Busy Busy Busy

This is my busy time of year when I'm working like crazy at my 4 jobs. And Ace is feeling the crunch, too, working all over the place for PSIA. Here's our current week:

Saturday, 2/20: Me: Teaching Skiing at Plattekill Mountain, taught morning lessons, then skied up on a people struggling in afternoon, gave them a couple of tips, and they booked me for a private lesson in the coming weeks. Ace: Examiner for Level I Exam at Thunder Ridge Ski Area.

Sunday, 2/21: Me: Attended Kåre Andersen Memorial Telemark Event at Bromley Mountain, did the Tele Race in the morning, and Taught Tele Clinics in the afternoon. Ace: Day Two, as an Examiner of Level I at Thunder Ridge. Everyone passed, we have new members and good course evaluations for her.

Monday, 2/22: Me: Understudy a Telemark Bump Event at Belleayre Mountain, teach all day, and drive back home at night. Ace: Back to work at "regular" job, 8:30-4:30.

Tuesday, 2/23: Me: Continue to understudy Telemark Bump Event at Belleayre, certify a new 20 something year old instructor as Telemark Level I (again, good course evaluations). From there, drive up to West Mountain, where I teach a Community College skiing class on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Taught skiing from 8:30-2:30 and 5:45-7:45, with lots of driving in between. Ace: worked regular job from 8:30-2ish, then drove to Mount Snow, where she's understudying another event for the next two days.

Wednesday (today): Me: Finally back at "real" job, working 7:00-4:30 (I work extended hours to get every other Monday off). Stock club meeting with some buddies after work, then home to do laundry. Ace: Understudying and Teaching at Mount Snow.

Thursday, 2/25: Me: Working at "real" job from 7:00-3:40, then going up to West to teach the skiing class (unless they don't open, in which case, I'll be teaching a ski tuning clinic at the college). I'll be doing that from 5:45 to 7:45, and probably getting home around 8:30. Ace: Day Two of Teaching and understudying at Mount Snow, then driving home.

Friday, 2/26: Me: I'm taking another day off of work for a Plattekill Telemark Festival, and probably teaching telemark skiing all day. Ace: back at "real" job for her crazy busy day on Friday.

Saturday, 2/27: Me: Back to work as a regular "Part Time" Instructor at Plattekill, where I have a group of kids who telemark in the morning, and private lessons in the afternoon. Ace: joining me at Plattekill, where she has private lessons booked all day.

Sunday, 2/28: Both of us at Gore Mountain, where we thought we might take a day off from teaching and just ski, but a guy I met at the Bromley thing wants to ski with me and work on some stuff, so I'm going to help him out, and maybe a few other Telemark people I know from various places. Hopefully I don't get too sucked into this (because I'll desperately need a day "off" at this point), but once I start teaching, it's hard for me to shut myself down. 

Monday, 2/29: Me: Adirondack Backcountry telemark event for the Community College. Hopefully being able to coach some telemark skiers up to Level 1 status to get more people involved in PSIA. Ace: back at "real" job, 8:30-4:30.

So there's a little taste of our lives. Currently, it is POURING rain outside, so I don't know how much longer the season is going to last here in the east. I'm still looking forward to more skiing, though. Here's a taste of that Monday/Tuesday event at Belleayre:

Little bit of video from the #PSIA Telemark Clinic the other day. Full Video here: https://vimeo.com/156499768

A video posted by Matt (@mattchuck2) on Feb 24, 2016 at 6:28pm PST

I'm going to Breckenridge!

I made the tryout for the PSIA National Team! If you're interested in the details, click here:

http://www.thesnowpros.org/NewsInformation/NewsAnnouncements/tabid/117/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/902/85-PSIA-AASI-Members-Vie-for-a-Spot-on-the-2016-2020-PSIA-AASI-National-Team.aspx

Here's the gist:
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Round two of the 2016 PSIA-AASI National Team Selection process is complete and congratulations are in order for the dedicated, select group of ski and snowboard educators, and PSIA-AASI members who have been invited to the final on-snow interview in April, in Breckenridge, CO.

What is the PSIA-AASI Team and how are Team members chosen?

