First Lesson of the Season

Monarch opened on Friday with an 18 inch base. I know that doesn't sound like much, but the coverage was pretty good. All the green runs were open and two blue runs.  The were no crowds to speak of, mostly locals enjoying opening day.

I had my first lesson of the year. I was proud to have it, the first lesson, on the first day. My guests were a young couple from Arkansas, Grady and Tiffany, that signed up for a 2 hour, level one, group lesson. Not being used to the whole ski area environment, the lesson included learning how to dress comfortably to stay warm and dry in the snow. Tiffany only had "booty" socks with her, so I took them over to the gift shop where we picked out a nice pair of knee high ski socks. Having the right socks on, in your ski boots, can make a hugh difference in comfort and enjoyment while skiing. It was very important to convince them to get the right socks if we were going to have a successful lesson. They kind of lucked out since our "group" lesson was just the two of them. Later on I don't think our ski school is going to allow groups of less than three or four. Anything less than three will have to be considered a private lesson.

Grady and Tiffany seemed to really enjoy themselves and the lesson. By the end of two hours we'd gone up the Tumbolina lift to midway and skied the whole of Snowflake three times. They were starting to make turns pretty well. We did a bunch of garlands by "lightening" the uphill ski. This seemed to work well with them especially since they seemed to have a tendency to want to lean uphill. By lightening up the uphill ski they were forced to balance on their downhill ski (inside edge of the downhill ski) and thus find that it enabled them to cross the hill and even start to make arcs going up the hill. 

No pictures this time because I forgot to bring my cell phone. Hopefully next time.