Jonathan Mirsky-Cohen, a Level II snowboard instructor at Keystone, Colorado. “I’d probably move here to teach if it weren’t for the great team of people I work with back home.” Mirsky-Cohen said the chance to ride at such a legendary area,
and work on new skills and teaching tactics, is one of the reasons National Academy has become a regular event for him. With a nearly equal mix of fi rst-time attendees and longtime Academy afi cionados (some who have been coming to the event for more than 25 seasons), each year provides an opportunity to catch up with old friends, and make new ones. “As a clinician at this event, I always think about all the hard
work snowboard instructors have put in, and this is our chance to pay them back and focus solely on them,” said AASI Snowboard Team member Eric Rolls. Several attendees echoed Rolls’ remark, saying National
Academy gives them a chance to have fun, map out new lesson plans, and put the spotlight on their own skiing and riding. “T is is my reward for myself. It’s my big ski trip, to be able to come out here to such a great mountain,” said Dabney Richardson, a Level
I ski instructor at
Wintergreen, Virginia. “I look forward to getting new tips and having some of the team members show me around.”
GOOD ORGANIC FUN… IN A WHITEOUT Midway through the event, heavy snows and limited visibility made having a guide a necessity on the mountain’s big terrain. It also made for some good storylines. “On the foggy day, Jennifer Simpson,
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technology is augmenting and often leading the charge for all the resources available to snow pros. One of the most game-changing innovations is the way PSIA- AASI members can use their laptops, smartphones, and tablets to access the new alpine, snowboard, and telemark technical manuals. In a presentation titled “PSIA-AASI’s Educational and Technological (R)Evolution,” ski instruction legend, and the latest recipient of the PSIA-AASI Award for Educational Excellence, Ellen Post Foster demonstrated how easily instructors can access videos and content from the new manuals, either at home or on the hill, through the digital Snow Pro Library. (For more information on this digital resource, see page 22. For more on Ellen Post Foster, see page 13.) Once all the heavy snow started falling on the fourth day
of National Academy, with the sound of snow control bombs punctuating the breakfast routine, it was only appropriate to have Snowbird patroller and snow safety forecaster Dean Cardinale explain how all that weather impacts daily eff orts to open the mountain. Covering everything from meteorological and snow- depth monitoring stations, snow crystal studies, and on-snow evaluation to bomb throwing, howitzer fi ring, and avalanche- dog training, Cardinale provided an exhaustive, exhilarating perspective on the sometimes
life-and-death
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Heidi Ettlinger, and I took out 12 gals for a women’s clinic. We went up the tram to fi nd whiteout conditions,” said Alpine Team member Robin Barnes. “We skied down doing a human slalom in hopes of being able to ‘see’ something. It was a total giggle fest.” T e clinic even acquired a new participant, thanks to the conditions conjured up by Mother Nature. “We found a gentleman on the way down who was lost in the fog and he asked to follow us,” said Barnes. “We invited ‘Greta’ to stay with us for the afternoon and we all had a blast skiing, laughing, and making the best of challenging conditions. T at kind of energy and those good attitudes cannot be planned. It was good, organic fun.”
Attendees had a great time at National Academy… but don’t take our word for it; take theirs!
consequences
that go into the work patrollers do behind the scenes.
POWDER AND A PARTY! With plenty of untracked terrain open on the fi nal day of Academy, gleeful attendees added their ski and snowboard signatures to the Snowbird landscape by making beautiful
powder turns all over the mountain. For some, that might have been all the revelry they needed to go out in style. Offi cial Supplier Leki, however, had other ideas, hosting a raucous après party on the Snowbird deck to salute the end of the season. Clearly, the manufacturers who partner with PSIA-AASI
INDOOR CLINICS INFORM AND ENLIGHTEN Indoors, attendees were treated to several unique clinics crafted to help them keep their gear in top shape, get a better handle on social media and PSIA-AASI’s digital initiatives, and even learn about the science and snow-control eff orts behind opening a mountain as big as Snowbird. On the gear front, Matt Schiller of MasterFit University, an authority on top boot-fi tting techniques, led a session to help snow pros get the best performance out of their footwear, while Zach Littlepage of Swix/Toko provided a high-level clinic on ski and snowboard tuning. In media, several attendees took over the association’s Instagram account, sharing awesome photos and GoPro videos from the event with members around the country. Attendees also received an overview of the many ways digital
value their relationship with ski and snowboard instructors, and that came through loud and clear during the mini trade show at National Academy. “You can’t fi nd a more passionate group – a more gear-centric group,” said Leki’s Greg Wozer. “T e number of days they put on the product is a great testing ground for us. We learn more from them than we do sitting in the offi ce, for sure.”
“NA15 may go down in history as one of the best ever. A
tragic weather forecast turned out to be almost perfect,” said Alpine Team member Matt Boyd. “Leki made the last day one to remember – I know my feet will remember being in ski boots through dinner. But the best part is, and always will be, great people becoming great friends by getting together to explore Snowbird and share the sport we all love.”
Peter Kray is the lead content offi cer for PSIA-AASI, focusing on emerging ski and snowboard trends and on-snow innovations. He skis, telemarks, and snowboards out of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and is the author of The God of Skiing (
bit.ly/godofskiing), which is being hailed as “The greatest ski novel of all time.” Email:
pkray@thesnowpros.org
THESNOWPROS.ORG | 31
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