Fulcrum Mechanism

There were not very many lessons today, so there was plenty of time to ski and work on our own technique. Early in the day we worked on fore and aft balance, the need to adjust your balance from the front to the back in order to stay "on top" of your skis. In the deep powder we currently have, being able to make this adjustment is vital. Too much forward and your skis dive in and make you stop, too much backward and you lose your balance and the skis shoot up and you end up on your butt. One of the exercises that helped me here was bouncing up and down in a straight run. It gave me a feeling for the snow and helped me to adjust to the bottomless powder.

As the snow gets more packed and we generally try to avoid the stuff that is so deep and stops you, my focus shifted today to the concept of the Fulcrum Mechanism. Here is how I've heard it explained. Lift one ski off of the snow and try to "turn" the ski that is on the snow without moving your upper body. It's impossible. Now with both skis on the snow, with both feet locked together, try and "turn" your feet without moving your upper body. It's pretty much impossible again. Now stand with your feet wider apart, at least as wide as you shoulders and try to "turn" your feet without moving your upper body. You can do it! This shows how much more effiecient it is to "turn" your feet without using your upper body if they are a comfortable distance apart. This is called the "Fulcrum Mechanism." What is happening is that in order for your feet to turn independantly from your upper body they need something to turn against while they have weight on them. While in motion, sliding down a hill, this feels like I am transfering pressure from one ski to the other new turning ski as I apply a steering movement to make my skis go a new direction.

I've known about this before, but getting reminded of it today was hugh for me. All of a sudden my upper and lower body were more separate. I didn't need to to exagerated upper body movements to get my skis to change directions. It felt much smoother and more efficient.

My First Students of the Season

The Mountaineers Program started yesterday. I've been assigned the advanced students. So far there are four youngsters in my class. All of them are back from last year. Two of them were with me before and the other two were with Brad. Parker, 13, and Jake, 12, were with me last year and Jack, 9, and Jessica, 10, were with Brad. It's a cohesive group with the two older boys and the two younger kids. I've been doing some reciprocal learning with them, having them ski with each other looking to see if the other is making the movements we're trying to do.

I find that with youngsters who have started skiing when they hardly have enough weight to flex their boots, they tend to compensate for their lack of ankle flexion by bending over at the waist and sitting back. They tend to bend more at the waist with their center of mass behind their feet. You also see a stiff outer leg. Since these four are a little bigger now, I was trying to get them to start flexing their ankles more. So most of the day we were looking at what happens in our skiing when we do flex our ankles. Through a little bit of explanation, lots of demonstration, and then practice, I hoped to show them how much easier it is to stay in balance if their flexion and extension movements begin in their ankles. The results I hoped for was a more centered stance, better edging capabilities, and easier steering because of their added abilty to flex and extend appropriately. By the end of the day I was seeing much less bending over at the waists and much less of those stiff outside legs. It looked to me like they were in better balance and not working so hard to get their skis to turn and control their speed.

Working Now! So Much Snow!

After 17 days of waiting past the scheduled opening date, Monarch opened yesterday. We went from zero percent open trails to enough snow for 100 percent open trails all at once. We got so much snow it was ridicules. I believe yesterday we were reporting over 60 inches at mid-mountain. That's five feet! The level of excitement was pretty high. Everyone was hootin' and holerin'. I was one of the crowd that took the Tumbelina chair first, heading for the Panorama chair. We often ski down a short blue run called B-Line to get to the Pano chair. As of yesterday morning it still had not been groomed. The snow was so deep we could hardly get down it. I think one of the funniest sites I've ever seen at Monarch was looking back up B-Line and seeing so many people up near the top wallowing around in the snow trying to get back up. Everyone was so excited to get to ski deep powder, and yet so many were having such a hard time just trying to get down the hill! My first run of the season at Monarch was High Anxiety. It's one of our steeper runs and usually doesn't even open until sometime in January after we've had enough snow. This is the first time I've ever seen runs like High Anxiety, Kanonan, Lobo, Examiner all opened on the first day! I wish I could say it was great skiing down it, but in reality it was hard work putting first tracks down. The snow was so deep that we could barely make it down. Then if you fell you were likely in for an ordeal trying to get back up.

I was thinking about the class I was going to have and the unique challenges we were likely to encounter with so much snow. The Mountaineers students I was anticipating were likely to not even be as tall as the snow was deep. At first I thought I was going to have to find some florescent tape to string from their skis to make it easier to find them if they fell. But then after skiing a little bit, I knew we would not be doing any powder skiing. I'd decided we were going to pretty much stay on any groomed slopes we could find. One fall and we could be stuck on run for a long time.

