Blue Mt PA

I had a great finish to my time at Mount Snow. After 40 something degrees and rain on Monday to single digits on Tuesday and Wednesday, things on Thursday and Friday got back to more regular winter... in the twenties. Snow guns were running pretty hard all week once the weather turned. I cut out just after lunch on Friday to head for Blue Mountain in southern Pennsylvania. I went a couple hours out of my way to stop home to see my family and dogs. They were all good and pretty happy to see me. I pulled into Allentown, PA about 10:00 PM after a pretty easy drive. Saturday and Sunday I would run a PSIA Level 1 Validation in cooperation with PARA (Pennsylvania Alpine Racing Association). Level 1 for PSIA is a certification for teaching beginning skiers. In the race world, athletes are not part of it until they have some skiing skills making PSIA level 1 certification skiing information mostly useless for race coaches. The clinic has been modified to include safety, learning style, teaching style, learning partnership and so forth but with more advanced skiing to make the information more pertinent to race coaching.

I arrived at the mountain just before 8:00 AM, Saturday morning and the place was already pretty jammed. I realized the area opens early (8:00 AM). The Lodge is on top so they use a tape across the access to the mountain with skiers lined up along it instead of the a line at the lift before opening...different from most areas. I found the ski school director and he had me set up in the "boot room", one of the rooms that the ski school staff uses in the main lodge. The course is set up in theory for newer race coaches but in my experience it is usually attended by fairly experienced coaches. This group was no different. Only one of the six in the group was new to coaching; two others were not active coaches.. just interested. The other 3 had been coaching many years. Once we were out hill, I realized only the new coach was new to PSIA, the others were using this for and update. Three were level 3 (certified to teach it all) one was level 2 (certified through parallel) and one was level 1 (certified to teach beginning skiing). This posed a bit of a dilemma but not too bad. The program I ran went from an introduction to organized delivery of information in a way that keeps the athletes safe and engaged (see my earlier description above) to a shared session of different drills and progressions and how we would modify them to make them more appropriate for different aged athletes. It came off pretty well and was pretty fun. It sure helped that the skiing and weather were both pretty good.

Saturday night, I was invited to a Christmas party at one of the coaches houses. Most of the Blue Mountain race coaches were there. They are a good group. Most have skied together for 20 years as Blue Mountain coaches. It is fun to hang out with friends that have a long history...all you have to do is sit back and listen to the stories. It turns out some or our athletes at Labrador have shared coaching and race lane space Copper Mountain in Colorado during Thanksgiving camps with some Blue Mountain coaches. The ski world is pretty small.

Middle of the week at Mt Snow

After a fun weekend at Labrador Mt, I am in the middle of my week at Mt Snow VT. Labrador had pretty good skiing for opening weekend; only three real ways down but the snow was pretty good. I skied with the race team athletes. It was great to see them and great to get started on the season. Sunday it rained pretty hard, particularly in the morning but the snow was nice. We left a bit early because it was forecast to change to snow (and ice). Many of our high school athletes drive to the mountain and we wanted them home safe. This gave me a chance to get a pretty early start on my trip to VT. I wandered down route 20 to Albany which is slower than using the NYS thruway but it saves me about 30 miles (a gallon of gas or so) and I enjoy the drive. The car thermometer never went below 36 on the trip over. By the time I was in Albany, I had caught back up with the warm air mass and was traveling in 54 degree weather. It was warm all the way to Mount Snow.

