove otherwise. The DCL's approach to this comment is to take clinics at other nearby resorts, missing the point that our resort does not have the spare manpower to let someone go for a day. It's left me, once again, questioning if I will return next season.

Now for the good news, things I can work on.

For the first time I've been told that my foot work is very solid, showing some great understanding of the angles needed between ankles and hips.
Where I can stand to work a bit more is on the core, keeping it more engaged than I have. I haven't ever heard this as a comment on my skiing before, and is something I can easily work on.
My hand position tends to crunch too much together. Keeping them further apart will do wonders for my ability to keep stabilized.
I alternate between letting my skis ride out from underneath me and riding them very aggressively. There seems to be no pattern for it.
My one foot skiing skills significantly out rank my two foot skiing skills. The DCL was very confused as to how I could do that.
Jump turns, one day I will learn how to do these. For now, we sit at opposite ends of the table not talking to each other.

Patroller Down

2009-03-19T13:50:00.000-07:00

Woke up this morning to attend the morning avy control, mainly because I couldn't sleep. But also because I received an invite the night before from a few of my patrol friends while at the bar (always a great place to make important life decisions).

Due to a recent large dump of snow, they've had to do double blasts in many areas which is very unusual for us. Even so, large portions of the resort are not open due to slabs that look ready to drop at a moments notice but haven't even with the blasting. These areas have been closed for about 3 or 4 days now. So I thought it'd be fun to get a chance at some photos and checking the area out a bit.

On the way out one of the two Patrol members I was with, scouted out an interesting run out in the area. A straight line through the trees at about 35 degree pitch, off a mandatory cliff drop (10ft about) which puts you over the river opening and on the downhill to getting back to the lodge. Otherwise we'd have some more up hill climbing to do. Taking off, he made the whole run look easy.

I got to go second. I'm not a big fan of cliff drops, mostly because I do prefer my skis to be on the ground. Taking the run though I found it wasn't difficult really and I made it across the river gap just fine (with plenty of space). We waited for the third member of our party to join us.

I didn't see it happen, but Patroler 1 did, and immediately called for a backboard, sled, and rescue vehicle. Patroler 2 was laying quietly on the snow, not moving, with one ski broken and limbs going in multiple directions. I watched him slide towards the cliff drop but thankfully something caught and stopped him before heading over.

Rushing over as fast as we could, it looked pretty bad. Thankfully he was breathing and slowly regaining conciousness. This made the initial first aid a little easier, although it appeared that he had a concussion. I don't think a helmet would have helped to stop that given the speeds I know I hit. I took my orders from Patroler 1 and kept out of his way while administered as much aid as possible. More patrol members showed up a few minutes later and I backed off allowing them to work.

I didn't make it for line up this morning, instead I opted to head to the hospital to check on my friend. The end collateral, a broken right hand (3 metacarpels), right radial break, several cracked ribs, broken nose, and dislocated jaw. A minor concussion (it appears from his broken ski, by the Saloman imprint on his head) and probably a bit of whiplash (hospital had his neck stuck until they know for certain). He'll require surgery to fix the metacarpels and apparently the jaw.

Overall, he'll be okay. No more skiing this season, and maybe no cycling (which means I'll finally beat his milage). Just a friendly reminder to keep it safe on the slopes. Even the professionals get hurt.

RIP Kathryn

2009-03-18T17:46:00.000-07:00

An article from the Jackson Hole Daily, lists that Kathryn Miller, a member of the Jackson Hole Ski Patrol, took a nasty fall while working and injured herself pretty badly. The family provided update blog lists that she has passed on to her new adventure.

RIP Kathryn, and know that you left doing what you love. Also know that those of us who have been to Jackson Hole have appreciated all your work over the years. Thanks! Until next time our skis cross paths...

Line Poaching

2009-03-12T13:32:00.000-07:00

A recent 3 day storm brought us a ton of fresh snow. The kind of snow that makes one giddy with excitement and anticipation to play in it's light, dry, fluffy pillows laying about the mountain. Unfortunately the snow came on days that were extremely busy for us class wise, and left me with little opportunities to get some fresh tracks in.

At the end of each day, the mountain had for the most part been tracked out leaving a collection of chop to ride through. Most of my coworkers left for home, their legs exhausted and patience for the snow gone. I took off to the upper mountain with the sun rapidly setting over the horizon, and was able to get about 4 very good runs in. I did two with a gentleman I met on the slopes who was skiing amazing well (better than me) but had exhausted himself on the steeps. I took him for a run through the trees with me later.

Thinking my night was done, two snowboarding instructors called out from the lift for me to join them on a run. They were both dressed down from their uniforms while I wasn't. I get to the top and join them just as the clouds settle in making the visibility poor. They tell me to follow them, and take off skiers left towards the closed territory for the day. 10 minutes later, we're on the top of side of the area that had an avy slide earlier in the day with 4 patrollers standing watch.

I hear the radio beep and next thing I know they're yelling "fire in the hole". Four blasts fill the silence of the night, followed shortly by the smell of gun powder. The patrollers all look at us, expecting something to happen before one of them finally says "It's open" and waves at the entire opposite side of the ridge line that slid earlier.

The three of us start heading down, getting about two or three turns into some massively waist deep pillows of fresh un-tracked powder. We were dancing through the glades, the snowboarders loving it and me struggling a bit. Someone yelled "closing" from behind let me in on the secret of what just happened. Patrol just opened and closed the best powder run on the mountain in less than 5 minutes, and I got a good first tracks on it... at 6:15 pm.

Helmet Convert?

2009-03-11T17:44:00.000-07:00

I talk about it a lot, helmets, and my appreciation for them. I recently made a convert of a family as well. I had a lesson with a young boy, age 6, who had been up last year with me once. I remembered the face surprisingly well. It turns out since then he's done very little skiing, but the skiing he has done was well worth it. He could wedge stop, wedge turn, and kept in control the whole way down. His mom was interested in possibly seeing if he was ready to head up the chair lift and come down the longer runs. After two runs down the rope tow I thought so.