Saying the amount of snowfall we just got was extreme would be putting it mildly. I was brought back to my mountaineering days and reminded of the dangers and challenges Mother Nature can throw at you. I have a renewed respect for the mountains and remember their vastness and how small we are.

Should Be Working

Well we still do not have enough snow to open. I'm kinda bumming. I should have been working since the day before Thanksgiving. Our ski school wants us to reschedule our days to add days later in the season, of course during busy times, to make up for the days we're missing now. If we don't open pretty soon, I'm not sure I can fit in 90 plus days into the season. I'm going to have to ask about this.

I've been spending so much time looking at EpicSki and getting friends over in MyMonarchSpace that I have neglected this blog. The real intent for this blog though is to talk about my students and how lessons go. Once we get going expect to see daily entries.

Ski Forum Filled with Great People and Links

A heckler called out "Have you seen Epci Ski? They got Bob Barnes over there." This was during my talk in front of about 100 Monarch instructors about the MyMonarchSpace (here I go mentioning MMS again). Needless to say that I had to check it out for myself.

She was right, over at http://www.epicski.com/ there truly is a wealth of information about skiing, great links to other ski related sites, and best of all some of the best snow sport instructors from all over the universe posting comments and discussing great stuff. You'll find Bob Barnes, Weems Westfeldt, Ric Ricter, and Stu Cambell and lots of others.

They have a section called EpicSki Instructor & Coach Listing where instructors from all over can register and offer their services.

In their Training and Technique section they have:

Technique
Fore/Aft Alignment
Footwork for Good Skiing
Release Timing
Tip Lead
Angulation
Anatomy of Turns
Inside Leg Extension
Elements of Edging
Absorption

Terrain/Conditions
Steeps
Ice
Powder
Skiing "in" Snow
Hopping Off Cornices

Moguls
General Tips
Active Feet & Legs
Efficiency in Moguls

Conditioning
Weight Training
Injury &Skiing

Body Mechanics
KISS Biomechanics
Movement Analysis

I found all kinds of cool links in these threads and some really great discussion going way back. And I'm just getting started. I haven't registered yet. At the moment I'm still in awe. I think there is much to learn there, especially in the practice of articulating all things skiing.

Activity at MyMonarchSpace

At this moment there are over 170 people that have joined MMS. Personally I find it a little adicting. It may wear off, but right now I keep going back to check out how many new friends I have, looking at new postings in the discussion/forum areas, and looking at the new uploads that members are posting.

I created a private group in MMS that I think our ski/ride school might use to help get announcements out to part-timers and instructors that live in other towns. I suggested to the marketing department that they register a new domain name to point to the MMS. I sense confusion about how to find it when talking to people. Currently the best way to get there is through a link on the www.skimonarch.com home page.

The effectiveness of helping students/guests to find me and book lessons on MMS has yet to be seen. It's just another piece of the marketing pie. I think I'm about done talking about MMS here. I'd like to continue looking at other instructor website/blog examples. This whole experience is turning up some very interesting online sites.

The MyMonarchSpace Intro Talk

The MyMonarchSpace seemed to be well received at the instructor re-hire orientation last Saturday. It looked like there were easily over a hundred instructors there. We sat through a bunch of policy and proceedure topics before it was my turn to talk about MMS.

I started by asking how many people knew what an online social network was. I'm not sure how many hands actually went up, but my impression was that the hands mostly belonged to the younger people in the crowd. The handout mentioned below was handed out which I used to remind myself of what to talk about next. My focus was on how the MMS could be used to help instructors promote themselves.

Our ski school director seems to be very much behind the MMS, although his focus seems to be more on how to use it as another avenue of communication. (I'm working on a "private" group in MMS for that purpose.) Hopefully the handout will provide easy instructions on where to start.

If even a fraction of the instructors joins the Snow Sports Instructors group on the MMS, we will easily have the largest group, at least for a while. As the winter goes on, I wouldn't be surprised if the Snowboarders group grows even larger.

There was actually some applause when it was time for me to sit down, which was cool. I got lots of comments afterwards about how cool the idea of a Monarch social network is. And during the talk a young lady instructor interupted for a couple of minutes to explain her perspective on "Friends" and how if they joined the MMS they didn't necessarily have to be Rick's (meaning me) friend. Aside from making me laugh a little, her enthusiasm warmed my heart. Her trying to convince people not to be afraid to sign-up was a good indicator.

A warning did come from a couple of people in the audience about posting pictures of guests without some sort of signed waiver. That kind of took me by surprise. I had not really thought of that issue. I guess I was assuming a verbal approval from my guests would be enough to allow me to post their pictures. I am even inclined to think guests will be happy that I would want to post pictures of them in my own forums. Hmmm, we'll have to think about that one.

Upcoming Posts

Some things I’ve been thinking about posting.