I am skiing in a PSIA event called Pro Jam this week. I am a course conductor and my group is level I skiers that are preparing for the level II part 1 (skiing, as opposed to ski teaching) exam. The Pro Jam is essentially ski camp for instructors. There are 340 participants this year from all over the eastern United States. While not much of the mountain is open, the skiing is pretty good. Monday was still warm and raining pretty hard in the morning. The snow was okay and pretty easy to ski  in because it was so soft. The afternoon got colder and it snowed a bit. We spent the day playing with our stance on the ski to understand balancing while in motion (dynamic balance). Tuesday was frigid. My first ride up the mountain left 2 in my group with frost bite on their faces. Luckily there is a lodge at the summit and they were able to duck in to warm up. The rest of us took a "warm up" (yeah right) run. By the time we got to the bottom, back up to the top and into the summit lodge, a lot of time was lost. We tried to start at 9:00 AM and by 10:00 AM I was really just starting the program for the day.  We worked hard on generating a bit of tip pressure to help begin each turn and used a strong inside leg to help with balance and readiness for the next turn. The group did well and I believe they were happy with the positive changes in their skiing. Tuesday night I went to a really nice restaurant named the Hermitage. I had a delicious Caesar salad with chicken mostly because the equipment manufacturers representatives that are here this week put on an appreciation hors d'oeuvres  party right after skiing so I ate a bunch of fried stuff before I went to dinner (egg roll, 2 taquitos, 4 chicken wings and sweet potato fries...all terrific). Today was even colder but I luckily had a slightly better outcome. One of the participants that had frost bite yesterday got it again just before lunch, He went in while the rest of us took one more run. This afternoon was the "optional program" session. This is where participants choose from a list of topics and attend a 2 - 3 hour session on that topic. I was assigned to give information about and ski with a group through all the level II skiing certification tests tasks. There are a bunch of them so I had to work fast to get it all in in one afternoon. That said, I think it went pretty well! I gave a description of what the move was, what I thought was important in the eyes of the examiner and gave each participant a short critique on their interpretation of the task and what, if anything was needed to make sure the performance was at the level II standard. After skiing, I tried to go out to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant but it change hands since I was here 2 years ago and is not Mexican any longer. I wound up eating a club sandwich and chilly at a pretty nice place in West Dover with 2 old skier friends of mine. It was a nice time. It is really good to be back into ski season...I am having fun.

My first day is almost here!

Well, we have had almost 2 feet of new snow in the last 4 days. Labrador Mountain will open Friday. Yesterday, I had to run some errands in Ithaca (about 20 miles from here). There is only  trace of snow there. Ithaca was out of the snow action. All the snow is from the lake effect bands off Lake Ontario that have been pounding Syracuse this week putting it up on the national weather channel radar (literally and figuratively). Lots of schools closed but not our district... my daughter was not too happy that the road crews kept things open and running. Anyway, I believe I will be able to take some runs on Friday. I may have to wait until my daughter gets home from school so she can come too. This weekend we will train with the race team and then it is off to Vermont for some relatively big mountain skiing for the week followed by a clinic in Pennsylvania next weekend (back to small mountain). So, after waiting for a while for it to start, it will start with a bang...10 days in a row on skis! Here we go..

Still no snow in the east

This blog will eventually be about skiing. My plan is to write about the small areas I ski at this winter. I would like to talk about the people I ski with, what we do in PSIA events I attend, what happens at races I go to, the people I meet along the way, the food I eat while trying to get there...whatever. None of this can start until we get some winter. In the meantime, I will just write stuff to help me pass the time and help me get ready. It is pouring rain here again. If you are in the northwest or northern Rockies...have a blast, you lucky devils!

I did have a nice trip to Cape Cod. I did ride the ferry over to Martha's Vineyard with my family, my sister-in-law and her son. It has been a long time since I was over to Martha's Vineyard. They now have Internet service on the boat. We proved, very well, that it worked as we adopted a puppy from the Ithaca SPCA Adoption Center while in route. My wife and I tried to pick up the puppy today but we have to bring our daughter and older dog to meet the puppy before they will release it to us. Hopefully tomorrow we will have a new puppy underfoot. I will not be telling you a cute puppy story every time you hit this blog. As I said, this will be about skiing but if something really good happens with the new dog, I will let you know.

