1.
2. 5. 3. 4.
6. 7. 8. 9.
MONTANA SKI AREAS 1. Turner* 2. :KLWHfi VK >%LJ 0RXQWDLQ@ 3. Blacktail* 4. Teton Pass* 5. Bear Paw Ski Bowl 6. Lookout 7. Snowbowl* 8. Great Divide* 9. Showdown* 10. Discovery* 11. Lost Trail Powder Mountain 12. Maverick* 13. Big Sky* 14. Yellowstone Club* 15. Bridger Bowl* 16. Red Lodge*
10. 15. 11. 12. 13. 14. 16.
OTHER NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN DIVISION AREAS Q Gardner Headwall (Beartooth Mountains, Wyoming) Q Terry Peak, SD* Q Frost Fire, ND Q Sleeping Giant, WY* Q Deer Mountain /Ski Mystic, SD* Q Casper Mountain, WY* Q Jackson Hole, WY*
Q Edelweiss Lodge (Garmisch, Germany)* *PSIA-AASI Member Ski School
made for a reunion of some sort at almost every area we visited. But the best part was when we approached a ski school, member school or not, and the PSIA-AASI connections just poured out onto the table like a smorgasbord of benefi ts for the area, the school, and our fellow instructors. Mike made sincere and gentle pitches to the non-member schools to work with their division to join PSIA-AASI, and asked the member schools what we could do to make things better. More training and diverse movement analysis is what they all crave so they can expand beyond their long- standing patterns. T ey all struggle with the reality that they are feeder schools for those who go on to bigger resorts. But we all have to thank them, for they are the cornerstones of our passions. T ey start the skiers and they start the instructors. T ese areas – and all the others like them – are keeping skiing and snowboarding alive. Since PSIA started in 1961, we have lost twice as many ski areas as we currently have. We need to embrace the small areas that remain and respect their ability to contribute to this great sport. If you learned at a small area and are still skiing there, you are blessed. But we encourage you to go to a destination resort just so you can see the power of your skills and knowledge. If you learned to ski at a big-time resort
and that is the only place you ski, you need to go to a small local ski area to plunge yourself into the vitality and feel the energy that is generated by these icons of American skiing. As an instructor, if you decide to visit another ski area, it’s worth your time to observe the daily lineup and meet your fellow PSIA-AASI members.
LEARNING FROM OUR ADVENTURE After 4,500-plus miles, we did cover all 16 Montana ski areas. We fi nished the quest on March 3, 2016, at Lost Trail Powder Mountain on a powder T ursday. (We plan to share details of all the resorts we visited in an upcoming book.) Each area is its own adventure – each has its own fl avor, with a full complement of challenges for every level of skier or rider. If you’re lucky, and the weather cooperates, each one is capable of providing an epic day on snow that you will talk about for the rest of your life. All in all, it was the best ski season we
have ever experienced for myriad reasons, including the camaraderie and the joy of playing in the snow. But the most important one was our reconnection to the reality of snowsports in America and how we perceive PSIA-AASI and the role instructors play in peoples’ lives. T ough we are ski and snowboard instructors by name, we are all passionate preachers promoting our love for
a play day with gravity. As teachers, we are gifting our patrons with an activity they can pursue into their old age and pass along to their children. We watched big ski schools send out as many as 100 lessons in a morning, and at Teton Pass we watched in awe as three instructors handled a busload of students from Browning Alternative School. (We off ered to help but we were not needed.) T ey got all but one of the kids up the chair, truly enjoying their introduction to the joy of sliding on snow. Over lunch we heard a girl talk the one boy who had quit into going out and trying again. T e enthusiasm of a fi rst-time skier cajoling her friend into not giving up spoke to us in a way that made us understand what a gift we have to give as snowsports teachers. T at conversation was certainly a highlight
of our adventure. As we were leaving Teton Pass, we stopped by the ski school to say goodbye to director Nate White, and there the boy was out on the beginner slope, working on his wedge turns.
/RQJWLPH IULHQGV Rich Noonan and Mike Ewing DUH $OSLQH /HYHO ΖΖΖ FHUWLfi HG LQVWUXFWRUV DW %LJ 6N\ 0RQWDQD 1RRQDQȇV FUHGHQWLDOV DOVR LQFOXGH 6QRZERDUG /HYHO Ζ DQG $FFUHGLWHG &KLOGUHQȇV (GXFDWRU ZKLOH (ZLQJȇV LQFOXGH &KLOGUHQȇV 6SHFLDOLVW
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THESNOWPROS.ORG | 91
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