1. How the MyMonarchSpace presentation went on Saturday.
2. All the activity going on over at MyMonarchSpace.
3. Other blogs/ski forums I’ve been learning about (EpicSki.com).
4. Weems Westfault’s The Sports Diamond. (http://www.edgechange.com/)
5. Two new websites I have been asked to work on: SnowMonsters and NextSnow. http://www.snowmonsters.com/ and http://www.nextsnow.com/.
6. A few things I read again in The PSIA Core Concepts For Snowsports Instructors manual.
7. A friend asked me why he should blog and my response.

I think I’m overwhelming myself with too many items and it is causing me to have writer’s block. Now I’m wondering if this blog is making my butt look big.

Handout for Re-Hire Orientation Meeting

I'll be talking tomorrow for 10-15 minutes about the MyMonarchSpace. I created a handout to use at the meeting today.

It's my feeling that the MMS can be used by instructors to help promote themselves and improve by participating in online discussions and forums. As I said in earlier posts the MMS is wide open and will evolve by user contributions. I'm still looking for tricks and tips to help people sign up for bookings with me on the mountain.

How the whole concept will be received is still an unknown. I'm not even sure how many of our instructors even use email, let alone get involved with online social networks. The younger instructors are probably more apt to embrace the idea.

A couple of instructors so far have brought up the point (online and f2f) that they don't want anything that will just take up more time and create more work. And of course, naturally ski/snowboard school management does not want to create more work. I can totally understand that. But on a personal instructor's level, it's no skin off my back if other instructors don't want to take the time to market their own professional services by taking advantage of a such an easy to use and accessible means as MyMonarchSpace.

Getting Ready for New Season(s)

We have our re-hire employee orientation coming this Saturday. It's where we are officially re-hired for the new season, we go over all the policies and procedures important to us in ski/snowboard school, and get our uniforms and lockers. Most of us leave our boots and equipment at the area then as well. It's also a cool time to get reacquainted and say hi.

Later on we have required reorientation clinics on and off snow. These help to refresh our memories. I find that when we all get together and start talking and sharing, it all comes back pretty fast. You hear statements like, "Oh yeah, I remember that!" It seems like a lot of the younger or not as experienced instructors hesitate to speak up if they have questions or don't know the answers. Then on the other hand it seems like some instructors will continue to add and add more and more until we're beating a dead horse. Not that that's a bad thing, it's just an observation.

Off-piste over on Alpenglugen got me started on this blog entry. I thanked him for the quick quiz he has over there. I too forget the PSIA terms but remember the ideals. I think blogging is helping me a lot to get back into it. I'm feeling much more prepared this year than in years past. On the physical side though, I remember in years past feeling that first slide of the season on skis and thinking, "this feels just like yesterday!" For me, it shows the power of muscle memory.

There were some comments in off-piste's entry about skiing all year, switching from the Northern and Southern hemispheres. I'm one that would love to do the back-to-back seasons in the Northern and Southern hemispheres. I'm sure that the experience raises you up to a much higher level of professionalism, that is, as commenter sharpm said, if your knees can handle it.

Last year about this time I was seriously contemplating going to New Zealand for their winter after our winter to teach. I found the whole passport-work-permit-visa-having-enough-money thing too difficult for me at the time. Now that I know more about it, I'm hoping to take the right steps to make it happen for after this season. That is if I can also get past the am-I-going-to-miss-summer thing.

My Contact Form

Want to get a hold of me. Fill out this form. I answer emails.

Monarch Back Country Skiing, Article in Denver Post

Greg Ralph, director of Marketing at Monarch Mountain, was interviewed by the Denver Post in an article about back country skiing in Colorado. Monarch actually has numbers on how many people have been taking advantage of skiing the back country at Monarch. We really do have some exciting back country here. Let me know if you need someone to help guide you to the hike-to terrain. If you want to get booked on the Snowcat Tours (I've been on them, and they're always an experience you never forget) you'll have to contact the Snowcat Tour people which you can do from the Monarch website. Let me know if you want someone to go along with you on one of their tours. I'm always up for that.

More on MyMonarchSpace Social Network

I'm very excited to see MyMonarchSpace (Monarch Mountain's social networking site) growing as fast as it is. That's a screen shot of the home page of it on the left. I understand we are the only ski area in Colorado to implement such a site.

When you're not signed in you see lists for New Members, Videos, Games, Music, Blogs of the Day, Most Popular Members, Groups, Events, and a Photo Gallery. When you register and then sign-in, only the stuff that pertains to your account (what you've signed up for, your particular member friends, etc) shows up on the top page.

