Adam Jewell - Search & Affiliate Marketing

The final day of the 2009 PSIA National Academy started of with the usual great breakfast buffet at the Aerie restaraunt on the 10th floor of the Cliff Lodge. My roomate, Bruno was up for the morning exercises at about 6am but that is far to early for me to be getting up. A few minute before 9am I got down to the Snowbird tram and joined the morning clinic group with Andy Docken again. It’s amazing how fast these events just zoom by. I can’t believe it is the last day already.

We took the tram up and skied Mineral basin to start off the day. We skied groomers to start out, did a little ungroomed crud and then hit some bumps. I didn’t use the helmt cam at all today but did have the regular digital camera and got some great pictures. Andy was nice enough to take hte camera and get some great action shots of me and the rest of the group. He actually got some of the best action shots of me skiing that have ever been taken. It’s tough getting good action shots but he did an amazing job.

The afternoon clinic was an intro to Park & Pipe - essentially riding half pipes, rails boxes, jumping and other freestyle skiing techniques. The afternoon sessions are only about 2 - 2.5 hours so it is obviously impossible to cover a whole lot in such an area as large as Park and Pipe. For this clinic we had PSIA Demo Team Member David Oliver. Dave is an awesome guy and a great instructor.

When surveyed, the group was most interested in learning 180’s and helicopters. It seems that the language has changed since I gave freestyle much thought. If you started talking baotu helicopters in a group of young freestyle skiers, they’d probably start looking up in the sky for a helicopter. Now the proper term seems to be a 3 for 360. The other thing we worked on was riding rails except we didn’t have any rails to ride and most in the group probably would have sustained some serious body damage had we jumped right in to trying to ride rails.

Dave had a very simple, yet valuable progression of steps and skills to work on to get to the point of being able to do 180’s, 360’s and riding rails.

The first topic in the clinic was basic safety, how to manage a class so as to minimize the chance of injury and maximize learning. This was a review of safety basics, where to stand, where to have a group meet (off to the side of the trail), be aware of all the surroundings, keep people spaced out when traversing a catwalk or other narrow trail.

Next up was thinking more in terms of freestyle and going with the flow of the snow and terrain in front of you. Ride the bumpy stuff like a dolphin, get a little air here and there, look for terrain and obstacles to get some air, do a little jump and have some fun. Back when I started skiing, the safety patrol would be after you in a second if you actively skied like that and took advantage of terrain to get airborn and do some tricks. Now that freestyle is becoming more and more accepted at resorts and there are more and more pro freestyle events, it is becoming much more accepted to ski and ride in a freestyle manner.

The first specific freestyle more we dabbled with was the helicopter or 360. Natually we didn’t just start jumping in the air and pulling off 360’s but we did start with exercises that would help us learn the movements and progress toward being able to get airborn and pull off a 180 or 360. Whirlybirds were the exercise of choice - simply skiing down the hill and spining around with the skis on the snow. This was first done on a steady grade groomed slope and then on the crest of a ridge where you might actually be able to get enough air to do a 180 or 360 .

With this approach we weren’t able to achieve our goal of being able to do a 360 but we were armed with the progression of steps to take that could lead us to be able to successfully launch and land a 360 while minimizing the chance of major injuries. Keeping a low center of gravity and keeping the skis relatively flat were also emphasized as keys to successfully ripping the first 360.

The next skill was riding a rail. This is where you ski down a hill, jump and turn sideways and ride (what is generally) a metal sideways rail for a short distance. Obviously, there is an inherint danger in riding rails, particularly when just learning the skill. Dave had an ingenius solution to this issue and that was simply to us a couple rubber bands to keep the brakes in the skis restrained and then turn the a ski upsidedown and push it into the snow. Instantly you have a slippery rail that is right in the snow. With the rail right in the snow, its easy to practice riding rails without the danger of actually riding one when you don’t know how to ride them. It is a simply brilliant approach and this ski turned upside down in the snow kept us all busy for at least 20 minutes “playing”. Dave presented very simple, yet immensly valuable things that we could use in our own personal skiing as well is in any freestyle lessons we might teach.

Following the clinics, we hit the hot tub for a while and had a couple beers. I skipped the classroom clinic and never did make it to any of those all week. The classroom clinics were from 5-6 and that was recovery time from skiing hard all day. Had those clinics been after dinner in the same room as the banquets, it would have been much easier to just stay seated there and soak up the information.

As is tradition the last night of the PSIA National Academy, there is a final banquet. The ski groups typically get a card and gift for the weekly clinic leader. There is a collection of videos and still photos shown to the group and people tend to let loose a bit more than on any of the previous nights of the academy.

We all got PSIA National Academy certificates as well as the PSIA National Academy pins. These pins are the same size and look very similar to the Level 3 full certification pins so when people see you on the slopes with the National Academy pins they think you are a big deal (cause they think you are level 3 unless they look at it very carefully).

After the banquet, most everyone headed up to the Aerie for a night cap. The place is an outrageously expensive place to drink but for one night out it was worth it. We all had a blast and drank enough to get a little buzz going. It was a great finish to anoher great event. Sometime around September 2009, we’ll be anxiously awaiting the anouncement for the details of the 2010 PSIA National Academy!

Day 4 of the 2009 PSIA National Academy started out like the previous 3 with bright sunny skies, soft now in Mineral Basin and a morning clinic with Andy Docken of Aspen Highlands resorts. Everyone in the group was holding up well as was the snow considering the almost hot sunny weather.

Mineral Basin softened up before the rest of the mountain in the morning and we stared the day there. Later in the morning session, we bounced back to the Peruvian side, skied the Cirque and a variety of other terrain.

Following another good (and free) lunch thanks to the folks at PSIA National, it was off to the afternoon elective - The Video Session. Another amazing PSIA demo team skier, Nick Herrin Director of the Ski and Ride School at Crested Butte, Colorado. Nick is an amazing skier and did a phenomenal job running and filming the video session. Video sessions typically don’t involve much skiing because it tends to take up so much time actually filming and then going into watch and critique it. For this video session we took about 3 runs and got in some good video.

Nick filmed one run on groomed terrain, one in crud and one in bumps. We were out on the slopes for about 90 minutes and then headed down to the Alpine Room (I think it was) in the Tram Building. We had about 8 people in the group and got some great feedback on each of the different types of terrain we skied. Video is such a useful tool for improving your skiing since you can actually see what the instructor sees and is giving you feedback on.

My biggest takeaway from the video session was timing of the pole plants. My skiing in the bumps looked pretty sharp but on the groomers and in the crud I was forcing the pole plants and making a more abrupt turn than necessary so needed to work on a more smooth turn initiation. The PSIA folks bring their own personal video cameras for the video sessions which is cool. The PSIA National Academy is simply one of the best events in any professional organization and it’s probably bootstrapped more than we know. This year was every bit as good as last year and the national staff who put it all together did an amazing job on absolutely everything from the opening banquet to the skiing sessions to the dinners and banquets.

Tonight there was no banquet so we were on our own for dinner. The Wildflower down at the Iron Blossom lodge had a wing special so I headed down there for 2 dozen wings and a Siera Nevada Pale ale. After letting that settle for a while, I hit the hot tub for about an hour and a half and then headed back to the room and hit the sack.

Next up is Day 5 (the final day) of the 2009 PSIA National Academy In Snowbird Utah!

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!