SPLITS HAPPEN,
BUT YOUR APPROACH CAN PREPARE YOU FOR THE INEVITABLE %\ 0DUN $LNHQ
A
bility splits come in all shapes and sizes and emerge in every kind of lesson. Do they have t o ruin the day? Are they avoidable?
Consider three cases I observed last winter. 1. CASE 1: Two overweight accountants from Florida take a never- ever group lesson. T en one clicks into skis and immediately slides comfortably around on the fl ats. T e other is awkward and off - balance. His every movement is a struggle.
2. CASE 2: Five 10-year-old boys, all hockey players, are assessed at Level 5. By the end of just one run, one of them skis like a Level 7 and one skis like a Level 4.
3. CASE 3: Six friends sign up for a multi-person private lesson, as they have for each of the last four years. Although they have a range of ability levels, they assure the seller at the ticket counter and the instructor (whom they request year after year) that they love skiing together. After an hour, the stronger three skiers decide to leave the lesson to ski more challenging terrain.
Every ski and ride school has systems designed to place students into groups of similar ability levels, and yet disparities in student skill levels do come up. We have all handled ability splits in lessons, either managing the diff erent profi ciencies or shifting students into other groups as splits emerge. Looking at the above cases, I wondered if we as instructors behaved in ways or did things that encouraged or discouraged the emergence of ability splits – or made them more or less likely to occur. I also wondered if there was anything we could do on the front end that would help set us up to better manage the situation rather than calling supervisors and reinforcements when ability splits appear. To get answers, I spoke with two experienced ski professionals, Nate Gardner, an Eastern Division examiner and training manager at Vermont’s Stowe Mountain Resort, and Angus Graham, a Rocky Mountain Division trainer and Aspen/ Snowmass private instructor and staff trainer. T ey told me what I hated to hear – that ability splits are as natural as two-foot dumps in February. “Splits are appropriate in all situations,” says Graham. But they also gave me hope; according to Gardner and Graham, there are ways to manage groups, despite emerging splits, that actually help facilitate progress and learning.
COVER ALL THE STEPS Angus Graham Nate Gardner
Some instructors get over-eager when students grasp a concept quickly. I have taken a group of never-evers to the beginner area, had them click into skis, and before I’ve even started teaching, they are laughing, sliding around, and even turning and stopping. Fun! T ey all seem to be getting it, so I run them through a sort of accelerated program; I show them what they need to know, and before you know it, we’re chairlift-bound.
THESNOWPROS.ORG | 45
COURTESY OF ANGUS GRAHAM
COURTESY OF NATE GARDNER
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