The only way to send a message to one of the members in the Monarch social network is to register. It's very simple to register and does not require that you go through the whole process of creating a profile. It seems that most people are registering anonymously. That's okay, but for my purposes, I'm choosing to make myself identifable and to even encourage contact. You can find my profile by searching for RickyB. I've also created a Group called Snow Sports Instructors on the site. I'm hoping it will help visitors looking for instructor profiles.

I very much want to ask people that visit the MMS site to contact me and even book some time with me at Monarch. The MMS is actually designed to be an online social network, not really set up to facilitate private bookings. But I still think instructors can use it further promote themselves. After all, one of the most powerful means of promotion is networking, both online and on snow.

It will be interesting to see how Monarch's online social network evolves. Since it's a web 2.0 app, it's the members themselves that change and make the space.

My Schedule Displayed to the World

Here's my schedule using Google Calendar. I'll be able to make updates to it from my cell phone! I think I'll place a permalink to it in the sidebar so people can find it easily. I'll try to keep it updated. Right now you can only see entries in the Month view. I guess I need to go back and fill in the Week view for more details.

Thanks to Off-Piste over at Alpenglühen for suggesting Google Calendars. I was actually in the process of creating my Google Calendar when I received notification that he had commented!

Filled Out My 2007-2008 Schedule Today

Today was the deadline for filling in our 07-08 work schedule for ski/snowboard school. I've signed up for 90 days which is the highest level for full-time instructors at Monarch. I'm pretty sure I'll be working more days than that. They don't necessarily have to hire me again, but I'm counting that they will. After 17 years I'm getting to know the place a little.

Just in case you'd like to see when I'm working you can download a copy of my schedule here. As of today I'm available on all the days marked with an "X" and by special arrangement on all the days that are still blank and marked with an "O". All the days marked with a "P" are program days that I might already be working (I've requested to work these programs, but I've not been assigned to them yet). But please email me ahead of time and I'll do my best to get you fit in. I know this current display method is kind of clunky. I'm looking for a better way to show my available days, but this is the quickest way right here, right now. This is the actual schedule that I submitted for approval. Please call or email ahead and let me help you get set up with lessons or whatever you want on what ever day you can get here.

New Business Card is Here!

I mentioned earlier that I was in the process of updating my business card to include more personal information. The reason being I would like to be more involved with setting up bookings with students and guests. I've included my personal phone number and email address. Here's what it looks like now. I was going for a feeling of sunshine and blue sky.
I got it done online at VistaPrint. They make it very easy and affordable. I found it was cheaper to upload my own custom design rather than choose one of their "free" designs. It seems they charge you for having a blank back side (instead of their VistaPrint advertisement) with their "free" designs. Anyway I think it cost me around $30 for 250 cards including shipping. And that's with the heavy card stock and glossy finish!

Guest Centered Teaching & Experience Centered Teaching

Horst Abraham, one of the pioneers of teaching method in PSIA, method once known as the American Teaching System, published an ariticle in the latest PSIA Rocky Mountain Newsletter, Instructor to Instuctor (p. 12). (go here for a pdf of the newsletter). He says the purpose of the article is to "review teaching systems from the beginning of snow-play to today, then add thoughts with which [he hopes] to spawn dialogue and continuous improvement and development in our industry."

Without going into a long review of his review, I think he does what he intended in that regard. As I think I've said in earlier posts I started teaching in the late 70's and have the good fortune to actually remember some of the stuff he's talking about. Especially having started my teaching career in the Army, I know very well the "TELL" and "do as I do" teaching style. And sometimes the ghost (or the use) of this teaching style can still be an effective tool in some situations.

But regarding "Guest Centered Teaching" and "Experience Centered Teaching" here's the start of my two cents to help Horst spawn dialoge and continuous improvement in our industry. As I have continued to strive to improve and enhance my own professionaism, GCT has been a corner stone in my development. Understanding the model and building my lessons upon it seems to have worked well for me. ECT looks to me like an extension of GCT, but the focus is more on the shared experience between the instructor and student.

I think the exciting part for me is the WHY that Horst talks about, "ECT requires the instructor to learn about the student’s perceived reality, perceptions, needs, fears, dreams, and hopes, all pieces of information not readily visible to the instructor, thus significantly changing the instructor’s role, as well as the collaborative role of instructor and student." This means really getting into the understanding and perceptions of the student so that you can help him or her.

I'm still in the process of digesting what Horst is talking about, but I feel like GCT, even though it says "Guest Centered" is actually more of a global perspective involving the ski area management, ski school, ski instructor as a product view. ECT is more focused on the actual relationship between the student and the instructor. It is a more intimate relationship not necessarily based on the bottom line.

