The PSIA National Academy is less than four weeks away now. Just like last year at the 2008 PSIA National Academy, you ski daily with one group and the pick a new elective for the afternoon session.
This year there is a great selection of elective to choose from including skiing bumps and crud, carving, kids programs, park and pipe sessions, women’s ski groups (um, where are the mens ski groups?), various indoor sessions like bootfitting, Interski and the Matrix and even an opportunity to try telemark skiing.
Last year the lineup I chose included an Avalanche training course, bumps and crud, boot fitting (to get rid of the tears in my eyes at the end of every day of skiing in boots that didn’t fit quite right), a video session and one afternoon of skiing with an international pro from one of the visiting countries including Argentina, New Zealand, Canada, Australia and Great Britain.
This year will be bumps and crud, some carving and free skiing, personal improvement in the park and pipe (I’m a raw beginner there!), maybe a day of telemark skiing (raw beginner there too but still have the knees to be able to handle it!) and possibly a race clinic or something related to teaching kids.
Aside from the variety of clinics, we’ll have one pro that we ski with each day in the morning. Last year it was Steve Smart of the Rookie Academy. Steve lives the life bouncing back and forth between teaching skiing in Canada, taking some time off and then teaching over in Australia/New Zealand with the Rookie Academy. He’s a great skiier and a great teacher as well.
24 more days till heading off to the 2009 PSIA National Academy in Snowbird, Utah! Can’t wait!