The PSIA-AASI Teams are formed every four years following a rigorous selection process that enables PSIA-AASI to select the nation’s best instructors to represent the association at the highest level. The outcome of the 2016 selection will be a team that embodies three attributes outlined by the Teams Taskforce:

• Inspirational educators
• Lifelong learners
• Inspirational athletes

Currently, the PSIA-AASI Team comprises 30 men and women selected from among the best instructors in the country. They represent the full breadth of the ski and snowboard disciplines: adaptive, alpine, alpine freestyle, cross country, telemark, and snowboard.

Once chosen, Team members are responsible for promoting, supporting, and assisting with the development of PSIA-AASI education programs and activities at all levels. They set the standard for U.S. snowsports instruction!

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There will be an on snow part, with skiing and teaching segments, and an off snow evening presentation that I'll have to prepare. 

I'm excited about all of it. I'm not really sure what kind of skier they're looking for, but I'm going to ski my way, teach my way, and hopefully come out of it with the greatest job in Ski Instructing. I'm stoked.

Football and Footwork

Just in time for the Super Bowl, I have another instructing article for you. I wrote this one earlier in the year, thinking that I might use it for my National Team application, but it ended up being too long, and I don't feel like it really dove into the technical details enough. I explained the things that you should do, but I didn't explain "how?" or "why?", and those things are pretty crucial to ski instruction. But I feel as though it works pretty well in this space. Enjoy!
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Telemark "Footwork"

Before the ski season starts, I watch a lot of football games, and I watch a lot of football analysis. One of the favorite topics is “footwork”. They’ll talk about whether a quarterback is using a three step drop or a five step drop and what each movement entails. They’ll argue over an offensive lineman’s starting position, and whether it will allow him to move his feet to block that defensive end. Footwork, it seems, is very important in the NFL.

In skiing, footwork separates telemark skiers from the rest of the people at the mountain. While alpine skiers have limits in the fore/aft direction and snowboarders are locked into a constant stance width, tele skiers have more freedom to put their feet wherever they want as they slide down the hill.  But great freedom comes with great responsibility. If tele skiers aren’t practiced, positive, and precise in their footwork, the risk of calamity and catastrophe grows.

photo courtesy of Harvey Road

Practice is essential, in both skiing and football. By the time they reach the pros, quarterbacks have been doing 3 step drops for years, and know exactly how long the first step should be, how far the second step crosses over the rear leg, and where the last step has to be so that they can plant their foot and make a powerful throw. These ingrained movements take a long time to learn, and every time a quarterback moves his feet and legs in that specific way, he learns a little bit more, either consciously or subconsciously. We do the same thing in telemark skiing. With every turn, our bodies relay little notes to our brain: “That worked.” “That didn’t work.” “What are you trying to do now?” “Ouch.” The trick to filling your brain with useful notes is to make both great turns and bad turns. Make turns with a wider than normal stance, or with more fore/aft separation between your feet. Notice any footwork changes in variable snow conditions. What works best when you’re on something steep? Think about the duration, rate, and timing of your footwork, and how that affects the turn.

With practice comes positivity. If your brain absorbed all (or most) of the messages the body sent it, you start to develop a little confidence in where you place your feet. You know what works, and you can repeat those moves on demand. Now you can start to change little things in the footwork that will add to performance. You might find that tipping the new trailing foot when you pull it back aids in the development of your edging skills. You might realize that subtle moves in your feet and ankles allow you to adjust your balance in new and interesting ways. You might discover that sometimes, the best footwork is to leave your feet exactly where they are and do 3 monomark turns in a tight spot between trees. Like the NFL, other parts of the game open up to you when you gain confidence in the basics.

As you develop your telemark skills, the final hurdle to great skiing is precision. Plenty of quarterbacks never achieve greatness because they just aren’t precise enough. It’s similar with skiing, where a small change in edge angle, foot placement, or ankle flexion can make a big difference in a turn. In skiing, precision is the hardest thing to achieve, and even if you have it in one turn, it might be gone in the next.

Adjustment and adaptability are important in both skiing and football. Even the best pros make mistakes sometimes. And not every turn will be perfect. But if your footwork movements are developed with practice, enhanced with positivity, and refined with precision, it will allow you to make the next turn better than the one you just made. And that sounds like a solid goal for everyone.

