Adam Jewell – Search & Affiliate Marketing

It’s hard to belive it is already day 3 of the 2009 PSIA National Academy but what a great time it has been so far. TONS of snow (on the ground, not fresh stuff), crystal clear deep blue skies and radiant sunlight all day. Temps have been in the 60′s during the day and today was no different.

Telemark skiing was the challenge of they day. You’ve probably seen people telemarking if you’ve been to any decent sized ski resort. Instead of wearing boots that are more like casts and lock firmly into the bindings, telemark boots are softer and only hook into and lock down to the bindings at the toe. When you start out downhill skiing, it seems aukward and seems like quite a challenge at times. Once you step into telemark eqipment you realize how lazy you can be with downhill ski equipment.

Kudos to the PSIA national organization for offering a day of telemark skiing and free rental equipment to the attendees of the 2009 PSIA National Academy Last night I got fitted for the equipment for the day of telemark skiing. The skis were K2′s and I’m not sure what the bindings and boots were. The boots are more comfortable than downhill boots. They also seem warmer but it wasn’t cold outside so that wasn’t an issue either way. You can much more easily walk in tele boots than downhill boots and the tele boots even have a little lever to flip in order to make it even easier to walk in them.

The hardest thing about tele skiing at least initially was just getting the second ski on. Unlike downhill boots where you can just step into the bindings, with tele equipment you have to reach down and manualy pull up the bindings to lock them onto the boots. I ended up rolling around on the ground trying to get the second ski on and eventually managed to get it locked on.

I got to go through this routine twice right off the bat, once to get from the Cliff lodge down to the tram and once to go back out to the Chickadee beginner lift where we spent the entire morning getting the hang of telemark skiing down. It is a great compliment to downhill skiing and really makes one focus on balance. On tele equipment you can lean back and get support from the boots and bindings but since the boots are only attached at the toes, if you lean the body forward you’ll do a face plant rather quickly and still have your skis attached to your feet.

We started out doing downhill skiing with the tele skis to get used to the equipment and realize that if you get spooked or get in an uncomfortable situation on tele skis you can simply revert to downhill mode and get back under control.

Earl Saline, PSIA education manager was the clinic leader for the tele group. This was the beginner group and Earl was the perfect person for the job! He’s fully certified in EVERYTHING and has a great teaching style and plenty of patience for working with beginners.

After a couple hours on the Chickadee run, we were starting to ge the hang of telemarking a little bit. It was more fakemarking than anything else. In other words the group was bending one knee down but not getting the full extension of a real telemark turn. By doing this, you start to get the feel for telemark turns but your weight is still on the downhill ski. This feels more stable because you really haven’t committed to doing tele but you start to at least get the motions down.

Lunch was early and the grop debated between heading over to the Wilbere lift area vs. taking the Snowbird tram all the way to the top of the mountain. After a little discussion we decided to go for broke and head all the way up to the top of the Snowbird Tram. Earl convinced us we could handle it and he was right! The usual ritual of rolling around in the snow to get the second ski on was the first step as we got off the tram.

Once the skis were securely attached to the boots the group headed down from the top of the mountain. This first run from the top of the mountain was full of downhill turns and fakemark turns as the group struggled to get the hand of telemark skiing. Though the boots are more comfortable than downhill boots, my feet started to scream at me about 3/4 of the way down the mountain. At this point I just let loose, split from the group and flew down to the Snowbird tram to get a few minutes to get the boots off for a few minutes while the rest of the group took their time to get down the mountain.

Once Earl and the rest of the group got to the bottom, the group shrank to about 4 people as the others were feeling muscles they didn’t know they had due to the different movements associated with telemark skiing. Once the remaining group was all gathered together, we headed back to the Snowbird tram and went back to the top of the mountain.

At this point, the remaining group members were feeling more comfortable and more confident on the telemark ski equipment. Most of the turns were still fakemark turns with a few group members getting close to real telemark turns.

If you are a downhill skier, telemark skiing can help you improve your technique and make you a better skier if you stick with telemark skiing. When you tele ski, you have to be centered on your skis and cna’t rely on the equipment to hold you up or make up for a sloppy or lazy stance. The balance on tele skis is much different from alpine skis as well. On downhill (alpine) skis since your feet are fimly attached to the skis you have more control or it is at least easier to control the skis with less precise movements.

All in all, the day of telemark skiing in the clinic led by Earl Saline was a a real treat. It was amazing just how much fun could be had on a slope like Chickadee that was essentially flat. All it took was a change in equipment to make a very basic beginner hill an exciting challenge.

The evening consisted of a great buffet dinner put on by PSIA, some hot tub time, a little Comedy Central and an early night to bed. It’s amazing how skiing hard at high altitude day after day can wear you out and turn even a hard core night owl into a “wimp” who passes out from exhaustion by 10pm or 11pm each night.

Next up is day 4 of the 2009 PSIA National Academy. Only two more days of the Academy to go and then two days of free sking before heading back to the daily grind staring at a computer screen all day.