As we headed off for lift, we passed a booth with a Pryme rep demoing his wares, I asked my student if he ever thought of wearing a helmet. He hadn't. We stopped briefly to look, and the rep offered to let him try one for a run. The kid was excited, grabbing the helmet of his choice while the rep made sure it fit. Off we went up the chairlift.

About halfway down the run, he was doing great on the steeper parts and just flying high on the easy parts. We pulled off to the side to talk a little bit more about turn control and shaping, our backs to the trees behind us. As we were about to start, he noticed his younger brother coming down the hill with another instructor and asked if we could wait for his brother. We waited and watched his brother a bit, when he finally decided waiting wasn't working.

I slipped a little lower, allowing him to begin his first new traverse when I heard a crash above us. I was able to watch as an out of control snow boarder crashed into the tree, tumbled, and cracked my student on the head with the edge of his board. The demo helmet did it's job, splitting down the back side, leaving my student phased but unhurt.

I called for Patrol, who arrived and checked him out. They saw no damage but wanted to get him down the hill for a better inspection. He was going to get to ride on the snowmobile instead of the sled for this case. As he jumped on the back he was able to catch a glimpse of his younger brother skiing slowly down the hill. He immediately jumped off, put his skis to the ground and went to work putting them. I asked what was going on, and his response was simple.

"I can't let my brother beat me down the hill"

I talked with the Patroller who saw no reason to stop us, but would follow behind in case anything should arise.

We reached the bottom where Mom was waiting. I handed my student to the patrol team, and talked with mom. Mom promptly went over to the Pryme rep, bought two helmets, paid for the now destroyed demo, and gave the rep some extra cash. The student, only damage he had was a bruise on his knee from falling on his ski tip.

Car Travel

2009-02-19T16:34:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend we had several days of yuck weather. Where "yuck weather" can be defined as good for the resort, but bad for driving. In this case it was rain that changed to snow, bringing with it some cloud levels, and generally making the drive not so nice.

I had a late start to the resort due to a handful of reasons, mostly all around too little sleeping the night before. As I drove up the mountain, it became apparent that many folks were not prepared for the weather. One euntrapaneur set up shop selling chains just before the chain up area from the back of his truck. Judging by the line, he was making a killing.

Two or three blind turns later, I see a car passing me on the left. Normally this isn't a bad thing, as it's a two lane road, but today the conditions just make it silly. I slow and let him pass, as do the two cars in front of me. As I drive around the next sharp turn I find that same car now is now facing down the mountain road, snowboard sticking out the broken side window. On the right lay a woman clearly in pain, bleeding pretty badly. Several of motorists stopped to help with the scene while waiting for emergency services. Turns out the woman was putting chains on her car when the speedy car swept a little wide and crunched her. Emergency services was surprisingly quick to arrive and took over fast.

I haven't heard any details on the woman's status since, but a strong lesson learned. When putting on your chains make sure to be completely pulled over to the side of the road. Plus it might be wise to wedge your car a bit to protect you from a possible side swipe.

Beat

2009-02-18T15:17:00.001-08:00

I was pretty impressed with the crowds we had this weekend, given that it was Valentine's Day. Typically we see very few people on the slopes that day. Apparently though someone managed to mix in a Presidents Day holiday and this just brought everyone out for the whole weekend.

On Sunday, after having classes from 10-3pm I took a brief break to eat something. The weather had moved from being an ugly snowy morning to a beautiful blue sky day somewhere around 1. So nice that I had to start shedding layers. At about 3:15 one of the other instructors pulled me out of my lunch stupor with the idea of getting some time in the out of bounds area before the sun set.

After two chair rides and a long hike, we found ourselves at the upper edge of the boundary line. Standing there waiting to close was Ski Patrol, looking down the same area we were thinking of hitting. Patrol looked at us, looked back down the line and calmly said "Damn, I thought I'd be the first to hit this line today."

We promptly took off down the run before he could say anymore. Steep terrain, some fresh inches, a north facing slope, and some tight trees kept this line pretty hidden from most while maintaining the snow quality. Five turns in and about 100 yards down my legs let it be known that they are tired. I realized this was going to be a rough ride when I found myself sitting back on the skis in the steeps.

A lot of washed out turns later, we reached the low slope section through thick trees before the next drop. At the next drop all adventure stopped as we realized the area had a minor slide sometime earlier in the day. Neither of us had heard of this area sliding before, nor did we have any real back country gear with us. The decision was to cut across the top on the flat-ish part, heading back towards the boundary line.

Finding a new route down, hitting a little ice, and having the first tracks through this area just made the entire weekend worth it. We then did the run two more times, with me being worse each time.

Just Add Fuel

2009-02-06T15:00:00.000-08:00

Justin B likes to talk about it a lot over at ski-blog. I've talked about the overall expense of skiing a few times too. For those in the New York area though, the cost of taking a family out to enjoy the outdoors is about to increase. Introducing the Amusement Tax, better known in the area as the Ski Tax to the resorts and employees of New York State.

Since tax law is about as thrilling as life can get, cutting to the section in question is highly advised (paragraph 10 of subdivision D in section 1101). The general gist of the entire PDF is the state of New York is apparently no different from the rest of America. It too has a finite amount of money to spend, and when it's constituents stop spending money, it needs to find new sources of revenue. In this case it's places of amusement, which ski resorts are lumped into.

Overall, I'm not a huge fan of the concept. This looks like it will introduce a sales tax on lift tickets, rentals, and lessons. I'm not sure how much good it will do, but there do seem to be two petitions already started on this. The first Stop The Ski Tax and the second oniPetitions.

Slow Down

2009-02-02T13:28:00.000-08:00

Super Bowl Sunday was an interesting time on the mountain. Normally we expect to have a low number of guests on the slopes that day, but historically high numbers in the lodge(s) and bars. Or really anywhere they can watch the game.

