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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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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