APRÈS


#SNOWPROS #LAUGHTRACKS


One of the challenges ski schools face is the daily pursuit of placing students in the appropriate class for their goals and abilities – known as the class split. Karin Kirk, a Level III alpine instructor, staff trainer, and Ridge Guide at Montana’s Bridger Bowl, shared this tongue-in-cheek fl ow chart for a “real-world” approach to handling class splits.


YOU’RE NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN By Jane Yost


I


love telling this story, especially when I hear people say “I’m too old to learn to ski/snowboard!” (and they’re only 45 or something!). And I tell it a lot, because I get that comment a lot.


So the fi rst year I was teaching, some 29 years ago, I had a beginner class in which I had an 83- year-old man. And I said to him


(something like), “T at’s fantastic that you’re learning how to ski at this age!” To which he replied, “Why, I don’t see anything unusual or special about it. T e way I see it is that if I can still walk and talk, then I’m still capable of learning something new. I may never become an expert, or even get down the bunny hill, but I sure am enjoying learning something I didn’t know yesterday!” Bless his heart, if he was still alive he’d


All ages welcome! 128 | 32 DEGREES • WINTER 2016


be 112 years old this season. But no, I’ll bet he loved his new-found interest so much that he requested to go to the great white snowfi elds in the sky when his time fi nally came. If only I had developed some keeping- in-touch-with-my-students skills back then!


I would love to have known if he came back a few more times. My own mother learned at 65, but


then erred on the safe side and gave it up at 75. However, it was 10 years of a fun activity that she probably would never have experienced had she not heard the story of my 83-year-old beginner student.


Jane Yost, whose certifi cation credentials are Snowboard Level I and “Alpine Level II & ¾” teaches at Pennsylvania’s Roundtop Mountain Resort.


This anecdote is drawn from the


thread


“Teaching on


the


PSIA-AASI Community. Add your own anecdote at: tiny. cc/eyf12x


Beginners”


ISTOCK


LAUGH TRACKS


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