This year the resort was empty. The slopes were early in the day had low numbers, by the time the Super Bowl started, a small handful of people were still enjoying the snow. The lodge, empty.

This gave me a chance to talk with a couple of the departments I don't normally get to talk with. Generally I thought the resort was doing well through the economic downturn, given that I see everything still running strong and typically large numbers of people on the slopes. Cat maintenance though told me that they have cut down the numbers of employees this year to 10 mechanics and 5 drivers. Park Crew tells me they are down to 6 people to maintain all the parks and pipe (from a usual 15).

The economy looks like it has finally hit the resort.

Sold

2009-01-29T13:37:00.001-08:00

I finally did it. I allowed my AASI cert to expire, and now it's official... I've sold off all my snowboard gear. It feels nice to only have to worry about one set of gear again.

Days of Joy

2009-01-28T17:01:00.000-08:00

There are days on the snow, where everything just isn't what it should be. The group class is too big or too mixed. Your private lessons are just expensive baby-sitting jobs. Etc. Then there are days where everything goes so perfectly it's hard to believe.

This past week had one of those perfect days. The day started off with snow falling overnight, down into the valley floor. At some point the snow level rose, make the valley floor super slush filled. Driving in at 5:30am isn't typically a busy time, but this particular day there were plenty of other drivers heading up to the mountains for first tracks. The point of mentioning this is several times during the drive up, the slush took over driving, sending many cars (mine included) into new directions.

At role call, we received word that one of our regional DCLs was on hand for a morning clinic by surprise. Most of us were excited, until we received first calls for classes. Starting from 8am I had two classes back to back which would have me working longer than the DCL clinic was scheduled to last.

Surprisingly though those two classes were a lot of fun. The first, a 7-year old girl, was picking up everything very quickly. By the end of an hour, she had learned to turn well enough to look like a future Super-G racer. So we went up the chair and came down the racing flags, and she rocked it. The next class, a young girl who was skilled in her skiing just not confident in it. Up the chair, and we worked on building her confidence on the runs. I saw her out on the slopes for the rest of the day.

After those two classes I was given a break and told to go get to the upper mountain chair as they were about to open up. Running in to pick up my regular skis, the scheduler looked over and said "go eat now, you're busy the rest of the day". The next class turned out to be a double session with a husband and wife.

The interesting thing about this class, both were former Olympic hopefuls for Poland in skiing. After discovering this tidbit, I had to ask why they were there for lessons and immediately began questioning what I could add to their abilities. Turns out they haven't been skiing in about 10 years due to a rebuilt knee, and they really just wanted to have someone help them learn how the equipment changes altered styles. We spent the next few hours playing in the steeps, trying to break the habit of the tucked knee. Not only did we have a good time, I learned several old tricks for encouraging skiing behaviors.

After that I had a back to back with a former student of mine from my brief instructing session of last season. He's back this season doing some blue squares, and ready to learn how to be more dynamic in his parallel. This brought us back up on the slopes in the fun areas to play and work in.

Terminology

2009-01-23T15:49:00.000-08:00

I learned a new word this week, thanks to a class of Texans I had to teach. We no longer have a half pipe, we now have a "trick ditch" best said with a strong Texan accent. It was seriously hard to not laugh when the first gentleman used this term in front of me. It was made even harder by the other instructors snickering behind my class.

Mountain Safety

2009-01-20T17:23:00.000-08:00

We've had a rash of accidents on the mountain recently, mostly between skiers and snowboarders not paying attention to some of the basic rules of the mountain. For example, we've had several snowboard go ripping down the mountain minus their leash and rider into crowds of people. We've also had several skiers and boarders just running into people, or not knowing how to get off the lifts.

These are all usually rules we cover during the class sessions, but the truth is not everyone takes classes. So the resort has moved to printing them on the lift ticket as well. Turns out most people don't read past the "VALID xx/yy/zzzz aa:bb:cc" line. This basically leaves us with having put up a bunch of posters, banners, etc with lame sayings such as "Know the Code" or "It's cool to ski in control". I don't think either slogan really makes people think about what they do or don't know on the mountain.

Enter the new promotions manager for the season who has suggested a brilliant change, even if it is a bit odd. Throughout the season several members of the staff (patrol, instructors, lifties, park crew, kitchen staff, etc) will be randomly assigned a bright reflective jersey with a big number on the back. That number correlates to one of the codes of conduct on the mountain. Our jobs as a number are to be wondering through the resort doing whatever we usually do, only this time armed with a changing stamper.

Customers on the other hand have been given a game, similar to a scavenger hunt. Their job is to find all 7 of the codes of conduct. At each code person, they need to repeat what the code is to the employee to receive a stamp. What's the stamp good for? The first 100 people with all 7 stamps get a next season pass for free. After that 100 random people will awarded similar gifts at the end of the season (passes, helmets, skis, boards, etc).

I got to be the 3rd rule, which states "you must not stop where you obstruct a trail, or are not visible from above", which proved to be fun. Most of the people approaching me were really good about it, a few of the snowboarders who found me skiing past them, were those sitting just below the lip invisible to someone coming down the run.

We'll see how well the promotion works, but so far it's at least got people thinking reading the random code bits around the mountain.

What equipment?

2009-01-19T15:08:00.000-08:00

Ricky B's Guests and Pro Snowsports Insight: Tiger Sharks

Looks like Ricky B got himself some new skis, the Völkl Tiger Sharks. Go Ricky! Actually his post got me thinking about something I regularly get asked....

Student: What's the best ski?

In my experience this is a completely loaded question with too much subjectivity for personal tastes. But Ricky's post highlights another aspect that should be considered. While many instructors use their gear all day long, instructing actually has a significantly different set of requirement than most riders will ever need. Ricky States:

As an all mountain ski for an instructor, I don't think you can do any better

While I disagree with the not doing better part, he mentions the all mountain ski for an instructor. In a typical between classes scenario (for me) I'm provided very minimal amount of time to switch gear. Usually a gear switch means converting from the shorty (123-1233 cm first time instructing ski) to my normal gear. I'm not typically provided a chance to get a feel for an upper level student and what they need until we are on the first lift. Why do we break the PSIA customer model so much?