How to Get Better at Doing Things

Between this blog, PSIA, and random posts on forums, I've written a lot of words about skiing. But there are a lot of things that I've written that have never seen the light of day. Sometimes it's for the best, like the Party Ski screenplay I'm writing that never gets finished. But sometimes, I just feel like my writing doesn't really fit in any kind of outlet. As an example, here's an article that I was going to submit to the Eastern Division PSIA newsletter, but it didn't really come out the way I wanted it to. It's not bad, but I just felt that it wouldn't help people that much (maybe I'm wrong, I don't know). It's written to boost up people who are going for PSIA exams, so I apologize if it seems irrelevant to some, but I think everyone can benefit from the message: To get better at something, you gotta work hard on that thing.

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Want to Pass Exams? Get Better


Exams are stressful. They’re arduous, draining, sometimes humiliating, and always intrusive. You’ve been honing your craft, skiing hard, teaching regularly, and you’ve come up with a bunch of dynamic moves, learning progressions and teaching methods that work great for you. And now those people are going to JUDGE you for those things? And their decisions have an impact on your pay, your standing in your ski school, and your life? The pressure can be extraordinary, so the most important thing to realize is that your fate is not determined by “those people”, it’s determined by you.


There’s no secret to success. The way to getter better at anything is to do that thing. As a young comedian, Jerry Seinfeld made sure that he spent at least some time every day writing jokes. He’d put in an hour or two hours of solid, no interruption, joke writing every single day, try to come up with some funny material, and he would put a big X on his calendar when he was done for the day. After a few weeks, he’d have a chain of X-es on his calendar and his job would then be to “never break the chain”, or, put differently, to keep working at what he wanted to achieve. And this was not a new, original idea. Benjamin Franklin had a similar system for a harder to quantify checklist that included “Frugality”, “Cleanliness” and “Humility”, things that all ski instructors should try to work harder on.


So, if you’re struggling with exams (or any goals you might have), I recommend using the checkmark method to make yourself better. When you wake up in the morning, even in the dead of summer, you should ask yourself two questions:


1. What am I doing today to make myself a better skier?
2. What am I doing today to make myself a better instructor?


If you’re trying to make yourself a better skier, then ski. Ski before morning lineup, ski after your last lesson. Ski at night. Take a day off and ski at a mountain you’re not familiar with. Ski with people better than you. Ski terrain that scares you a little. Ski terrain that scares you a lot. Use natural terrain features in a creative way. Use both sides of a berm to work on flexion/extension movements. Ski on one ski to work on balance. See how many turns you can make in a short section of trail. See how fast you can go, how many angles you can create, and what your upper limits are. Do skiing things that are out of your comfort zone like backcountry skiing, park skiing, and pond skimming. Ski, then cross off the day on your calendar.


If you can’t ski, do something skiing related. Exercise to work your skiing muscles. Break out the rollerskis and get an XC workout. Don’t have rollerskis? Simulate tree skiing by riding your bike through the woods on some singletrack. It helps your quads, your balance, and your vision. Water ski to work on some edge angles. Kayak to develop core strength. Do Yoga. Watch ski videos. Watch more ski videos. Watch ALL THE SKI VIDEOS (that’s a big part of my training regimen). Do something and cross it off on your calendar. You earned it.


If you’re trying to make yourself a better instructor, it’s not about just accumulating knowledge. Yes, you should know all of the basics, a few of your favorite “stepping stones” and some technical terms that come up a lot, but great teaching is about more than pulling facts out of the air. Watch videos of random people skiing. Listen to other instructors describe that skiing. Work on your eye. Work on movement analysis. Develop plans for fictional clients. Come up with some creative ways to say and do things. Write an article or five. Teach kids? Watch some kids’ movies. Learn what kids are into so you can relate to them.

Even if you have the teaching concepts down, maybe you need to work on other parts of the instructor life. Get better at public speaking. Get more comfortable speaking to strangers. Try to develop a more sunny disposition (easier for some of us than others). Learn about things other than skiing so you can engage with your clients. LEARN something new. Get taught something. Ask yourself: what did the teacher do that was helpful? Ask yourself about the unhelpful parts too. How could they be improved? Cross the day off! You’re helping yourself be a better teacher.


Next ski season, instead of dreading the exam at the end of the year, embrace it. Look at the chain of X-es that you developed and realize that you’ve been working hard at this goal for a long time. You’ve made yourself a better skier, a better instructor, and a better person. You’re coming in more prepared than you ever have, and you are in charge of how this thing plays out. You’re ready. Just do what you’ve been doing for months.
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I've been trying to live that mantra this year. My goal is to make the Telemark National Team and I'm trying to get as much Telemark skiing in as I can. I have about 20 days in so far, and I'm itching for more. Also, I need to be in phenomenal shape (because of the elevation at Breckenridge and the long tryout days), so I skinned up about 1,200 vertical feet on Monday after skiing Gore all morning.