We had lunch at the famous Black Dog in Vineyard Haven. The clam chowder was amazing with some great home-made croûtons on top. I also had a fried cod sandwich that wasn't amazing but really fresh.. no complaints. My wife and her sister started with an apple squash soup that might have been better than the chowder. There are probably a ton of great places to eat in Vineyard Haven but I have had such good meals at the Black Dog, I always seem to go there to see if it is still the same... it is. After lunch, in the Black Dog store, we bought a couple of Oval Black Dog stickers, one for my daughter's guitar case and the other for a spare. Other than that we just walked around Vineyard Haven looking a things and enjoying the afternoon. It is a great time to be there, most things are still open but most of the summer crowds are gone.

Tonight, I am picking up our "free range organic turkey" and putting it in the brine. Yep, Thanksgiving is at our house again this year. Tomorrow (in addition to the puppy thing) I hope to pick up our newly mounted skis. If I can't ski on them yet, I would like to at least look at them (and start waxing them). I have also downloaded the new PSIA Eastern Division Children’s Specialist 1 Workbook and will begin working my way through it; another way to get myself more psyched for skiing.

Have a delicious and safe Thanksgiving!

I woke up to 2 or 3 inches of snow yesterday morning but we are headed back to 55 degrees Monday. I took skis over to the mountain to get mounted. They are just waiting for cold weather....well, the new paint in the rental shop is not finished yet and things are a mess but it will be good soon. I am in the middle of a quick trip to Woods Hole, MA with my family. My sister in law and her mother live there and it has been a long time since I have been there to visit. My wife and daughter go there pretty often but I seem to always have other things to do. It looks like we are going to walk down to the ferry and go to Martha's Vineyard for lunch. I am reading the newest issue of Ski magazine that has a really good section on How to raise a skier by Edith Thys Morgan (my favorite ski writer). Unfortunately, almost all of it is about the big mountains but there is a Small is Good article on the back page by Warren Miller. While Warren sings the praises of small ski areas, he can't resist reminding us that he himself skis on a 3000 ft vertical private club. One of the many differences between Warren and I is that I am living the Small is Good thing almost everyday I ski!

The winter is beginning. I have the opportunity to ski at a lot of smaller ski areas in the eastern USA. I will try and chronicle my travels and experiences this winter in this blog. I hope I can share many good things with you.

A little background is in order. I have 2 skiing jobs. I am on the educational staff at PSIA-E (Professional Ski Instructors of America Eastern Division). I have done this job in a part time capacity since the early 1990's. This year, with other commitments out of my life, my plan is to work many events for PSIA-E .  These are mostly 2 day educational ski events that are for ski instructors maintaining their membership in PSIA , preparing for an exam to obtain a ski instructor's certification and/or just having fun skiing and learning. I am also starting my 19th season as a Alpine Ski Racing JIII coach (13-14 year olds, both genders) with the Labrador Mountain Ski Club. Labrador Mt is a 700 ft vertical, 4 lift ski area smack dab in the middle of New York about 25 miles south of Syracuse. Both of my skiing jobs take me to many, mostly small ski areas in mostly New York and Pennsylvania and occasionally further south and sometimes into New England.

Ski season really begins in September. PSIA National sends us the catalog, the Eastern PSIA office sends the educational staff information about the coming season, the first Ski Pro (PSIA zine) arrives, my athletes need to get fitted for equipment and the local shop holds a large race night in September. Ski, Skiing and Ski Racing start showing up in the mail again. For me September is a yin and yang. I love the summer. I love to hike, swim, paddle canoes, run, cook out, sit on my porch, eat stuff out of the garden, and everything else about summer. I hate to see it go. I get worried about heating bills, snow pack on my roof, clearing the driveway, making sure my daughter's ski race entries are in and the craziness that accompanies doing 2 basically full time ski jobs but, I love to ski. I love the first snow (even if it is a waste). I love the first day out even if the conditions and acreage available are questionable. It is great to see my ski friends, my athletes, the parents of my athletes and get on the hill and just ski. The local areas in Central NY try and get open as soon as they can after Thanksgiving. We are getting close even if it is 50 degrees with rain pounding on my roof right now!