Our private classes are sold in one hour blocks, which for the most part works fine. But if you've got a student who is an upper level, the terrain they would typically want to work on requires a two chair ride and about 15 minutes of total lift time. In an effort to maximize our students time, we have had to adapt to a more streamlined approach than what the PSIA typically recommends.

Because of this shortened time period, I've found that my ski of choice has consistently been an all-mountain design. It may never do any one thing great, but chances are anything I can throw at it will not slow me down. As for the Tiger Shark, I found them fun. A very lively ski, and the ability to stiffen it was surprisingly not a gimmick (those rods really do work). But I'm partial to my K2 Apaches Recons, sorry. The only downfall to the K2s is the weight, are they ever heavy. That same weight is what allows me to power through the chop so easily though.

Great Video

2009-01-16T16:22:00.000-08:00

I know that the season is here for everyone, so snow stoke is pretty much not a needed thing. But I found a video online by Guido Perrini over at vimeo that should be shared. About 30 minutes long and it had me glued to the screen the entire time. A very well put together video and certainly worth watching. Even better, the pay what you like for it concept... very cool.

TEN ski snowboard film www.guidoperrini.com from guido perrini on Vimeo.

Days Gone Past

2009-01-06T14:54:00.000-08:00

Just a little over a year ago I was involved in an accident on snow. When the season started I received lots of heckling regarding not running into anyone, and very slow demos of stopping, and avoiding people. All of it has been in good fun and jest. I probably deserve a lot of it. After that though the moment has been pretty well forgotten.

On December 28th I showed up for the day and was promptly put to work out of my boots. I really didn't think twice about it at first. We've got a new ski school being built (to be opened in one month), and a large swarm of people. I spent the first half of the day running out class cards, calming people down in the line. I was curious why on such a busy day they had me running everywhere else but the slopes.

It wasn't until the end of the day that it became clear when the lesson scheduler said "The hex be broken! You've survived the day!" I was a little confused until I realized it was now the 1 year anniversary of my crash. Who said instructors aren't superstitious?

Lift Line Crowding

2009-01-06T13:44:00.001-08:00

Two incidents over the holidays left most of us rather surprised at the resort.

First, for the first time that most of us can remember, we reached capacity and spilled over on visitor count. Normally our lift lines are fairly short (max of a 3 or 4 minute wait), and the on-slope crowding is pretty minimal. This holiday season it was a lot different. The on-slope crowds were just amazing. Off-slope, the lodges reached capacity early on, with many of the guests now spilling out into the parking lot. Management being mindful of upset customers, decided to put up an outdoor grill and turn front patio and parking area into a BBQ field. Lift lines themselves were spilling beyond the normal boundaries, down the lift hills, and into the slopes. Several of our European compatriots noted how civil this crowd was compared to a European resort where people stand on each others skis.

The second incident, a fist fight in said lift line. I'm not sure exactly what started it, I was not there for the start. I did hear the call over the radio for assistance in breaking it up, and saw the mass of people swarming around the area. By the time I arrived it had been fairly well broken up and they were trying to move people on the lift while removing the ruffians. Word from those in the crowd was one guy on a snowboard arrived at the lift line very upset, throwing his snowboard at someone in the lift line, hitting the wrong person, and it expanded from there. The local sheriff got a chance to show the locals what he gets paid for.

All in all, it was certainly a different holiday.

Structural Changes

2009-01-05T17:16:00.001-08:00

The Christmas/New Years holiday season is typically one of the busiest times of year for us at the mountain. As far as instructing goes, it's not unheard of to go back to back class wise until the TD finds you passed out on the snow field due to exhaustion. Even then, you have to fend off the impending Monster Energy Drink they'll force feed you to keep you going through the next set of classes.

The crowd generally consists of relatives visiting from far off places, people taking vacations, and the ever so important locals who realized it's a good time to get outside again. It's the last group that always makes me laugh.

We've had several building changes since last season on the resort as a whole. The most obvious one is the main lodge changes to expand the restrooms. In the past the men's and women's restrooms were next to each other, with a door to the outside at one end of the hallway and the door to the seating area at the other. The bathroom doorways generally create a lot of traffic for people running in for a moment, and then finding a friend and gathering to talk there. This tended to build a large blockade in front of the lodge's main seating area entrance that management didn't like. Employees have been asked numerous times to help move these people along but I think it finally clicked that this needed to be changed.

Over the summer, they moved the men's bathroom to the other side of the hallway, and extended both restrooms to run the length of the corridor. This allowed them to extend the locker space, include more facilities, and create a meeting area in the middle. The women's side, did the same only the door changed to the former men's doorway.

The point of this post? Many of our long time male customers can be seen walking in on automatic, marching through the hallway without a thought, and walking right into the women's restroom. In the course of a 20 minute lunch break I watched this happen 3 times by 3 different men.

The Troubles of New Uniforms

2008-12-29T08:20:00.000-08:00

At most resorts I know of, instructors are not allowed to wear their uniforms when not instructing. Meaning after your class and during your breaks you must change out of uniform into whatever you normally wear to the mountain. The resort I work takes a different approach, where it considers each of it's employees to be an ambassador to the mountain and actually encourages us to wear our uniforms all day.

This of course has mixed benefits. On one hand, the entire mountain staff knows who each and everyone of us are, regardless of department. The boldly labeled jackets make sure of that. So we'll often get benefits of lift line express services, cuts to the front of the line at the beer stube, or harassed by Ski Patrol for having taken a poor run.

For some reason, the resort decided to change uniforms several weeks after opening. These were sprung upon us yesterday. It's always fun to open a new uniform out of the plastic wrap. The smell. The feel of freshly water-proofed fabric. The question of "it fits my fat ass now, but after a season will it?" Or my personal favorite "will it survive a ride on the rope tow?".