Finally, I'd like to get better at Park riding, so I spent 2 hours in the cold on Monday night sessioning one flat rail in the West Mountain Terrain Park until I was confident that I could nail it. Next time I'm there, I'll spend 2 hours coming in switch until I have that move down. This might not help my tryout that much, but I'm kinda doing that for my own personal motivation - I want to be better, and that means I gotta work at it.

Power, Versatility, Simplicity

I just got back from PSIA Eastern Telemark Team training at Killington, and I wanted to write this down before I forget. I was asked to teach a segment, and it didn't really go well. I started out with too broad of a topic, threw out too wide of a net, and had a hard time reeling everything in at the end. I need to refocus and figure out what I want my skiing and teaching segments to be like.

So, to that end, I wanted to come up with some things that I want to be known for - some things that I can put into every teaching segment that will represent what skiing means to me. I've come up with 3 little points that I want to keep in mind when brainstorming ideas for drills and tasks: Power, Versatility, and Simplicity.

Power is good for me because I like to ski strong. I have this idea that the Telemark position is a position of strength, and I want to move from position of strength to position of strength. Power means that I'll be able to overcome obstacles, and I won't be thrown aside when something unexpected happens (and something unexpected always happens).

Versatility means that I want everything that I teach to be applicable everywhere on the hill. We did a lot of race/groomer/carving focuses during training, and it was great to visit, but I don't want to live there. I want to have a style that is useful on groomers, useful on bumps, useful in the trees, and useful in the terrain park. I want to be able to transfer between those zones using the same general movements (but tweaking slightly to add a little more dynamism for carving, a little more pivot for bumps, etc.).

Finally, I want my moves, drills, and explanations to be simple. I've found that in golf, the simplest swings are the most effective, and I feel like skiing (and teaching) is similar. There shouldn't be a lot of extraneous movements or unnecessary words. I feel like I need to polish all of my stuff so that I can describe the specific movements in a few precise sentences. And I want those movements to be easy to accomplish for anyone.

So that's what'll be going through my head for the next couple of months. I'm probably going to use this space to expound on these ideas in a little more detail. I have a nice idea of power, and I wrote about it in the Eastern division newsletter, but I need to come up with a couple of other drills and precision descriptions of movements so that I can be ready to teach my style of skiing right on the spot, to a group of really amazing skiers.

PSIA National Team Tryout Video

I mentioned a little while ago that my next skiing goal was to make the PSIA National Telemark Team. They have tryouts every 4 years, and the next tryout is in . . . 2016. So I'm submitting an application to tryout. As part of the application, they want a video that explains my background, my vision for the organization, and what I would bring to the team. If you're interested in my skiing life, I think I managed to explain it pretty well:


PSIA Telemark National Team Application Video from Matt Charles on Vimeo.

Now, just submitting the application doesn't mean that I'll get a chance to try out. There are only 9 tryout spots for the whole country. And there are 3 people already on the team who might be trying out again. And there are a lot of great tele skiers all over the country that will be submitting applications, too. So there is no guarantee that I'll be invited to try out in Breckenridge this April. I'm hoping the video above will help lay the groundwork.

Also, good news for the blog: PSIA wants candidates that are able to ski and teach, but they also want candidates that are well versed in social networking, writing, and visual media. So, in order to show that I can (still) do those things, the blog will probably have a lot of action this winter. There will be more Trip Reports, more pictures, and maybe even a couple of instruction articles, So if you like telemark skiing, backcountry touring, and pictures & videos of eastern skiing, stick around.

New Article About Tele Skiing and Blog Stuff

It's been over one year since I've posted anything on this blog, which probably means that it's dying a slow death in the way many blogs do. I have been up to some stuff, which you can follow on my twitter, my Instagram, and my Facebook. I just don't really like posting Trip Reports of places that I've been to before (never did) and I never seem to find the time to write posts about new places I visit.

