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EXIT NOW.
 
 BILL
JONES
ski instructor (PSIA gold level 3)
0637 Blue Ridge Rd., Silverthorne, CO 80498
970/468-7673
billj@skimybest.com ww.skimybest.com
To book lessons: 1-888-LRN2SKI or www.snow.com
fall 2009
Fellow skier,
If you lived in Summit County, Colorado, as I do, you’d
be thinking about skiing. Snow has fallen this autumn several times and weather
for making snow has generally been good, too. All our ski areas are now open,
although skiable terrain is still being added as conditions permit. Breckenridge
Ski Area, where I teach skiing, opened November 12. I’ll be in my 5th winter
there, my 27th year of teaching in this region—and have logged over
half a century of skiing. Even so, I’m again this year attending the Fall
Workshop of the Professional Ski Instructors of America to ensure I’ll be giving
you the latest take on skiing. I still take lessons! Will you continue your
lesson-taking this year, or restart your journey to more skiing fun? Recall what
ski movie-maker Warren Miller says, “If you don’t start skiing or skiing better
this year you’ll be at least one more year older when you do!” I do
appreciate the opportunity to have been with you on the slopes in the past and
hope to ski with you again.
If we have skied together in the last few years, I have a
card on file recording what we worked on; this will give us an idea of where to
start when we go out again. If not, we’ll catch up quickly anyway. You can
reserve my time in a private lesson (can include up to 6 persons) by calling
1-888-LRN2SKI or online at
www.snow.com. If you have any trouble doing this, call or
email me at home (see letterhead above) and I will do what I can to rearrange my
time so I can be with you. The sooner you call the better the odds are that my
schedule will still be open and that we can ski together. When you do book,
please also let me know at my email or phone where you are “at” in your skiing
since we last met and what you would like to do. This information could
influence where we should start out to get the most for our time together.
Remember that I can bring a video camera for on-slope analysis if you wish and
if the weather permits. Afterwards I can make and send you a copy of your skiing
video.
Thanks for skiing with me before…And now? We can develop
goals together
Have you skied a blue run yet? If so, how about a black?
And moguls, powder, steeps?
Are you ready to try Breckenridge’s Imperial Bowl from the
top of the highest chairlift in North America at 12,840 feet? I can help you
get ready and be your guide on your first trip down.
How is your time in the race course? This is the year of
the Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler Mountain, British Columbia. You,
too, can be a racer so long as you have at least parallel skiing skills, or we
get you to that level. Skiers in my lessons at Breckenridge can run gates
(usually available) either for time or practice without further charge and gain
an understanding of what the Olympians will be doing, making watching the events
more meaningful. Too, I can coach beginning racers who want to compete for time
in the NASTAR (National Standard Race) event, possibly winning a bronze, silver,
gold, or platinum pin in your age/gender/skill category or get ready to race in
the national championships (talk about the bragging rights that will give you!).
Having a technique goal is good, too, and can have the
spin-off benefit of being able to ski more of the mountain successfully.
Do you have a style goal, that is beyond wearing the latest
trendy ski costume? Let’s talk, for some notions of style in skiing are
non-functional, and that would not be a good side effect.
If you just want a guide on the slopes, that works with me,
too.
Have you skied at the other Vail Resorts ski areas?
Because my Breckenridge Ski and Ride School is part of Vail Resorts, I can also
go with you to teach at all of the other Vail ski areas—Keystone, Vail, Beaver
Creek, Heavenly Valley (in California), plus the separate Arapahoe Basin. Trips
to these other areas can add variety to your skiing, and with me along--because
I have taught on the ski schools of each of these areas (except Heavenly
Valley)--I have an idea of the terrain best for your ability level so that you
are more likely to have a good experience.
·
At Vail, if you are a competent parallel skier and have not yet
experienced Vail’s Back Bowls or Blue Sky Basin, well, you should. They are
immense with awesome terrain but also have runs for good intermediate skiers.
Vail has more ski terrain than any other American ski area; it takes days to
ride all the lifts.
·
At Arapahoe Basin, get a glimpse of our high alpine Colorado
Rockies. A trip there for the mountain scenery is a must (in good weather).
