Monarch PSIA-AASI Area Representative

Earlier I mentioned that I volunteered to be the PSIA-AASI Area Rep. Well I've been asked to be the Rocky Mountain Division PSIA-AASI Area Representative at Monarch. My job is to aid our snowsports school in growing its membership in PSIA-AASI.

In exchange they will waive the Rocky Mountain portion of my PSIA dues. The monetary value is not very much, but I think the opportunities of being involved in helping others and being informed are much greater.

I've always felt that PSIA is worth every penny of the dues. Having access to the latest materials in snowsports education, learning from the best skiers and riders, discounts on lift passes at most ski areas, and access to great pro-deals way more than make up for the $90 per year dues very quickly. The ski season hasn't even started yet and already I've made my dues back on equipment and clothing. During the coming season I fully expect to participate in as many clinics as I have time for, honing up on my skills as a snowsports enthusiast and instuctor.

I've heard plenty of complaints about PSIA not being worth it, but they usually come from instructors who don't take advantage of the benefits. From my perspective PSIA has been a positive influence in my life in many ways.

Ski Pro Connect

There's a new site that I was invited to participate in called Ski Pro Connect. The purpose of the site is to help people find snowsports instructors. It's just getting started so there's not very many instructors participating right now. They're currently running an incentive program to encourage new instructors to sign-up on their site. The first instructor to sign-up from a ski area that is not already in their system gets to sign-up for free. Naturally I signed-up since getting request private bookings is always great. I'm putting a link to their site in my sidebar. I would encourage any snowsports instructor to check it out and sign-up, especially if you're the first from your resort.

"Drive-To" Areas May See Benefit From Economy

With economy the way it is, there was some discussion about the impact to Monarch. Will guests not be able to afford visiting our mountain? Well here's an article that says that drive-to areas may actually benefit from more visitors that cannot afford trips to destination resorts. People will still want to ski and snowboard even if they cannot plan long trips to expensive areas.

Here's another article from the Denver Post that suggests that the destination resorts farthest from major population centers will be hardest hit by the economy. 

So less skiers going to destination resorts like Steamboat and Telluride means more skiers going to drive-to, one day areas like Monarch! Plus since our day passes are so much more affordable, I'm hoping we see even more guests! (Hmmm, on the other hand do we want the crowds on powder days?) I'm so conflicted. Naw, I know where all the secret stashes are. Plus if you ski with me, we get to cut lines. Sign-up now!

New Opening Day

Since we only have natural snow at Monarch and there isn't quite enough of it yet, opening day has been postponed until December 5th. It's kinda what happened last year. Hopefully the jet stream starts dipping further south.

I read in the news that Vail and Beaver Creek opened yesterday. Curious I looked for their snow report. Guess what, they are not on the lists fed by Colorado Ski County USA. I heard they declined to participate in the association so now they are not on the Ski Colorado maps and it appears not in the snow reports either.

So now I'm looking for a link to a good snow report page. Any suggestions?

Direct to Paralell or Wedge?

One of the best reasons I've heard for teaching the wedge is that it is a blended maneuver, one that incorporates all the skills needed for skiing well. If a student learns direct to parallel, even if they are athletically gifted, they may not adequately develop rotary skills (for one) and thus actually hinder their progress to advanced skiing in the long run.

Wedge or Pizza?

Ha! I just saw a Wiki page on how to ski. Yesterday I mentioned that the European website I added to my list of links here called the wedge a "snowplow." I'd forgotten that it is also sometimes known as the "pizza" like it is described in the Wiki article. 

Of course it all depends on who you're talking to. Any of the terms is fine in the appropriate context. I generally like to use the term wedge when talking to adults and pizza (or "A") when talking to children or youngsters. This reminds me that it is sometimes useful to refer to the alphabet when talking to children because then you get to talk about "Mr. X." We don't ever want to see our skis turn into Mr. X because you know what happens then. :-) An another letter we want to avoid is "Mr. V." "Mr. H" can be a lot of fun when we want to go fast.