After having transferred most of my gear from my old uniform to the new, I thought I had gotten the most important parts. Food, rope tow glove covers, Edgie Wedgie, radio, wallet, and pass. About 30 minutes into my next lesson I realized I forgot to transfer my watch and had no real idea what time it was.

Getting back to the ski school, I went in to find my old uniform and get my watch. Stomping through the changing room, I found several of the new uniforms on the ground in pieces. I quickly asked what was up with that. Apparently these were the first sacrifices to the rope tow god and we were moving back to our older uniforms.

Seasonal Start

2008-12-12T17:10:00.000-08:00

My trip overseas had me missing much of the planning for the new and returning instructors this season, so I got the opportunity to be an attendee this year. Sadly that status was short lived.

We've had some snow this season already, enough to create a thin base layer, but not enough to get any hard core snow fanatics yet. The 18" of base leaves plenty of ground breaks and obstacles in your path, requiring each rider to pay careful attention to where they are and where they are going.

I joined the team for a first day of ski instructor refresher training. As we loaded on the chair, the group of 9 split into 3 chairs of 3 people and spent the next few minutes enjoying the ride from bottom to top (where the better snow coverage is/was). It was a beautiful bluebird day, more than we can ever expect, some of us laughing as we met new friends and reconnected with old friends. Me? I got hassled for being broken on what was for the most part an epic season last year. As we got off the chair above the timber line, we were slapped back to reality.

The top layer of the snow was solid and slick. Taking a moment to realize the day before was a blue bird also, the entire top layer was a thick layer of ice that not even poles could chip through. The wind blowing hard enough to move us, we watched several rocks break free on the sides and slide down the entire face of the mountain. Since I was with the first time instructors, many of them were on shorty skis (123 cm) with me on my long boards (181 cm) as is our trainer, several warnings were immediately issued about keeping balance on the ice.

Shorty skis are great for teaching center balancing, which is why we use them a lot. They fall apart on non-ideal conditions. Powder they have no tails to ride providing any lift needed. Ice, they're so small it takes a lot of active control processing to ensure they stay underneath you. For several of these new instructors it was a first time in a long time that they've been on skis (snowboard instructors learning the cross-over instructing).

First run we decided to just follow the leader with slow turns to get everyone used to the snow conditions, their little skis, and skiing again. First turn we watched 4 of the 9 lose control, fall, and slide halfway down the run before they were finally able to catch an edge and come to a stop. The TI and I splintered the group even further to get those steady on their skis further along, and those with fresh ski legs a little practice first. I got to handle the fresh ski legs team and immediately got to work on side slipping with conversions into turns.

After two runs we were able to get some smooth turns on the edges of our skis despite the icy top layer. It took about 3 hours to get those two runs completed though, and we knew there would be a downloading/hiking requirement due to the lack of snow on the lower half of the mountain. Opting instead to break early for lunch, we downloaded, discussing how the day was going amid ourselves when we ran into one of the snowboard classes. The TI for the class looked a little pained and disappointed. When we asked what was up, we got the tally.

Two broken wrists, several knees painfully beat, and one tailbone that may or may not be broken. Overall his group of instructors (both old and new) tossed in the revolted a bit and tossed in the towel for the day.

Several of the new instructors with me were happy to have made it out with no damages like their follow snowboarders. Needless to say it was not a good day to be training. After lunch we agreed to take the lift halfway up to work on instructing and class management. We found a pocket of softer snow and spent the next few hours sliding down a total of 10 vertical feet over and over again.

Steep And Cheap returns

2008-12-10T15:05:00.000-08:00

Steep and Cheap (SAC for short) is one of the sites I frequent all day long looking for deals. They've recently released a newer Tramdock, focused entirely on skiing. My newer addiction has been found.

2009 Lange Girl

2008-12-09T11:57:00.000-08:00

Looks like Lange has selected it's 2009 promotional girl; Maria Riesch.

Links - Crystal Mountain

2008-12-08T11:23:00.000-08:00

I went searching for the "Ski Patrol" series on the internet today as I haven't seen a lot of it while traveling. Doing a standard Google search, the first link that arrives is a Crystal Mountain - Photo Log blog on blogger here! Looking at the site, it seems to have been active for some time, which means I've been reading through. It's inspired me to add a section to the blog for blogging resorts with things that are more than just "Come ride here". Got any other additions?

Review: PowderWhore's 08

2008-12-08T10:54:00.000-08:00

When I watched last year's PowderWhore's film, I thought it wasn't bad. It wasn't my favorite for the season, but it came in surprisingly well. The film itself had some great shots, excellent interviews, and overall was a lot of good snow stoke for the preseason. It had a few short comings though, one major one was the film quality itself. It was painfully clear that some shots were just too far away for an optical zoom and the team resorted to a digital zoom. This just looked blurry, bad, and awful enough that the film just felt unclean.

As far as films go this season, I'd have to rank the PowerWhores 08 film as the best film of the season. Film wise, they cleaned up everything. The long shots no longer had a digital explosion feel to them. Following the action was on the spot. The segments were fun and entertaining, no one complaining about having to wait out a storm in a $1000/day heli-trip to Alaska. I personally enjoyed the Meadow Skipping segment and the final recovery segment. Very nicely done.

I even had a chance to talk with Jonah and Noah at the end of the night about their experiences filming and traveling. I have to say I'm jealous guys and wish you the best of luck.

This is certainly a film to watch this season. Even if you're already out enjoying the snow.

Quiet Home Front

2008-12-05T22:09:00.000-08:00

It's been a little quiet here for a bit as I had an opportunity to travel to Japan. A friend of mine and I left on a whim, thinking we'd spend most of the time exploring Japan, but after hearing of a nice dump in Hokkaido we changed our plans. Needless to say earning your first turns for the season is always a good start.