Today at the 2009 PSIA National Academy, it was a scorcher out in Snowbird. The temps much have topped 60 degrees during the day and there was not a cloud in the sky. The day started out as usual with breakfast at the Aerie at the top of the Cliff lodge and we met once again down at the base of the tram.

The Peruvian Express was closed to day so the only way to get up the hill on the front was the tram. That’s ok if there is nobody at the resort but when you have to wait up to a half an hour to get on the tram, the Peruvian Express chairlift shouldn’t be closed. It’s also nice to have a charilift as an option up the hill becuase on the tram your feet never get a break since you have to stand on the tram.

Once we got up the tram it was off to Mineral Basin. The sun hits Mineral basin first and if you wan to have any chance of skiing something other than bulletproof crud, Mineral Basin is where the odds of good snow are best. We started out over there on some groomers working on controlling the skis, a little edging and turning to sharpen some basic skills.

After several runs on the groomers, it was off to the deep, softening crud also in Mineral Basin. There were some excellent runs in there and no major spills by anyone in the group. Afte that, we hit the Peruvian Basin (front side of Snowbird) and found some different crud and some steeps. Then came lunch. The group had lunch together in the Rendezvous room under the tram again.

In the afternoon, I was schedule to join the “powder and crud” clinic. Seeing as any powder would probably be at least several hundred miles away, crud it was for the full afternoon. This was a lucky afternoon! The clinic group ended up being only 4 people and the clinic leader, Jeb Boyd PSIA Demo Team member from the Eastern Division. Jeb was great and we had a blast while working on more upper body movements to help feel more stable and in control in the crud. We ran the Little Cloud lift for the entire session after waiting in line at the tram for about half an hour to get up initially. Jeb also runs the Arc2Arc Alpine Training Center that offers a variety of coaching, camps, private training and consulting services for recreational through pro athletes.

The Little Cloud area of Snowbird was awesome. It had softened up nicely, wasn’t insanely steep to the point where skiing it is simply no fun and the crowd over there was minimal. The folks in the group were all strong skiers and it was a very interactive session.

Throughout the day I took a few pictures and was able to finally get the helmet cam to work. It’s kind of a pain to take that thing on and off my head all the time but there should be some good video from it. Tomorow I’ll get more footage with it and possibly post anything that comes out well.

We were all on our own for dinner tonight and went down to the Mexican place in the Cliff lodge for some GREAT Mexican food. I went with Jeff Striper, an old bud I used to teach with at 7 Springs back in the good old days. Jeff is a cool guy and always up for an outdoor or travel adventure.

The first day of telemark skiing for me will be tomorrow and tonight I got fitted for boots and skis. The conditions don’t seem to be that good for telemark skiing but I’ll be learning from some of the best instructors in the country so should come away with some new skills.

The night cap was a local band in the Tram Club in the Tram building. It was the first time I’ve ever gone down there for any night life and it was a nice way to kick bck and relax for a little while. It’s now around 11:30pm and time to hit the sack so I’ve got plenty of energy for a full day of telemark skiing tomorrow!

Once again for the 2009 PSIA National Academy the digs are at the Cliff Lodge. I ended up on the 8th floor with a nice view out the window of some of the slopes. Upon check in, the frotn desk offered an upgrade to some kind of room with a different view for an extra $20/night but that standard room was fine last year and is just fine again this year.

The room in the Cliff Lodge is far better than the room we got at The Vintage Hotel at Winter Park Colorado ski trip with the King of Prussia ski club in early April of 2009. It’s got a leather couch, confortable beds, a nice view, a small refrigerator, and of course it comes with a ski locker downstairs with ski in ski out convenience.

Breakfast today was excellent (as long as they have good bacon, the pretty much makes a good breakfast at a ski lodge), the lunches today were good even though they were essentially boxed lunches. The buffet dinners have been great so far as well.

There is a 32 inch flat screen TV in the room and the Internet access is both free and user friendly. To connect you just turn on your computer, it picks up the network and you don’t have to screw around with any funky network settings. It can be a little slow at times but it’s no big deal.

Some of the pother lodges here seem to be pretty nice as well but the Cliff Lodge at Snowbird is a very solid choice for a place to stay while skiing at Snowbird and/or Alta.

The first day of the 2009 PSIA National Academy kicked off today with breakfast at the Airie breakfast buffet on the 10th floor of the Cliff Lodge at Snowbird. There was actually some other morning warmup exercise scheduled at 6:15am but that is just way to early for any person on what is essentially a vacation to get up. Following breakfast (which is always insane with 200+ ski instructors converging on one place to get breakfast and get out on the snow quickly), it was time to head down to the Snowbird Tram base and meetup with the groups we broke into last night.

Our group wasn’t the most aggressive group but we had some excellent skiers. The group leader was Andy who was a PSIA demo team member and the ski school director at Apen Highlands, a position I believe he still holds. First thing in the morning we headed up the Snowbird tram and went over to Mineral Basin to find the softest snow on the hill. Yesterday was warm and the wet snowfall was like deep, wet cement & easily the most difficult snow I’ve ever skied. Today there was no cloud cover in the morning so the sun softened things up rather quickly. The snow was still thick and deep in some places but much more manageable.