Also, I like my posts about life the most, but I don't know if I feel the need to hash things out on the internet the way I used to. Now that I have somewhat of a plan (involving a little of this kind of thing, mixed with a little bit of this, and a little bit of this - obviously not on the same timeline and as aggressive as those people, but using the same maths), I feel like I just need to put in the time and everything will turn out fine in the end. So I'm not really stressed or worried about much. Maybe I am  already rich. Actually, I've been enjoying the Miller High Life commercials that pretty much make that argument:



It's something I've been wondering about. We need a feeling of scarcity to be driven to accomplish things. We need to want things (achievements, money, accolades). As Ben Franklin said:

Who is Rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.

But if we don't want too many more things? What if I am actually pretty content with what I've got and where I am in life?

Luckily, life has a way of throwing up obstacles just as the road starts to smooth out. So even if I get momentary periods of calm and happiness, something will come up soon. My car is being held together by zip ties and prayers, so I might have to worry about that soon. And winter is coming, which means I'll have a busy winter of going skiing and teaching skiing.

And speaking of teaching skiing, I wrote another article for the PSIA Eastern division newsletter. It's in the Summer 2015 issue at this link and it's on page 18 if you're interested in reading about the advantages of a powerful stance in telemark skiing.

I'm at a crossroads with the blog. I'll probably keep it around to write periodic thoughts, but I'd also like to branch out with my writing, photography, and video stuff. Not sure what direction I'll take it or if I'll develop a new blog with a different focus (and maybe an actual dot com domain name). I might try to develop a telemark instructional website, which seems to be an underserved niche on the internet, or maybe try building a frugal ski bum blog that I can monetize and use as a "retirement" job in 10 years or so.

Whatever happens, I'm going to keep moving forward and take whatever opportunities I get. Life's too short to not do the things you want to do.

PSIA Success

If I won the lottery tomorrow, I'd retire from my real job, buy a house in an awesome ski town (Telluride, Steamboat Springs, Stowe, Park City - although that one looks iffy right now), and teach skiing for the rest of my life. I love skiing and I love teaching it - being outside in the fresh air, bullshitting on the chairlift, talking about ski technology, hearing people's stories, talking with other instructors, solving the puzzles, and just ripping around having fun.

Unfortunately, this ain't Europe, and you can't make a living as a mere ski instructor. In fact, especially in the east, ski instructors are ridiculously underpaid. This site says that the average instructor makes $5,000-$10,000 a year. I've never even seen close to that amount of money. I work 25-30 days a year at my home mountain and 14 days a year as an "adjunct professor", teaching a community college ski class and I make a little over $1000 at each job. Including tips, I'd say that I make about $3,000-$3,200 a year from teaching skiing, putting in over 300 hours of driving and working time. I'm obviously not teaching skiing for the money.

But I'm not complaining. If I wanted to make more money, I suppose I could. I could hustle more for private lessons, I could scrounge for more tips, I could take a supervisory job that would bump me up to about $4,000-$6,000 a year. But I don't really want that. I work a regular job for money, ski instructing is supposed to be my fun job. I just want to go to work, teach some awesome lessons, and do a little freeskiing with my extra time. And it's been that way for the last 13 years.

But I've also dipped my toe into the "Professional" ski instructing ranks. And if you're talking about professional ski instructing, you're talking about PSIA. I climbed the PSIA ladder to the point where I was a Level III in both Alpine and Telemark skiing. And after you reach Level III, what do you do next? Let's look at that part of the ladder:

Starting from the bottom, you can see that the next step is the "Alpine Educational Staff", where I have the option of Divisional Clinic Leader (DCL), ACE Team ("Advanced Children's Educator"), or Dev Team ("Development Team"), which has a further ladder to ETS and then to Examiner.

I actually tried out for Dev Team on the Alpine side in 2009. In fact, I wrote about the experience on the Epicski forum:

So I put together a sick run (heli in the middle, huge GS turns with my body way outside the skis, slalom turns with wicked rebound) until I got to the very end, where I hit some soft snow, somersaulted over the front of my skis, ripped my toepiece in half (the plastic itself), and bent my brand new skis. 

So, that didn't go so well for me. I wasn't really bummed that I messed that run up, though. I was more upset because the people who did make it weren't really the greatest skiers I'd ever seen. Ace (who had also tried out) thought the same. We couldn't really figure out why we didn't get higher scores, but we chalked it up to youth (I was 28 and she was 27), imprecise skiing, and not really knowing anybody (all of the other candidates seemed very close with the examiners).