Review Matchstick Productions Claim

2008-10-30T01:48:00.000-07:00

For the last 3 years I've attended the annual stop of Matchstick Productions when they come through town. I've found their films to be some of the most entertaining on a consistent basis. The shots are always amazing. The locales always add to the fun. The humor they've interjected to the movie is always appreciated. This year's film, Claim was highly anticipated by me.

Once again, the venue they selected this year was awful. The sound system didn't help either, it had an overly tinny sound to everything making it difficult to hear the voice over portions. But more importantly, I found the film to be... eh. There were some great shots and the film certainly opens up with an amazing landing. But after that, it just kind of fell apart to me. I think the big reason for this was the mix of HD and non-HD film footage.

All the shots in HD had this effect of appearing fake on the projected screen because the resolution looked too good. When moving from a close in zoom on standard film to an HD long shot, it just felt off.

It felt good to see Saucer Boy back though.

Arizona SnowBowl

2008-10-20T15:36:00.000-07:00

Received the latest edition of Skiing Magazine and flipped through the pages. I'm still not sure how/why I get the magazine, but whatever the reason it still makes an awesome bathroom reader. Flipping through the pages I found an article on the Arizona Snowbowl debates that Justin at Ski-blog has been covering pretty extensively. While the article doesn't appear to be online (Skiing Magazine's online version is, well, awful to non-existent), it does state that the courts have finally sided with SnowBowl to allow the use of reclaimed water for snow making.

I'm not sure if the article went to print before or after the Oct 9th posting from Justin (here), but it does sound positive.

(EDIT: fixing the link to Justin's Oct 9th post. Blogger still doesn't like Track backs it seems)

Economic Slow Down Part 2

2008-10-20T15:13:00.000-07:00

In a previous post, Economic Slow Down, I spoke about the impact of the economy on the destination versus local resort questions.

It seems that CNN has also picked up on this vibe recently, with the "Ski resorts hope plenty of snow beats weak economy" article. Interestingly enough they mention a few smaller resorts (Monarch and Mission Ridge) and what they are doing to help remove the pressures for locals.

What I have yet to see though is mention of who has the most expensive single day ticket. In years (2?) gone past this was bragged about as a mark of pride by resorts. I see no mention of it anywhere this season.

Abasin open

2008-10-15T17:14:00.000-07:00

The WROD is now open for your riding pleasure. How is that for some October turns?

Ski Patrol on TruTV

2008-10-14T18:20:00.000-07:00

While surfing around today on the TheFutonCritic, I came across an entry for a show titled "Ski Patrol". Out of curiosity, I went and found the website, watched the online video clips, and am a little concerned about the show.

Already there seems to be a strong focus on avalanche patrolling, and the dangers of avalanches. While these do exist in bounds, I certainly hope they show the early hours rides up in the snocat to set off charges setting the stage for no such problem later. Most of the details seem to suggest the show is filmed primarily in Crystal Mountain Washington, but a few side posts state Blue Mountain in Pennsylvania. Having skied both (Blue more than Crystal), I think the show is going to (at the very least) show the drastic difference between resort injuries and coastal skiing in general.

From the conversations on the TruTV boards, it appears the pilot was shot at Mt Bachelor in Oregon (wonder if we'll get to see that). The shooting of Blue Mountain may be limited to the NSP Nationals conference, it doesn't seem terribly clear from the show listing. There are claims of things being overdramatized already on the forums. I'll most likely check out the first episodes but I'm not sure after that.

Looks like the first episode is Oct 20th, so if you're curious to see last season re-capped for you. Now is your chance.

Economic Slow Down

2008-10-13T17:56:00.000-07:00

Like most folks in this world, I've been watching the stock markets and their current roller coaster of a ride. I've got some money invested in stocks and have felt the pain of losing a significant portion to the giant suck that has appeared in a very short period of time. (Note: This doesn't mean it hasn't been building, it just means the reaction hasn't been seen until recently.) So I did what I always do when the world seems to be too overwhelming, I went to look at the new crop of equipment for the season.

Since I bother these guys a lot, they all know me pretty well. I spent a little time in the shop helping with the growing number of eager snow fanatics who have sent their gear for a tune up. The interesting part was really listening to some of the conversations that erupted with customers regarding life as well. Several discussions turned back to what we expected this winter to be like for us (FYI we always expect it to be amazing, especially when our livelihood depends upon it).

Most of the customers stated that they were thinking of pairing back their season for financial reasons. Destination resorts seemed to be big losers, with the following reasons:

Cost of airline tickets has gone up significantly
Cost of flying with gear has gone up
Most resorts have pushed their pass prices up again
Their stock portfolios have sunk radically

Which brought a renewed interest in the local resorts. Several folks were asking if it was worth buying a season pass, and just driving up. How long the snow stays fresh, etc. It's been interesting. Could this year see the rise/return of the local resort vs the destination resort?

I'm conflicted on this one. On one hand, having a larger money flow in for classes would be a nice change (I currently just brake even for teaching, which is why I have two jobs). On the other hand, it will mean larger crowds, and less fresh snow for me. Tough call.

As an aside, most of those mentioning #4 as their primary reason for skipping their trip(s) were shocked to hear our responses. Several of us have been playing the stock market for awhile and have invested heavily. Two of the guys in the shop are working there because they've already made their millions and now want to do something fun and rewarding. It's was fun to break people's perceptions of 20/30 somethings with a ski job not knowing anything about stocks.

Public Service Announcement

2008-10-08T14:15:00.000-07:00

Found this posting on one of the boards today and thought I'd pass it along:

Disabled Sports USA Far West, located at Alpine Meadows Resort, is looking for volunteers to help teach people with disabilities learn how to downhill ski and snowboard. You must be a strong intermediate skier/boarder (or above) and have a desire to share the “mountain experience” with our students. Mandatory training is provided. Lift tickets are provided on your volunteer day. Call Vanessa at 530•581•4161 x203 for more information or visit
http://www.dsusafw.org/Wvolapp.pdf to view, download and print a volunteer application. Thanks!

