Time flies… when you spend all your non-working awake time on the slopes

It’s hard to believe that 2 months have passed since my last post – and so much has changed. For starters, my shoulder is healing nicely and I’m now pain free all the time. I still can’t sleep on my left shoulder, but i’m able to ski without restrictions – although it’s not strong enough to carry gates.

According to my surgeon, I’ll go back under the knife around April – or when I’m sure the ski season is done. Apparently the second surgery is pretty simple. They slice open my scar and uncork the 4 screws then slide out the hook plate.

The healing process should be fast – and apparently i’ll be swinging a golf club within a month.

I’ve already worked two level 1 courses this season and will be starting a third tonight at the North York Ski Centre. It’s a night course – so I’ll be traveling back and forth three nights this week and next. I’ve really enjoyed teaching the courses and had the opportunity to run the whole show (as a master course conductor) over the holidays at Mansfield.

I was given the opportunity to shadow part of a level 2 course over the holidays as well and hope to do more of these this season.

I knew my original season plan would change after my accident, but I’m surprised by the fact that despite everything, I’ve already been on snow about 25 days.

The other change in my season plan is that I’m no longer working at Alpine Ski Club.  I’m unable to coach and I was told they had plenty of instructors already.  I was hoping to fill in occasionally and do bell and run some sessions, but unfortunately it hasn’t worked out and I’ve become a free agent.

For the first time in years, I’m free to ski and go wherever I want.

Sasha & I just came back from a level 4 camp in Ste-Anne and I’m booking a weekend trip to Whiteface in two weeks. I’m loving this new freedom and plan on doing 2 more camps at Ste-Anne and at least one more weekend road trip.

Apparently some traveling ski clubs do upwards of 5 trips a year to Quebec, Vermont, and out West. This will definitely be something to consider for next year.

I’ve also decided not to go on the level 4 exams this year.  I’m realistic with where my abilities are at, and although I’m skiing better than I ever have right now, there are obvious gaps I need to overcome first.

I’m focused on the big prize – but I’m patient enough to wait my turn

Here I am in Mont Ste Anne for the third time this season. 

After much contemplation over the past two weeks (and a lot of work by some of the people at the CSIA office) I have decided to register and take the level 4 exams which comprise of 9 ski and 2 teaching exams.

I flew out of Toronto early this morning to arrive in Quebec City - unfortunately my skis did not.  I was relieved to find them on the next flight, along with a friend who was also taking the exams. Ben & I hoped into a taxi and $115 later and we were on the hill with sunshine.

After meeting up with friends from Alpine (Anik and Phil McAllen), I skied for a couple of hours.  I free skied and made myself comfortable and at home on the hill.

Tomorrow exams start at 8:30am and continue for the next four days.  I’m going in with an open mind with little expectations while looking to have fun and learn something from the experience.

I’ll keep you updated over the next four days….

As our epic season comes to a close, I’ve found myself reflecting on what has been an interesting season for me.

For the first time in many years, I switched to “the dark side” as Sasha calls it and became a coach for a K1 team out of the Alpine ski club in Collingwood, Ontario. 

Having been on the instructing side for the better part of the last 15 seasons, I was looking forward to coaching kids who were inherently more focused on ski improvement and going fast.

I was also looking forward to refining and in some cases acquiring some new skills – like setting a GS and Slalom course for different training outcomes.

Overall the season was a success – but a few things surprised me about the coaching culture that I wasn’t aware of before…

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The past week has been a great experience.

We were lucky to have not only a fun group, but a talented one too.

For the first time I really understand our new learning methodology (AICRCv) and how it applies to different skiers who are at different stages of incorporating changes into their own skiing. I’m looking forward to applying what I’ve learned to our sessions at Alpine for the balance of this season and going forward.

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Our day, and course, finished on the ‘S;’ a gnarly, steep bump run covered in fluffy snow down skiers right on the south face of the mountain.  As a group we charged down the run, all feeling super confident and charged at the end.

Again today we were guided by Emerson Brooks.  His relaxed, efficient style was even more evident today.  He kicked off our day with a top to bottom cruiser; today there was no messing around!  It was going to be a maximum vertical day.

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Today was a typical Quebec ski day; -20C, a haze of clouds, and a thick frost on your windshield.

We were on snow at Le Massif by 9:00am with our new course conductor, Emerson Brooks.  Originally from Montreal, Emerson moved to Lake Louise 18 years ago.  He is your typical west coast skier, extremely relaxed and fluid, but his performance in this relaxed mode is matched by few. 

For the past four days he has been skiing in short bursts, usually about 100ft of vertical at a time.  What he didn’t realize was how energized our group was.

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None of us were looking forward to day three.

It wasn’t the fact that we were going to spend the majority of our day skiing moguls (we liked that part), it was the fact the forecast was calling for pouring rain and 8 degrees.

The temperature did get a bit warmer – but it stayed below zero which resulted in 15 lovely cm of snow instead of 15 cm of pouring rain. What was looking like a miserable day turned out to be another epic day on snow.

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 Day two at Mont Sainte Anne was much like the first – sunny with fantastic snow.

The focus of our day was short radius on the steeps while working on our own teaching methods. Looking to incorporate the new IACRCv development model which is very student / athlete focused, we worked on refining each other’s techniques through tactics and two-way feedback.

One of the themes of the day was keeping things simple. As Instructors we have a lot of technical knowledge and often talk too much and keep things too complex. It’s like telling somebody with the sniffles that that have an upper respiratory infection instead of just saying they have a cold.  Next time you are going up the chairlift, make note of who are the slowest skiers on the hill… it’s usually the instructors.

By keeping the feedback simple and specific you’ll spend more time skiing and less time talking. The last time I checked, you get better at skiing by skiing

We spent the last few runs in the moguls again today as a warm-up to day three where we’ll be spending our entire day in them.

We can hardly wait!

Sasha & I are in Mont Sainte Anne this week taking our level 4 Instructors course. Located about 8 hours north-east of Toronto or about 3 hours north of Montreal, Ste Anne is a great proving ground for instructors looking to achieve skiing’s equivalent of a kung fu black belt – the level 4.

We spent our first day working on ski improvement and skiing mostly on the front side (or the steep side) of the mountain. With over 2 feet of fresh snow on the ground from the last 24hrs, the conditions were fantastic.

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