So if you're really talking about learning to ski/snowboard I would rather be in an ECT situation. Can you imagine a high level trainer (examiner, accredited trainer) really trying to learn about your perspective and also you having the responsibilty to share your perspective so that you can really understand and get it? That to me sounds really great. But maybe there just isn't time and so the more efficient method is GCT, which with an insincere teacher, just turns into lip service meant to improve somebody's bottom line. Please let me know if your perception of this statement sounds too harsh.

MyMonarchSpace Up and Running

So we were asking about getting Monarch email addresses for instructors to help them develop longer term relationships with guests. Well it seems that some department at Monarch has been working on a social network for a little while. I was very excited to hear that Monarch has officially launched its own social network called MyMonarchSpace! It’s very easy to find by going to the Ski Monarch website home page. There’s a prominent link in the right side menu.

One of the interesting things I see is the geographic locations in the member profiles. There are lots of people that are not locals. It may be that even though they live in Chicago or California or where ever, they feel like they have some kind of local connection to Monarch. Perhaps they worked at the area once upon a time or maybe grew up around here and got invited to take a look by friends of theirs that still live here. Well for what ever reason, I think it’s great. Don’t expect too much right now as the site is brand new and still needs to develop some momentum. I’m sure that as the ski season arrives and people are more active on the main Monarch website the participation will soar.

Something else I find interesting is that it seems like there are more snowboard members on the site. I wonder why that is? Perhaps it has something to do with the overall demographics of snowboarders and technology. Perhaps snowboarders tend to be younger and more willing to use or more accustomed to online social networks. Also notice that there is not a lot of information in the profiles yet. Is there a reluctance to place information in profiles to avoid identification? It’s probably because it is so new that people are reluctant to just point ‘em down hill and go. It’s going to be interesting to see how the MyMonarchSpace evolves. Even though I am pretty sure the site is moderated, I imagine MyMonarchSpace will take on a life of its own.

I’m all for being able to add more connections. You’ll find MyMonarchSpace profile there (with a reference to this blog as well). I’m still trying to figure out how we can create our own groups and such on the site. I think it’d be really great to add an “instructor” group to help people find their snow pro. Still no email addresses for all instructors (understandable), but I think savvy instructors could really make use MyMonarchSpace.

Visualization in Sport

This article talks about how we can visualize ourselves to better, or worse, performances in sports, skiing in particular.

read more digg story

I ran across it when I Googled Horst Abraham. I was going to comment on his article in the recent Fall edition of PSIA-RM Instructor to Instructor entitled Experience Centered Teaching. Oh how easily I get side tracked. Anyway, he is quoted in the Visualization article saying, "You can learn to ski in the summer, and you can learn to swim in the winter." I also discovered the website called Suite101 where there are lots of freelance articles about sports, including a few on skiing and snowboarding.

I'll get around to posting about the Experience Centered Teaching article soon.

Guests/Students From Around the Country

Wow I ran across this story in the Macon County, Georgia Telegraph newspaper that talks about how many of Colorado's ski resorts are spending lots of money to improve their areas. (http://www.macon.com/262/story/155557.html) And guess what, they mention Monarch as an area that has opened up lots of new terrain!

I'm looking forward to meeting all kinds of people from all over the country this winter. That's one of the things I like most about being a ski instructor, all the relationships we get to develop. Okay all you people from Georgia, we're waiting for you in Monarch, Colorado. See you sometime this winter! And if you book some time with me, you'll likely end up here in my blog with your picture and maybe some video of your skiing so that you can call home and tell all your friends to see how much fun you're having.

Gun Barrel Anyone?

Jack Sciacca, Monarch Mountain's Ski School Director, invited me to climb Gun Barrel with him as soon as there is enough snow at the area. Way cool! I'm definitely going to take him up on this. I might have to dig up a pair of rock skis somewhere though. He says he's going to climb Gun Barrel every morning at 7 a.m. as soon as there is enough snow. Doing that ought to help get ya in shape for the season! I'm guessing that it's about a 700 foot elevation gain. This is like, hardcore. It's working out at high elevation. It's not quite like going to the gym and doing some arobics during the last month before the season starts. Hopefully there will be enough snow soon. Sometimes it seems like the snow does come to Monarch just untill the last few days before official opening day.

A-Basin Opened Today!