We skied some intermediate to expert terrain and some chutes but nothing over the top. After about three runs we took the catwalk way around to the skiers left in Mineral Basin, did a little climb (maybe 30 feet vertical) up on a cliff of sorts and then skied down through some thick but manageable snow. The biggest thing for everyone was, as usual trying to stay balanced in order to ski smoothly through variable and thick snow. I’ve gotten much better at that over the years by keping just a few things in mind:

Stay centered to forward on the skis.

Make sure not to drop the downhill hand and in fact drive it around. When you do that it seems to put forward pressure on the downhill ski so it cuts through the thick snow instead of wandering off out of control.

Complete the turns a little more if the going gets tough instead of trying to muscle through shorter turns a edging harder to control speed.

Be confident that your skis will do what you want them to do and plow through the crud if you practice the three points above.

These simple steps make a world of difference and prevent fatigue from setting in so quickly. You need to rely more on our skeletal structure to support your weight and use the smaller muscles to fine tune your movements. If you sit back, your thighs and other larger leg muscles but bear much more weight and work much harder and skiing through thick heavy snow will wipe you out in no time.

Throughout the morning session I was able to cruise rather smoothly through all the crud. Later in the morning session we went back to the Peruvian Basin (aka front side of Snowbird) and skied a few chutes and some bumps. Everyone in the group could hang, though some apeared more comfortable than others.

Lunch came around 12:30 in the Rendezvous room under the Snowbird tram. PSIA was nice enough to provide lunches this time around which will save everyone around $15.00 a day – a very nice touch on their part!

During the afternoon session, I elected to go for “Steeps and Bumps”. The first two runs, we took the Snowbird tram back up and my feet were killing me since you have to stand on that thing. After three runs in that clinic I bailed. We didn’t really hit any bumps and the steeps we hit were mostly the same wet cement like snow left over from yesterday. It just wasn’t fun skiing that stuff and so I sat out in the sun at the top of the mountain and let my feet recover.

After about a half hour, the feet started to feel more normal and I went over to the Little Cloud lift. The snow there was soft and deep but manageable and it was not quite as steep as some of the other areas of the mountain. Skiing at my own pace with the tunes cranked up it great and that’s exactly what I did over on the Little Cloud lift area. Little Cloud closes at 3:45pm so the last run of the day was on the Peruvian Express. It was a good run, though as the night afternoon wore on the sticky consistency of the snow came back.

After skiing over over for the day, I had a couple Polygamy Porters, relaxed in the room and then headed down to the Sunday night buffet in the Cliff Lodge. There wasn’t much energy among the crowd for drinking and partying more so here I am back in the room typing away. Bruno, the roomate is already out cold, probably worn out from the altitude, bright sun, and intense skiing all day. That’s a wrap for today and there will be lots more tomorrow during day 2 of the 2009 PSIA National Academy at Snowbird, Utah!

The day started dozing off to sleep at about 2:15am after getting finished packing, waking up in a panic at about 4:45am in a frantic rush to get out the door for a 7am direct flight from Philly to SLC.

Somehow I always manage to hit things just right in such situations and make the flight as was the case today. The flight got in at 9:30MST. The shuttle came within a few minutes and arrived at the Snowbird for the 2009 PSIA National Academy. The room wasn’t ready to check into at 11 so the bags went to the bell desk, the skis came out and the week od skiing at Snowbird was underway.

For the last month or so, Snowbird has been getting tons of snow and they do have a lot but it’s like sking in wet cement with tar on top of it in most places. Some people seemed to think it was a great day out there and the weather was nice, there was LOTS of snow. The snow just sucked. Maybe I’m becoming a ski/snow snob but I never skied anything like what was out there today.

The snow was brown in many places even where nobody had skied on it. It seemed like the winds associated wiht one of hte recent storms brought all the diirt from the lower elevations up and sprinled it all over the mountain.

Some sections of Mineral Basin were ok. Terrain off the Little Cloud lift was fairly good and there were a few decent spots down the front side but for the most part it was deep, thick and slow.

I skied with Alex from Big Mountain/Whitefish and Wayne who is a dentist down in Virginia. They skied for about 2 hours and went in. It’s a crime to not ski when you are at the slopes and to leave the slopes when you still have time on a lift ticket so I stayed out till the slopes closed. I’m already sunburned, totally exhausted after pigging out at the opening night buffet and getting zero sleep last night.

The roomate this year is Bruno, a railroad enginer who seems to be a bit of a party animal. Nice guy. A few Polygamy Porters have also added to the exhaustion and I’m about ready to knock off for the night. Breakfast starts at 7:30 and we have to be out on the snow at 8:45am in the morning ready to rip. More commentary and more pics to come tomorrow in PSIA National Academy Day #1 in 2009.