Those of you looking for a place to teach your adaptive knowledge might find this good.

Gaper Day 2008

2008-10-06T14:42:00.000-07:00

Looks like the full trailer is up for Gaper Day 2008. Go check it out, well worth the laugh, even if the first part is a little confusing.

Gaper Day 2008, Whistler Blackcomb from Reed on Vimeo.

Helmet Review

2008-09-22T17:03:00.000-07:00

Looks like Skiing magazine has put up their 2008-2009 helmet review. Check out the list, it's not very inclusive (I'd like to see some of the other models, but oh well).

Twilight Seasons

2008-09-15T18:56:00.001-07:00

Looks like it's twilight season on the spring and summer activities. My cycling habit has slowly backed down to an almost non-existent level. I still plan on at least two more 100 mile rides this season. I feel that after a season of over 1500 miles logged on my road bicycle alone, I've achieved much more than what I had set out to do.

As it gets dark earlier now, I've started spending more time in the gym. While I can certainly cycle at night, it's not nearly as fun, and the chance of accidents goes up tremendously. Accidents with cars have a much lower survival rate I feel. The gym routine is getting to be pretty standard, it's my usual pre-season leg wake up routine:

Core Work out:

Prone Bridges
Lateral Bridges
Balance Ball push ups
Balance Ball un-assisted standing
Static Lateral pull downs
Static Leg press
Russian half squat
Single leg bench dips
Assorted bicep and chest movements

The single leg bench dips seem to get the most giggles, followed right behind by the balance ball standing routine.

The Power of the Internet

2008-08-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

Like most people, I have momentary lapses of productivity at work, which is to say I avoid doing work for times. Thankfully I have the internet to help save this time from being completely lost. One google search with the words "ski movie music" and I've found www.skimoviemusic.com with complete soundtrack listings for several years of movies. Not bad.

New google search for 2008 trailers, and I find skifilmreviews.com who seem to be maintaining a great list of films so far for the 2008-2009 season.

Nice job folks, I'm a much happier skier now, and significantly less productive!

August Rush

2008-08-13T18:08:00.000-07:00

It's that time again, trailers and teaser trailers are starting to pop up all over the web for the 2008-2009 season. While it's hard to think of snow in early to mid-August time frame, these videos certainly do a lot for getting myself psyched up.

Here's Matchstick Production's Claim (better resolution version at skimovie.com). Very exciting, and one of the best/most-fitting musical scores ever.

Jackson

2008-08-12T15:10:00.000-07:00

SkiPressWorld is reporting that the cables for the "Big One" at Jackson Hole are now in the process of being set up. The opening is expected to be this December, and if all continues as planned it looks like that will happen.

This should help make any returning trip to Jackson Hole that much more exciting. Anyone have pictures? Would love to see the new clocktower frame.

Not Forgotten

2008-07-05T15:05:00.000-07:00

This blog has not been forgotten. Honest! Been busy this spring/summer traveling for what might be the last time in a long time. One of the nice things about traveling though is the chance to take part in cities history, culture, and (my favorite part) food. Having traveled on the east and west coasts of the US, I find the east coast to be simply better for road trips. Each area is very distinctive, with it's flavors, while the west coast tends to have a lot of new takes on these older original flavors. Although I will admit it's significantly harder to find these small meccas of tasty goodness on the east coast.

I recently had a chance to stop in Philadelphia again and immediately went to South Philly's Termini Brothers bakery. It's hard to describe the bakery, so I'll let the cell phone camera do the work. Even at low resolution it gets the idea across. As you can kind of see, the baked goods run down the center of the isle, with a sign asking you not to self serve. None of the pastries are fancy, flashy, or overly decorative as many current bakeries tend to enjoy doing. Instead these pastries are simplistic in their style, but downright excellent in their quality. My personal favorite happen to be the canoli, which I believe are most likely the best I've ever had.

The canoli is a world of it's own at this establishment. You're presented with three options of fillings, original, chocolate, and a vanilla with pistachios. I personally prefer the original and chocolate. Once an order is placed, your server will remove shells that have been prepared earlier in the day, and begin to fill each for you. After they are filled, you have an option for powdered sugar on top. Originally my road-trip friends were reluctant to make this stop. After their first bites of these canolis all complaints ceased.

It's good to have dessert. Anyhow if you're in the Philadelphia area, I highly recommend stopping in for some fresh canoli. They'll be worth your time spent trying to find parking in the south Philly neighborhood.

Summer Camp

2008-06-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

Since I missed a large portion of the season and my ability to prepare for my next round of testing was cut short, it's been suggested I try hitting up Timberline Lodge's Summer Ski program. The PSIA NorthWest divison will be running their summer training series for GS Race Camp and a few other tidbits of fun. Unfortunately their website is pretty awful for finding any kind of useful information, but they are quick to email you schedules and what not.

Anyone else planning to attend? July 18-20!

The last time I skied at Timberline during the summer, it was just to say I could. The snow, while not great, is better than most spring corn ever seen. Originally I had thought things would be about the same as last year, only now I'd be there for 3 days instead of a few hours. Just for giggles I took a look at their conditions and almost cried. 9" of fresh new snow in the last 48 hours! 9" in June!

Summer Fun

2008-05-29T15:54:00.000-07:00

Now that it's warm, I've been on my bicycle working towards my first century ride for the season. I'd like to dedicate this post to the guy cycling next to me for a few blocks in town. While I rode as far away from the light rail tracks in the street that paralleled our route, this rider decided to show his brazen disrespect for the rails, meandering left and right over them.

Several of us riding with him warned that you need to cross tracks at a much deeper angle, to which he laughed. One block later I watched as his front tire got stuck in the rail gully sending him flying off his bike, over the handle bars, head first into the trunk of the car in front of him.

Miraculously he was fine, although his bicycle wheel was now bent fairly substantially.