Well A-Basin got to be the first ski area in the nation to officially open today. They said this is the earliest it has ever opened. We're going to Boulder this weekend for the annual Spyder sale. Maybe we'll stop by the Basin and take a few runs on their man made snow. Skiing most of my time at Monarch really spoils me though. Since Monarch only has natural snow I don't get to ski that hard icy stuff too often. It really showed at my level III exam in the Medium Radius Carved Turns manuver on a predominently made made snow surface at Copper Mtn. That's one of the two manuvers I still need to retake. On the other hand, skiing on all natural stuff all the time really showed up in the Variable Terrain & Snow Conditions manuver as well. I passed that one on the first try. No sour grapes, really. :-)

10th Mountain Division

I started skiing in the Army in 1977. Even before I was released from active duty I was working part-time as a ski instructor at Monarch in '78. I had never skied before in my life having grown up in Connecticut where the snow is icy and, in my opinion back then, dangerous. Soon after I entered the service and transfered to Fort Carson, Colorado, I volunteered for special duty to be a member of the Moutain Skills and Survival Training Committee. We taught summer and winter mountain survival skills, which of course included rock climbing in the summer and skiing in the winter. It was a wonderful time, it changed my life dramatically, and I'd love to tell you more about it sometime. The main reason for this post is that the MSSTC was actually a decendent of the 10th Mountain Division. The 10th was inactive at that time. There is an interesting series on NPR all about the 10th Mountain Division. See/hear it here http://media.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14594652 . The men from the 10th had a huge part of establishing the ski industry. From my own personal experience, it is easy for me to understand why these men would do what ever they could to continue skiing after their release from the military. Some of them are still skiing today in their 80's and 90's. That means some of them have been skiing for over 70 years!

Opening Day at Monarch

Opening day at Monarch is the day before Thanksgiving, the 21 of November. I think that's 56 days from today. It's been so windy here in Salida lately that I haven't been riding my bicycle for a few days. I'm gonna have to get my butt out there regardless of the wind and chilly temperatures. I'm not about to start loosing all the fitness that I've gained over the summer just before the season starts.

Rikki, my daughter, is living up at Crested Butte these days. She says she's going to try for a small job at the ski area so that she can get a pass. I'm trying to encourage her to apply as an instructor. She thinks she's not good enough to teach, but I think she's much better than she realizes. Rikki worked at Monarch for two years on the Farm Team (that's our instructor apprentice program) and then two more years as a part-time ski instructor. She has more experience than she realizes. I really believe that her time spent learning the trade has helped her in many ways in her life. She learned to talk to people, how to be responsible, how to be in charge, the importance of figuring out what motivates people, and much more. Snow sports instruction is hard but very gratifying and rewarding work. I am very thankful she had the opportunity and I hope she tries for it again at Crested Butte.

Stop In and Ski Monarch

Crested Butte is giving out free lift tickets between Nov. 25 through Dec. 15. It's also a four hour drive from Denver. Why not just stop at Monarch instead? Early season passes are only $27.00. And we always have better snow and no crowds.

My Business Cards

Here is an image of business cards that I used most of last winter. The phone numbers are the ski school sales office. I'm thinking of adding my own mobile number, email address, and this blog URL to the card.

Normally I have not involved myself in booking lessons for guests. I leave that all up to the sales staff. I'm wondering if I can offer better service by becoming very involved with helping my guests choose the best product (which will require me to really know all the many available products) and assist in their scheduling of our times together. My thought is that it will facilitate better relationships with my guests which is better for Monarch and for my guests.

Out About Town and Pressure Control

We were out in town last night enjoying the many friends we have here in Salida at our favorite watering hole, Benson's Tavern. I got into a discussion with Boyd about pressure control. He and I go back and forth on this every once in a while. I mentioned that I believed ski racers actually loose time when they become airborn. It was kind of funny because he said yeah, but that's because they are sailing sometimes for 2 to 3 hundred feet! He's got a point there. In normal everyday skiing where we're regulating pressure between the snow and skis, decreasing pressure does not seem to slow you down. In fact it probably causes you to go faster. Increasing pressure would seem to cause you to slow down. I have to give this some thought so that I can go back to Boyd and somehow explain that I'm talking about a more even distribution of pressure through out turns equals more efficient, better balanced skiing. I'm thinking the opposite of someone that is braced and braking and trying hard to increase presssure under their skis to create friction to slow down.

Fixed Gear Bicycles and Pressure Control

I've been riding my fixie quite a bit lately. I'm reminded of an idea I had a few years ago about how presure control is used in riding a fixie and how it is used in ski turns. If you could hook up a machine that could measure the pressure under your feet as you ski or as you ride a bicycle I think you would find some interesting comparisons between the two, especially if your bicycle is a fixed-gear. They say the most efficient peddlers are those that can pedal in circles, that is apply a more equal amount of pressure to the pedals throughout the peddling stroke. This is especially evident on a fixed-gear because you can be thrown off the bike if you forget you're on a fixie and try to coast. In other words, if you try to stop peddling you will be surprised at how much force your momentum has when one of the pedals comes up the back side and literally lifts you off the bike. My thought a few years ago was that if the most efficient peddlers are those with the most consistent pressure, that same idea be applied to skiers. The idea is that if a skier could maintain the most consistent pressure under foot he would be most efficient in descending a slope. In races he would be the fastest, in bumps he would be the smoothest, he would have an eaiser time staying in balance throughout the run and throughout all his changes of direction.