Some teenagers might remember the Southpark episode where the ski instructor teaches them to use the pizza and french fries. Then he has them follow him down a hill repeating the phrase "pizza, french fries, pizza, french fries." I've had fun with young people who remember it. 

I'm wondering if I should sign up with Wiki and start editing those articles on how to ski.

Volunteered to be PSIA Representative

The other day at the re-hire clinic the supervisors passed around a sheet asking those of us who would consider being Monarch's PSIA representative to sign -up. Before I could even think about it, I raised my hand to volunteer. They still have not made a decision as far as I know. I see it as an opportunity to learn even more about PSIA and to be perceived as a professional. Every once in a while you'll hear instructors complaining about PSIA or AASI saying things like they don't think it's worth the annual membership fees. Personally I think it's a great deal. You can make your fees back with just one pro deal purchase or a couple of visits to other ski areas where we get discount rates on passes. I really hope they let me do this.

New Website

I was asked to place a link to a site here. The site is called TalkSkiing and can be found at http://www.talkskiing.co.uk/. The site's focus: "The site is mostly aimed at helping the beginners and those who aren't sure which skiing resort is for them. We are in the process of reviewing every major skiing resort in Europe so readers can decide on the best place for them to go skiing." 

I think it's worth putting a link to it in my "Other Instructor/Skier Blogs/Forums" sidebar gadget. They have blogs where maybe I can insert plugs about U.S. ski areas on their site. I can talk about the wonders of Monarch Mountain. Plus I'm kind of flattered that they found me.

One of the things I find interesting about the site is a European perspective (i.e. the term "snowplow" instead of "wedge").

08-09 Calendar

Looks like I'm going to be working more than 90 days at Monarch again this year. We had to fill in our schedule at our recent employee re-hire meeting on Saturday. I basically tried to give myself two days off a week. During the middle of the season I switch to Thursdays and Fridays off so that I can participate in the weekly Town Challenge race. Otherwise my normal days off are going to be Mondays and Tuesdays. I hope they'll allow me to change my schedule when ski out opportunities arise, like clinics, exams, and such events. Say if I get the opportunity to ski at Alta or someplace like that, I'll surely try to rearrange my schedule if possible. Hmmm, I just counted up the days and they add up to 103 days of teaching. I'll definitly have to find more days off than what I've got so far. I'm more than happy though when it comes to request private lessons. I come in on my days off for those. Gotta keep the guests happy!

Time for Orientation

Monarch Ski and Ride School is holding it's employee re-hire orientation today. It will be held up on the mountain in the "bubble." It should be interesting to see who all shows up again this year. It should also be interesting to see new faces, or perhaps people that took a few years off and are coming back. It's very much like a social event. There are those however that do not attend but still work for us. One individual I know always seems to schedule a trip to far away places each year that just happens to coincide with the same date of the re-hire orientation. Personally I kind of enjoy the meeting. Especially getting reaquainted with everyone.

Before today all re-hires needed to fill out paperwork and have it delivered to the Monarch offices in downtown Salida. The paperwork included the standard information such as US citizenship, tax forms, season pass information, and stuff. One of the forms has a list to indicate what types of lessons you can teach such as adults, children, what levels, ski, snowboard, tele, disabled, etc. The more check boxes you can fill in the higher your pay rate. It made me wonder if I should attend some other kinds of clinics to broaden my teaching. 

Freestyle clinics might be interesting. Then there are the children's clinics and the teaching the elderly clinics. Or I could even venture off into a new disipline. Tele seems like something I'd like. I've been so focused on attaining Level III certification that I have not really considered other disiplines. There is a school of thought that says a well rounded snowsports instructor should be able to teach multi disiplines. Sort of like training for a triathalon rather than for just cycling. But I wonder if a tri-athelete can really compete at the same level as a single sport athelete can at the top levels.