Season Review

2008-05-07T17:33:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the silence on posting, it's been a rather fast paced month of April, more on that later though.

It seems odd to be saying this in May, but a look back on the 2007-2008 season has left me really surprised. Despite being placed on the disabled list and being rather broken for a large part of it, I still managed to get in a good 55 days on the snow this season. Most actually coming after my accident, despite my inability to hard charge down the slopes.

This past weekend marked the end of the season for the local resorts, with all of them having their big party blast to end the winter. What makes it odd really though, the resort is closing with an estimated 180" of snow found at the mid-mountain marker. That is 180 inches, or 15 feet, of snow still available for your riding pleasure. The local road signs are still covered, the snow berms are still impossible to see over, and there has yet to be any signs of ground break. For a resort that typically has a mid-mountain depth of 80-90 inches, this season has been anything but normal.

With all that snow, why close? A couple of reasons. First of all staffing has become difficult. The foreign workers started to leave mid to late March. The month of April the resort held it's own with local staffing only. Towards the end of April, the resort starts to lose the rest of the non-permanent staff to their new seasonal jobs (rafting guides, mountain climbing/hiking/biking guides, etc). Second reason they close down, the handful of riders left don't make economic sense to continue to operate. Just as every year goes, the warmer weather results in less and less people wanting to slip into bulky cold weather gear.

Given that the resort still has a significantly large amount of snow, and history continues to repeat itself temperature wise, it will begin steadily warming over the coming days. At some point that massive amount of snow will need to melt. I think it's time to move away from the flood zones...

Spring

2008-03-31T09:24:00.000-07:00

Spring time brings with it some of the greatest snow conditions around, at least for learning. On second thought, even not for learning. The warm sun, the softer snow, and the ability to sit out on the slopes in a deck chair while enjoying a beer. How much better can life get?

Oh maybe checking out the fresh vegetation growth going on. For example here we see a very rare species of tree native to the area sprouting.

This beautiful tree known as Picea Pungens Braticus sprouts a yearly collection of bras that come to full bloom during the time frame that coincides with spring break. Look at the natural hues of red and tan in full display. A very rare sight indeed.

In-bounds Avy

2008-03-25T16:03:00.000-07:00

We received a good bit of snow over the past few days, and once again I was there for the early morning dawn patrol clearing out the instructor hut. Once again I was invited to do some early morning Avy patrol, which was going to happen a little later due to the delayed opening that day.

We have two major areas of concern in this process, the east and west facing cliff zones. On this particular morning we started on the west side and were moving towards the east. Within the first few blasts, we were able to see the east side was not that stable just from the sound waves on the west. Small powdery slides were happening occasionally. While we were on the path over to the east side we got a fairly clear view of the east wall area where most of the slides occur. Sitting above the wall were three guys on snowboards, who had obviously hiked up, and were now scouting out lines down. We watched in horror as one strapped on his board and cut his first line running it out towards the trees.

The second guy strapped in but was not nearly as lucky. As he dropped beyond his buddies cut line, the entire slab came free underneath him. I watched the entire thing oblivious to the activity going on around me. One patrol member was already on the radio calling in for a search crew, while another was keeping a visual marker of where the boarder was within the slide. He eventually lost sight of the boarder as the slide pushed him towards a wooded area.

The third guy apparently had some common sense and started making calls to get a rescue crew and find out what happened to friend #1. He informed us none of them had an avy beacon on because they thought in-bounds would have been patrolled already.

The following few minutes were very rushed and my recollection spotty. I've taken the avy training before, but this was the first I'd witnessed with any human participants involved. It was a much different feeling then the search for a beacon. A lot of probing, searching, and a few false leads. The good news is we did find the snowboarder, who was very lucky. Buried in the snow, his face was exposed, although he was knocked out. His board had broken between the legs and semi-wrapped itself around a tree. His ankles were broke when the bindings did not release and his crotch was firmly pressed into the splintered board section.

Lesson to be learned, despite the fact that in-bounds is avy patrolled, it does not mean it has been yet. The area was roped off before we started hand charges, and the resort as a whole was very closed.

Snowboards

2008-03-21T15:26:00.000-07:00

Welcome to TAOS... now place nicely!

http://www.skipressworld.com/newsDetail.php?id=24633&languageId=1&regionId=1&section=home&type=news&mode=read&filter=&sort=

The Power of One Run

2008-03-19T13:57:00.000-07:00

I was given the chance of a lifetime this past weekend. Arriving very early to start cleaning up the ski school and prep the area for customers I was approached by a few members of Ski Patrol. This is typically not much of an issue as the school usually talks a lot with them early morning to know what the run schedule will be like. I've typically have always offered to join them for an early morning of checking the runs, but have historically been declined. Apparently this was the day. With the amount of snow we'd received over the past week, the seasonal shift (a lot of the Volys are starting to do other things now), and the expected lower crowds I was invited to join the early morning avy patrol.

I had my boots, gear, and skis ready in 3 minutes.

Once at the top, I was paired off with two veteran patrollers who were assigned the back country area. A few boot packing moments later we're at the top of the ridge looking down on a pure white blanket of fresh snow. While I never was given the chance to throw the hand charges, I have to admit it was a blast to watch the snow go flying and set forth the rumbling of snow down below.

When all was said and done, I was offered first tracks down a section while the other two took first tracks down other runs. As I approached my run, I spotted another skier who was on dawn patrol coming up the backside of the mountain and figured I'd ask how the hike was. His paced quickened when he saw me come to a stop, check out a line, and look back over at him. A minute later he was at the top, out of breath, and standing about 100 yards away from me. I glanced back at him, he pulled out a huge smile and I just shook my head in a yes motion. We took off down the run enjoying the fresh few inches of powder and met at the bottom. He thanked me for waiting and joined me for another couple runs. All said, it was a great day!

While our morning didn't get any slides like these guys do, still it's a good view on what happens in the early AM hours....