More on this later.

Using This Technology

I ran across another site that seems to be dedicated to a similar concept as I have here. Actually it is probably more thought out and seems to be developed more as a business model. It's called MySnowPro.com. According to the site it's been set up for snow pros who want to have web sites to enhance their relationships with their clients. The main writers on MySnowPro seem to be Jonathan Lawson and Greg Davis from Breckenridge. It looks like a great site and the content on it seems to be quality. However the last entry seems to be from March 2007 from Greg. Jonathan seems to have added an entry in August. This is interesting in light of my own efforts to feed my own blog. Are they running out of steam? Is there not enough interest? My own efforts are not nearly as grand. I have no desire to sign up other instructors. I am not trying to set up a web site dedicated to helping other instructors stay connected. I applaud Jon and Greg's efforts, but I think they tried to create something bigger than which they have time and resources. I'm sure as professional snow sport instructors/trainers they are very busy as it is. The reasons they give to join MySnowPro website as an instructor are all very good. The last sentence in their reasons for joining MSP is, "MySnowPro.com is the best customer service tool for instructors that you can get! And it's an incredible thank you to your students." The idea of thanking my students and customer service are a couple of the main reasons I created this blog. As a matter of fact, if I had seen more current entries on their site, I probably would have joined immediately. I'm usually not one to try and re-invent the wheel. Oh well I did sign-up for their newsletter, I read through their whole site, watched their videos, and got some cool ideas for my own site. They've done a great job. I hope they get more entries for themselves and even other instructors to sign up for their service. I'm considering signing up for their service for my own promotional efforts.

Nice to see I'm not alone and the more interconnected we are the better. Here's another site, Ski-Blog.com with similar purpose and seems very current. Are we seeing a trend here? Maybe someday you'll need to have your own website or blog to become fully certified with PSIA!

Only 74 days until Monarch opens on November 17th!

The Age Thing, Perspective

So I'm talking to my about-to-turn-23 year old daughter, Rikki, this morning. She told me she thought it was funny she thinks almost the same exact thing about feeling like she was fit when she was 18 but now has to resolve herself to being too old to compete at the world class level. Really I was not trying to sound sad or sound as though it is too late to accomplish goals as you grow older, which in this case for me, is PSIA Level III. But I do think one must face reality and make the best of what you have. And heck, there are advantages to getting older. I remember an old cyclist telling me that what he looses in physical ability he gains in wisdom and trickery. As a ski instructor I have gained a great deal from all the years I have spent teaching skiing. From my experience with all kinds of people over the years, I have learned a tremendous amount of appreciation and skill in helping others reach their skiing goals. I have learned to figure out what people really want, what their motivations are and help them fulfill their wants and needs. I definitely did not have that same level of skill in my early years as an instructor when I was full of myself and very physically fit. Guess it’s all a matter of perspective.

BTW, here is a picture of Rikki competing at Worlds when she was 18.

The Age Thing, Physically

All my training is paying off, but slowly. I'm really starting to feel fit again with all my riding. The only problem I feel is knowing how fit I once was. It wasn't so long ago that I was training as a serious athlete with a goal of winning a medals at Masters' Track Nationals. Ahhh, but life happens as they say. So now I'm working at getting fit again with a goal of earning Level III at PSIA certifications. Last year during exams my back hurt and I guess you could say I was feeling my age. Then there was this guy taking the exam in his late 70's or early 80's! He did not pass at that particular event, but apparently it wasn't his first attempt and he keeps trying.

Yesterday I finally got up the courage and felt fit enough to join the local group ride. These are a bunch of young guys, in their 20's and 30's mostly, who race regularly on the weekends in this region. They're pretty fast, and I would say, very fit. It was great to get to ride with these guys and test myself, but again the only problem was remembering how fast I once was, when I was their age. On the positive side, I was able to keep up pretty good. I think with a few adjustments to my equipment and my diet (read, no more beer), I could actually compete with these guys and give 'em a run for their money. That feels good. I just need to remember that my new goal does not really mean "beating" competitors, it is more like becoming the very best I can personally be (reminds me of a joke I used to say about I was already in the Army).

I'm pretty sure that I'm not too old yet to physically meet the demands of Level III if I make the effort to be fit for the event. It makes me wonder though, is there a point where one must finally admit that one's time is past? Riding with this young group of very fit men sort of puts things in perspective. Seeing the older gentleman still trying to attain Level III in PSIA puts things in a different perspective for me as well. It's looking at two extremes in the aging process of an athlete. So what's the moral of the story? I may come back and edit this, but I think the moral for me is to just do the best I can while trying to balance my expectations with reality.