After that experience, I took a break from the Alpine ladder. I got my level III on the Telemark side in 2011, and it was an awesome experience. I didn't really know if the Telemark side was "better" (I've since realized that it is :-)), but I knew that I felt a lot more proud of my Telemark accomplishments than I ever felt about my Alpine accomplishments. After a couple of years of equipment dialing, I decided to try for the Dev Team on the Telemark side this past March at Killington.

The Telemark exams are different than the Alpine exams in general. Alpine exams are very strictly regimented and task based. For every task (short turns, GS turns through bumps, etc.), the examiner stands at the bottom with notecards and calls the candidates down one by one. The people trying out are evaluated and the examiner writes some stuff down and you move on to the next task. The Telemark exams are just better: more relaxed, more teaching focused, more group participation and cooperation, more skiing, more fun, and more Norwegian tele feasts:

This was the feast in a sidecountry cabin near Killington after Day 1 of this year's exam. I won't bore you with the details of skiing and teaching, but it's always stressful when you're in it. You never really KNOW you passed until they announce your name after everything is all over.

When they announced my name, I got pretty emotional. I don't know what it is when I pass the tele exams, but when the final scores come in, I really feel like I've accomplished something. The standards are ridiculously high. Great skiers and teachers didn't pass the Level III exam, just because they couldn't put it all together at the same time. I feel incredibly honored and humbled to make the Dev team, and the fact that I'm on track to be an examiner is still pretty unbelievable to me.

When you're climbing the ladder, you're always looking up to the people above you - people who have been there and have been doing this stuff for years and years. They've probably forgotten more about ski instructing than I ever knew. I am eternally grateful to the people who helped me along the way, and I wouldn't have gotten the warm feeling of accomplishing something difficult without them. 

I'm still not going to make much money ski instructing, but it's nice to know that I have a little bit more flexibility and freedom in how I make that money in the future. It will be nice to travel around to different resorts, attend events with awesome tele skiers, and maybe sneak my way into a western trip or two. The next goal is a super longshot: making the PSIA National Telemark Team. Since there appear to be only 2 people in the whole country on the team right now, this is probably not likely. But, hey, this is my fun job. Might as well keep doing it.

March Instagram Dump

I've been doing some stuff, I just haven't been posting. Here's an update:

I finished up the community college skiing class that I teach:

Then had a ski weekend at Gore:

Followed by a sweet trip to Mad River Glen for a 2-day PSIA clinic before my big exam. They had gotten 3-4" inches of snow when we arrived, and they had another 2-3" the next night. It made for awesome conditions for bumps and trees. I wish I had taken more pictures, but we skied pretty hard. Here's a couple of shots:

The following weekend was the PSIA exam at Killington. I was too busy being stressed, so not many pics from there either. We did have a phenomenal Norwegian tele feast at a backcountry hut on the Long Trail:

Then we had a beer in the umbrella bar while waiting for the results to be tabulated:

And a celebration beer after the success:

I am now an official member of the Eastern Division Telemark Development Team. I realize that doesn't mean anything to a lot of people. I'll probably write up a post later explaining everything about it, but for now, I guess you can just think about it as Level 3+, where level 3 is the highest certification most people get.

After that, we returned to Gore for a weekend, but went off piste and did the Rabbit Pond trail from the Wood Out entrance:

It was fun on Tele skis, but if I did it again, I'd use the fishscaled BC skis for it. Lots of up and down on the way down to the Ski Bowl.

It took us about 1.5-2 hours at a slow, relaxed pace, but it can probably be done faster. It was a great way to get away from the crowds at Gore and it was fun to do some exploring.

Speaking of exploring, the following week, We were at Jay Peak:

It was phenomenal. Pow, trees, chutes, and fun skiing (well, Ace snowboarded the first day):

There's a lot of pictures of Ace making left turns for ya (I have no idea why it worked out that way). We spent three days skiing Jay Peak Resort, then we did some backcountry across the street:

Really nice snow conditions, and a really fun, relaxed time.

After that, I understudied a Tele event at Whiteface, where 7 inches of wet snow made all the glades awesome:

Then I started riding my bike (I'm trying to do #30daysofbiking again this year):

But I haven't forgot about skiing. Great day last Sunday, and it looks like this coming weekend will be sweet, too.

And now you're all caught up.

Sugarbush PSIA Exam (Day 2)

I made it. I am now a PSIA Level 3 Certified Skier in Telemark Skiing (and Alpine, which I did in 2008).