When its East Wall is open, skiing deep powder is almost a given. Or go over the
ridge to their Montezuma Bowl. Here is a resort with no condos or overnight
lodges—just folks who love to ski. Known as The Legend for its challenging
slopes and chutes, it also has beginner and good intermediate terrain so skiers
of these skill levels can also enjoy our Colorado alps. Arapahoe is classic
Colorado skiing.
·
At Keystone, if you are an advanced beginner aspiring to that next
intermediate level, the 3-mile plus Schoolmarm run at Keystone can be the next
feather in your cap. You can see Lake Dillon down in the valley below and even
look across that valley to Breckenridge. You may even want to tackle some of
Keystone’s great blue runs or tree descents or come back at night to try skiing
under lights (when scheduled).
·
At Beaver Creek you can ski their extensive gentler upper slopes
or tackle the famed bumped Birds of Prey runs as well as see the sites of World
Cup races. You can journey over to the adjoining Arrowhead Ski Area and back as
well.
·
At Heavenly Valley in California you can ski in two states in one
day and overlook the beautiful Lake Tahoe in the High Sierra. There you can
gamble at night. (Heavenly Valley has more logistical requirements for me to get
to than the Colorado areas but because I have family in that region I am willing
to try to arrange trips. Contact me if interested.
Do you have a non-skier who comes with you?
I like to think of such folks as not-yet skiers. If so, let
me suggest a beginner lesson at Breckenridge. I have started many people on
their ski-journeys and know that the learning slope at Peak 9 in Breckenridge is
the best place for this. That is a major reason why I work there instead of at
another ski area, for the reality is that most ski school students are
beginners. The learning-area gradients graduate from almost level to easy and
are mastered by almost all who try it. In a private lesson I can pace the
learning based on the background and desires of the learner, not those of a ski
school group class or my own. It does usually take a few days to move off these
learning slopes, but the progressions that have been designed over the years by
the professional ski instructors’ organization make the process the more
certain. Too, these progressions are intended to allow continued progress to
ever-higher levels, for the skills and movements taught are the ones that lead
beyond beginner skills to intermediate and higher levels. I have “indexes” of
certain skills that are needed to most successfully graduate from one slope to
another and I do not move folks ahead until I see these performed, for I want
success when folks graduate, as they surely must.
Have you looked at my website
www.skimybest.com lately?
Lots of tips on skiing are there—especially in the included
ski manual “Skiing is a Sliding Sport”; for this click on
www.skimybest.com/skimanul.htm. I’ve added more to it this fall and re-edit
it every time a notion strikes me. Don’t read the whole manual; use the contents
to find what matters most to you. For instance, there is material on the
mechanics of skiing, adapting technique to various snow types,
gender/age/culture differences, kids, gear, and even environmental factors such
as altitude effects. (Is the effect of altitude an issue for you or someone in
your group? If so, consider checking with your doctor in advance of your trip
for a prescription drug to be taken a few days before you get here that might
ease the transition to ski area elevations.)
 I’ve
recently added a humor section to the website, for instance:
There's this skier standing on
one side of a mogul slope. "Yoo-hoo!" she shouts to a snowboarder on the other
side, "I can't ski moguls, how can I get to the other side?" The snowboarder
looks up the slope and then down the slope and shouts back, "You ARE on the
other side."
And a dictionary, for instance:
Alp: One of
a number of ski mountains in Europe. Also a shouted request for assistance made
by a European skier on a U.S. mountain. An appropriate reply: "What Zermatter?"
When can you/ should you come to ski Colorado?
When is the best time to come skiing in Colorado? I often
get this question. My best answer is “Every time you can!”, for that is why I
live here—so I can ski more often. But if you must ration your trips, wait until
the snows have had time to accumulate and/or the snow guns have had more time to
make a base. This usually takes until mid-December or later, depending on the
snow storms we get and the conditions we have for making snow. Come sooner than
mid-December and it is likely that fewer runs will be open (and as a result the
ones that are open will be more crowded) and mogul and powder skiing will likely
be minimal if at all (it takes deeper snow for mogul skiing, as the troughs
otherwise are dug down to rocks). Skiing in the trees will almost certainly be
unsafe (branches and logs will not yet be covered). Upper lifts may not be
running (it takes deeper snow to cover the bigger rocks and windblown spots up
there ). The race course and terrain gardens may not yet be operating, for lack
of snow depth. (That said, I remember one year with thigh deep powder on
Halloween. And although gun-made snow can be tricky to ski, sometimes the
snow-whales produced by the nozzles are a real hoot to ski up and around.)