Generalist vs Specialty Skis

I totally agree with an article in September Ski magazine about having the right ski for the given conditions is best, "Put Your Best Ski Forward." Since I usually have limited cash, I generally try to find a ski that will do it all, also known as an “all mountain” ski. But as the article points out, this is a compromise. Last year I really felt the difference in my ability to ski gates fast when I switched to a ski designed for racing the kind of course found in Monarch’s Town Challenge. My times dropped immediately. My all mountain ski is too short and has a tighter turning radius than needed on the course. This resulted in my tails breaking loose and slowing me down. Once I put on the right skis I was able to hold the edges much easier and thus reduce or eliminate any skidding and slide much faster through the gates. Having nice sharp edges helped a lot too. My all mountain ski, since I’m on them all the time, need tuning more often, and as a very busy ski instructor, I don’t get to it enough. So it only makes sense that I would not ski the course as fast as someone with the right equipment optimized for the task. Only makes sense, doesn’t it.

I’m wondering what adjustments I need to make in my tools to optimize for the task of passing Level III this coming year. Last year I worked on my boots, poles, skis, but I’m not sure I got it quite right. I think I can do better with more modern boots. I think I went too short for poles last year. I can see now how shorter poles altered my technique. One of the things that I was getting gigged on was that my hip was dropping to the inside causing too much angulation. Do you think poles that are too short could contribute to over angulating? I do.

The article talks about the width of skis and their purpose. Wider skis have a harder time maintaining an edge on hard pack, for example. Narrow skis don't float as well in powder. It all makes sense. The right tool for the task is the way to go. Guess I better start looking into getting a pair of race skis and some powder boards and keeping my everyday "all mountain" skis tuned up.

Rode Hard Today

I was on my road bike today for a 3 hour ride. Most of the time I was thinking about how much it will end up helping me when ski season gets started. I find the only real way for me to get in shape is to ride my bicycle and watch what I eat. Now if I can cut down on the beer, I’ll be really getting ahead in my quest to be fit for the upcoming season. I started out in the spring just riding a couple times a week for about an hour each time. Now I’m up to at least 5 days a week and riding for 2 to 3 hours! I’m obsessed! Don’t give me your cry baby story about how hard you’re working out on your bicycle. I think the more you ride the more addicted you get and the better it feels. You can feel sorry for me if I don’t ride for a day and I’m all grumpy cuz I need my ride fix.

I'm Committing Myself

Okay, I’m committing myself to this new form of publishing. This topic of course is all about my skiing and my students.

This message posts to this blog via email. Looking forward to sharing all kinds of stuff with you.

What This Blog is For

I'd like to add an entry every day that I am teaching lessons at Monarch. My hope is to post my feelings about how lessons went and also post pictures that I take with my cell phone. Perhaps I can even post video's that I take with my phone.
Posting everyday would create a diary of all my students. It would help me remember their names and help me to keep track of how my work and career are going. Being able to just send an email to this blog helps tremendously. I should be able to write from the ski area, hmm, perhaps even send to my blog from my cell phone. I'll have to test that.

August and I'm Waiting for Snow

I'm starting to get anxious about this coming season. I've been riding my bicycle quite a bit. One of the main things I think about as I ride is that it is going to get me in shape for this coming winter. As an aspiring soon to be level 3 instructor being in shape is important. I think it was in the last PSIA Rocky Mountain Instructor to Instructor newsletter, Bergy from Winter Park, who is a highly respected examiner in our region, said that athleticism is vital to high end skiing. I've only got two manuvers to pass, medium radius carved turns and pivot side slips, to become accredited in the manuvers.

I ran into another instructor this summer that didn't pass level 2 in the Spring. He was angry with PSIA and was saying all kinds of stuff about how the organization is stupid and unfair and how he should have passed. I didn't know what to say at the time, but later I remembered how Bob Barnes told a group of us at an indoor clinic about how he didn't pass some certification exam he had tried. If Barnes can fail an exam and continue on to write books and be the outstanding examiner that he is, I don't feel so bad about not passing the Level III exam the first time through.

The exams are tough, and they should be. When you pass them, you know you deserved to. I don't know if it's getting harder, I sometimes hear full-cert instructors say that if they had to do it again they are afraid they wouldn't pass. As a matter of fact the instructor that I mentioned above had already attained Level II quite a while back, but he didn't pass this time through. I think it might of had something to do with taking it for granted. I think he didn't prepare well enough because inside he felt like it would be no big deal.

First Post

Greetings! Just getting started here. Testing one, two, three. One, two, three testing. One, one, one, three, three, three, two, two, two testing.