I have to say, after going through several other exams in my 10 year ski instructing career, I thought I would feel the same way after this test as I did after my Level 3 Alpine exam.  But I felt completely different.  It was weird, really.  On my Alpine exams, and earlier Tele exams, I almost felt entitled to the pins (pins being the awards given out in PSIA - Bronze for Level 1, Silver for Level 2, and Gold for Level 3).  Maybe "entitled" isn't the right word, but I felt as if I was skiing and teaching at a ridiculously high level, and that I deserved everything that I was getting and more. I was actually waiting for them to just dispense with the formalities and start promoting me to higher and higher posts in the organization simply because of my awesomeness.

Okay, maybe I wasn't that crazy about it, but I did have a certain attitude about everything.  On Sunday, it was completely different.  After the exam, I skied an extra run and started talking about how I've changed as an instructor and as a person.  Instead of arguing one side to the death, I've started trying to see the other side.  Instead of taking issue, I've started letting things slide.  Instead of making definitive statements, I've started to ask more questions.  Maybe it's partly because I'm getting older and wiser, or maybe it's because of experiences like the one I had on Sunday.

In addition to the two Level 3 candidates in my group, there were three candidates for the Development Team (above Level 3 and at the point where they would be instructing other instructors). Over the course of the two days, each was able to affect my skiing in a positive way.  If I hadn't been open to their teaching, I never would have had the breakthroughs that I had.  Whether it was driving my lead leg around the bottom of a bump, matching my hands to the pitch of the hill more, or slowing everything down to really feel my releasing movements, every one of the Dev Team candidates helped my tele technique.

But that's not the only reason that I felt different this time around.  The Nordic PSIA examiners are a little more . . . umm . . . expressive than the Alpine Examiners.  I feel like they wear their heart on their sleeve a little bit more.  They really want you to do well.  And you end up wanting to do well not just for yourself, but for all of those guys (who've helped you get there).  When they finally read my name and I looked at Mark and Mickey, I felt something that was a far cry from the feeling I had when I got my Alpine level 3. It was a feeling that can only come after you've been built up, knocked down, and built back up again.  A feeling that doesn't say "It's about time", but instead shows what all of their time was about. A feeling that seems to be increasingly rare (but desperately needed) in the world today:

Gratitude.       

Sugarbush PSIA Exam (Day 1)

I had a pretty good day of skiing and teaching today.  I'm going to head out to dinner now, but I'll update this post when I get back.  For now, here's a picture that I took at the end of the day to tide you over.

UPDATE:

So, today was was I would consider a good exam day. We had some good skiers, we bounced some teaching stuff off of each other, and most importantly, we had a good time.  I'm going to go into some of the exam stuff, and this might get a little wonky, so feel free to scan past this stuff.

We did a couple of short little teaching segments in the morning, and I had a little thing I wanted to try with synchronized skiing and a little twist on synchro skiing (rear person skis synchro turns, but moves alongside the front person, then drops back, then goes to the other side).  It worked okay, but it was a little tough with the amount of people on the trail, and the fact that I flew off the side of the trail during my demo.  So, rough on class handling, okay on the basic idea.

Then we did a lot of skiing, I thought I was skiing pretty damn good (if I do say so myself), especially in the hard, icy bumps (conditions du jour, as the tele guys call it).  I felt a little less confident in the hardpack (icy) groomers, but, I still felt like my turns were pretty solid.  My second teaching segment ("bring your own"), I focused on the movements necessary to move the downhill leg into the next turn (movements in the foot, ankle, and femur).  I think it went pretty well, bur my only regret was not giving everybody a chance to ski it out at the end (it's always important to give people a chance to play with a new movement in regular turns).  I also tried to give some individual feedback, but I don't know if I did enough.

I feel pretty good about how everything went today, and I have a killer lesson plan for tomorrow (if given the chance), so I'm feeling pretty confident.  I just have to keep skiing athletically, keep teaching descriptively, and keep discussing organically (if that makes any sense).     

My hip is feeling a lot better today (after taking some Advil), so I'm going to keep pounding pills and pushing hard.  Right now, though, I'm going to rest up for another big day tomorrow.  Peace.

Mad River Glen (Day 2)

Killer day at the mountain today. I was skiing really well, feeling great, and then, right before lunch, I hip checked on a steep section and pain shot all the way up my leg. Not good. I skied the rest of the afternoon, but now that I'm just sitting here typing, I can feel my hip stiffening up. The PSIA Level 3 exam is on Saturday, and it pains me to walk down stairs. Ugh.