Possibly, only one of Breckenridge’s base areas will be open, but perhaps
Keystone, Vail, Beaver Creek, or Arapahoe Basin will have superior conditions,
and we can choose and go to the best.
Check the opening page of my website
www.skimybest.com for webcams that will show you conditions at
Breckenridge—bottom to top. Or call me at 970/468-7673 or email me at
billjones@skimybest.com. If you watch the weather, use local Summit County
information, not that for the Denver area, for there is a high continental
divide between Summit County and Denver and most often a world of difference in
the weather of the two regions. You may also see my website
www.skimybest.com\default.htmfor a link to Breckenridge weather.
Can you come at times other than work or school holidays?
The Thanksgiving period and that from Christmas to New Years (give or take a few
days) are busy times, as is Martin Luther King Day weekend (January 16-18 in
2010) and President’s Day weekend (February 13-15 in 2010). In past years, times
of college spring breaks have been busy but this has become variable recently.
If you can come at slack times you will have less skier traffic on your runs and
will help me keep from getting lonesome during these less busy periods. I have
stood on the slopes at quiet times and not been able to see other skiers! Of
course you might interrupt my own fun ski times but that is O.K., too. Some of
Colorado’s best snow conditions are after mid-March, especially during storms,
but with the warmer weather then there is greater variability. To mitigate,
Breckenridge grooms its snows until closing day-- April 18 this year. “Every
green/every blue/every day” is the motto.
Also, start your day early. Usually fewer skiers are out
when the lifts start turning and the snow will be freshly groomed by the
overnight crews. Later in the day, traffic sometimes polishes the snow surface
and it becomes slicker. Please do not stay away on powder days. Breckenridge
almost always has runs that are groomed even right after a fresh snowfall. You
can use such conditions to ski into pockets of powder and learn the sensations
of floating on the snow instead of sliding or skidding on it. This can lead to
skills that will lead to what most skiers find the epitome of their sport—skiing
deep powder. (A caveat—sometimes snow will fall heavily after the grooming of a
slope has been completed, leaving a few inches of loose powder, giving us a
hopefully welcome opportunity to learn more about handling it.)
Who takes lessons?
 
You might be interested to know who skied with me last
year—that is, where they were from. Only one party was from Colorado, ¼ were
from overseas, almost half were from the southern US, and 1/5 were from the
Midwest. No one came from farther west. This pattern has been typical in past
years as well.
A recent report from the National Ski Areas Association
reveals that more than 60 percent of skiers take a lesson their first time out.
Many coming back after an extended hiatus take lessons, too. Women are more
likely than men to enroll. The following is reassuring: “Feedback on the general
lesson experience is overwhelmingly positive…Beginners tend to rate their
lessons highly, giving the thumbs-up for their instructors and the amount of
content covered. “ Even so about 85 percent of beginners do not continue, for
varied reasons including cost (beginners tend not to know about available
discounts), available leisure time, and distance to travel. One study showed
that the majority of beginners are in the 25- to 44-year old range and about 60
percent are female. Most are of the white race, but 20% are in minority groups,
almost double that in the overall wintersport population. Household incomes
were moderate to high generally, but 28% were below $50,000 annually. And even
though winter 2008-2009 was a period of a difficult economy, the season was the
fifth best ever recorded for total visits. Resorts, being business entities,
obviously would like to have more beginners become passionate repeat skiers, and
so a ten-point plan has been developed. Here is what the plan says the resorts
should do, and I have added in italics what you can do to help your instructor
make your ski trips a success, too, for learning is a partnership between
teacher and student:
1)
Provide information about what to expect ahead of time. The internet
is a great tool for this, but look behind the flashy shots of skiers in the air
upside down. The Breckenridge site is reached through
www.snow.com. And I have an informative site
www.skimybest.com with an included skiing manual “Skiing is a
Sliding Sport”. Use keywords to search for more.
2)
Improve the arrival process with signs and greeters. Vail Resorts
provides knowledgeable folks at the arrival areas to the lifts; approach them,
for they are eager to help. Resorts color-code their uniforms and put insignias
on them. At Breckenridge, a blue parka with a ? identifies a source of
information. A red outfit is for a ski instructor. A red parka with a cross is
for a ski patrolman. A yellow parka is for a slope-side traffic monitor.
3)
Focus on boot fitting and on providing extra attention in the equipment
rental shop. See my website skiing manual at
www.skimybestcom/skiequip.htm and scroll down to “Boots”. Also see
my skiing manual at
www.skimybest.com/skicsw17.htm for a discussion of why boots
matter. There is more involved than comfort. You can have your private
instructor go with you to the rental shop. Get your boots early in the day when
greater selection is available so you can try on the size above and below the
one that fits best. Rent at the ski area so you can exchange if the boot you
choose does not work out. Have boots warm when you put them on to ski so the
liners can conform to your foot shape. Lessons have been ruined for not having
appropriate ski boots.
4)
Limit group lesson size to seven students. This website focuses mainly
on private lessons, an obvious way around this factor, for although most ski
areas attempt to keep group lessons smaller, many do not limit the size. During
busy periods, large group lessons are more likely to occur, making private
lessons even more popular—so long as unreserved staff does not run out.
5)
Group lesson participants by athleticism and learning goals. Again,
ski areas strive to do this and provide time at lesson starts for this. Then
there is often a little skiing done with the assigned instructor to evaluate the
“split” with a chance for an adjustment. In a single-person private lesson this
factor is not present, but in multi-person private lessons the desire is often
to ski together, thus compromising the performance of the more athletic or
advanced members, for teaching and terrain selection must be geared to the least
skilled. Solutions are to use a well-trained instructor who can manage more
levels and/or to split the time available so that persons of similar skill
levels are with the instructor while others ski or rest. (There is a way such a
program can help with costs, too, for continuing a lesson into the afternoon can
often be done at a smaller add-on charge than a morning lesson costs.)
6)
Staff beginner lessons with experienced instructors. Resorts and the
Professional Ski Instructors Association train instructors to this end. Usually
private-lesson instructors are the more experienced at a resort . In a private
lesson you may be able to specify that your instructor be experienced and even
sanctioned at a given certification standard (levels 1, 2, and 3 with 3 the
highest but not always available unless reserved).
7)
Focus on offering personalized lesson closure. What did you learn
well? What did you not? What can you work on and how? Give your instructor time
at lesson end to help you with these insights. Avoid distractions of meeting
friends then, picking up kids, etc.
8)
Provide roving instructors for those not taking lessons. An
interesting concept that might be explored.
9)
Follow up with guests and invite them back. E-mail is increasingly
being used for this. If you are comfortable with releasing your address the
resorts can do this better.
10)
Create a resort-wide culture of valuing beginners. Designation of
slopes for learners and intermediates respond to this need and provision of
onslope traffic monitors helps, too. Increasing awareness of skier
responsibility codes helps, too. My website has a discussion of ski etiquette at
www.skiymbest/skiethic.com.
--paraphrased from 32 Degrees, Fall 2009, pages 60-62.
Bill’s skiing family
I’ve probably bragged about my grandchildren to you. If you
have your own—or when you do—you’ll understand. All mine have been in skiing
Junior Olympics. My son was a professional ski racer and college-level coach and
my daughter was a racer and instructor, too. The latest news is that my
thirteen-year old grandson Riley got invited to the western U.S. Junior Olympics
last spring and did well enough that his folks sent him to New Zealand this
summer for more race training. He skis on the Sugar Bowl Race Team in
California, the same area that Olympian Daaron Rhalves comes from. In fact,
Riley races with Daaron’s retired bib under his own. I’ll be arranging my
schedule when I can to watch Riley again this year. He came to Colorado this
fall for early-season training, for even though our snow may not be primo then,
our snow-making is, and it often is the best available in the world at that time
and attracts racers from all countries.
And what have you been up to?
Ski heil,
Bill Jones
Some late-breaking news about private lesson pre-purchase
at Breckenridge for 2009-2010. Note the deadline. (And be advised that this is
unofficial. Confirm rates at snow.com and/or when you reserve a private lesson
at 1-888-LRN2SKI):
Private Lesson Pre-Purchase
Pre-Purchase
5 All Day Private Lessons for $2875 ( Retail $3200)
-
Pre-Purchase Product will be billed in full.
-
Pre-Purchase Product must be purchased by 12/11.
-
Half day
products not available for redemption.
-
All Day
Redemption Product may not be split into two separate days.
-
Lessons
may be used any time throughout season.
-
Lessons
must be booked under original purchaser’s profile.
-
Guest is
not limited to one pro over the duration of lessons. 1 Pro per day.
P.S.: Do I
have your email address? We can save some paper and some postage and mail-time
if you send it to me at
billjones@skimybest.com.
And don’t worry: I don’t know how to give it to anyone else and would not even
if I did. If you give me your email and postal mail addresses I will also send
you a free zipper-pull thermometer while my supply lasts. Those for whom I have
email addresses have already seen a draft of this letter. –bj
P.P.S. Cost
is a more important factor in our current American economic climate. Probably as
a result, private lesson prices at Breckenridge have stayed the same this year
as last, the first time in years there has not been an increase. And there is a
new discount for 5-day bookings, above. Consider a full-day private instead of a
half-day, for the second half of the same day is sold at a much lower price than
the first half. Too, ask me for a discount lift ticket. I have some available
that will allow you to purchase your own lift tickets for $45, and they are free
from me as long as my limited supply lasts.
I’ve a little space left in this long letter and want to use it to
honor those of our country who have made our society possible, along with its
ski sport, and who are still doing so at great peril to themselves. Here is the
dedication I have for my
www.skimybest.com website:
 A
DEDICATION--
to Rudy Konieczny and his soldier fellows
by
Bill Jones, Ski Instructor
Certified Professional Ski Instructor (Registration #110478)
There are many to whom we skiers are indebted for advancements in our
sport--the equipment innovators, the technique developers and instructors
thereof, the inspiring racers and elegant athletes. And we have heard muc h
about the early resort developers, many of whom were in the U.S. Army's 10th
Mountain Division in World War II and came back to open new terrain and lifts
for us. But there was one even greater gift we were given. This is exemplified
by Rudy Konieczny, an enthusiastic young ski racer who became a soldier to fight
with the 10th Mountain Division. But Rudy did not come back from the war.
Instead, a memorial plaque for Rudy is in the warming hut at the top of
Massachussetts' Mount Greylock. His biographer Charles Sanders writes in The
Story of Rudy Konieczny,
"The real honor to Rudy and the
other members of the 10th who failed to return home...is the one that we as
skiers and boarders and snow sliders of every stripe who know of their sacrifice
carry in our hearts. It is the knowledge we take with us every time we go to the
mountains that once someone stood exactly where we are now standing, understood
exactly the joy that we are now feeling and gave it all up to make our time here
 possible.
To forget that is to deny ourselves their other most precious gift: the honor of
being their legacy.
Rudy Konieczny from Skiing
Heritage, September 2005
SKIING—THE
NEW SPORT?
The Snow-Shoe Races
  Down
the mountain side, like birds in flight
Or meteors on a starry night,
Bending low to miss the trees,
Rushing down to the flat below,
Dancing over the “beautiful snow”.
Falling, rolling, seeing stars--
Then hear the laughing crowd’s hurrahs,
Away down the valleys, where the oranges grow,
They miss all the fun we have in the snow
illustrations
from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper
March 17, 1877
The
disclaimer:
It is expected that you are familiar with the risks entailed in the ski sport—or
will make yourself familiar--and that you will independently evaluate whether
you accept those risks or reject participation, and that it is not intended that
anything in this letter or the SkiMyBest website states otherwise. You also
understand that any suggestions given on skiing that might encourage
participation or be construed to encourage participation are not intended to and
do not override your independent assessment of risk factors and decisions to
participate in the sport or to decline.
This "Ski Letter winter 2009-2010" page last modified
11/23/2009: \SkiMyBest\skiltr.htm. Copyright © 2010 William R Jones.
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