Anyway, though, I had a great time today, and I had my camera with me all morning, so here are some shots from my first great spring skiing day of the year.

I like the last picture the best.  Blue sky, soft bumps, and the single chair.  Classic MRG.  I didn't really improve my skiing too much over the past two days (probably too late to make adjustments at this point anyway), but I definitely improved my eye - diagnosing the problems with people's turns, and providing the right ways to fix the problems.  I'm probably going to bag the BC trip tomorrow to give my hip a rest, and I might go over to Sugarbush to explore some of the terrain we'll be skiing for the exam.  Ice and beer tonight, Sun and snow tomorrow.

Mad River Glen, PSIA, and Blogging

Where am I?

This was our view for most of the day (except when we were in that cloud and our view was "chowdah").  Give up?  Here's another pic:

Okay, maybe that one gave it away (How many mountains have a single chair? With "Mad River Glen" written on it?). I think this is my first Mad River Glen visit (couldn't remember if I came here as a kid), and I gotta say: I'm a fan.  Nice to see a place that doesn't put grooming, groms, and "guest services" above everything else.

Today was kind of windy/rainy/soft/cruddy, so I didn't want to bring the camera out with me.  Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and warm, and there are $17 lift tickets for people who wear green, so I'll try to bring the camera tomorrow and snap some crazy pictures of crazy people.

I'm here for a PSIA event, and there is a dearth of PSIA material online.  I think this might be because people are trying to work on their ski instructing careers, and don't want to jeopardize it by posting things about PSIA on the internet.  Well, I'm going to change that.  I love the fact that people like "The Rusty" post some of their tricks, tips and tactics online.  And I love it when people get down and dirty and discuss ski instructing on Epicski.  I may not participate in their ridiculous discussions on proper edge angles or inside leg steering, but I read a fair amount of it, and the back and forth has really helped my instruction.

So here it goes: I'm taking a trees and steeps clinic at Mad River Glen today and tomorrow. On Friday, I'm probably going to do some backcountry in the Camel's Back area, and then I'm taking my Level III Telemark Exam at Sugarbush on Saturday and Sunday.  My intent is to blog about the entire experience.  If PSIA doesn't like that, than I guess I'll fail.  But I really feel like it's important to let people who are going through the system know what the system is all about.  I'm going to try to be honest and direct about everything, without any sugarcoating or gloss overs.  Hopefully, this turns out to be a positive experience.  But I'm ready for anything.  Here's to adventure.

Northeast Ski Blogger Summit: Inspiration

I'm mostly going to load this post with pictures, but I wanted to talk a little bit about inspiration.  Going into a semi-blind meeting with a bunch of people you've never met before (in real life) is kind of an uncomfortable situation for me.  I'm not the kind of guy who goes up to random people at parties and strikes up conversations with them.  I mean, sure, I'll talk to anyone I meet, but it usually takes me a while to get comfortable with someone enough to open up a little bit.

But whenever I'm skiing, it's different.  I definitely feel like I'm in my element at ski areas.  I think a lot of it has to do with the group dynamics of a bunch of skiers.  Here's a quote from the scholarly book Group Dynamics in Recreation and Leisure: creating conscious groups through an experiential approach:

Many recreation and leisure groups involve people who want to learn and grow from their experiences.  They are aware that learning and growth are a primary motivation for being involved with others in recreation and leisure activities.  These groups can be referred to as conscious groups.  A conscious group recognizes that besides its other goals or productivity objectives, the personal growth of its members is the main objective.  Members of a conscious group strive to better themselves and their relationships with others in the group – and probably beyond the group as well.  In fact, this is why many people engage in recreation and leisure pursuits – to relax, meet others, and engage in activities they enjoy, all of which helps them become better people. 

This is my goal in every group lesson that I teach when I'm ski instructing.  And it's amazing when it happens organically. I think it took about 2 runs in the morning on Wednesday before we got to that point at the ski blogger summit.  You see a lot of trip reports that say something like "everyone was pushing each other and the level of skiing was really high." Some people even refer to it as "bromentum." Well, after these last few days, I feel inspired.  Inspired to be a better skier.  Inspired to be a better blogger.  And inspired to be a better person.

So without further ado, here's the pictures from Thursday at Jay: