Snowbird, here we come!

Well, its finally here. We are packing to go to Snowbird tomorrow. I have been writing a lot, but I haven't been posting it because one of the lessons that I have learned is that while transparency is good, its perhaps not wise to lay it all out there as we get closer. I'm learning so much about my own learning process, and I have just re affirmed that this part, the part when the time crunch is here and every kernel of understanding is key is FUN, my most favorite. I love the puzzle of continuing to push when the line gets close. I love the puzzle of staying on track and burrowing in further, I love to let go and snap my brain like a rubber band into the fun of slush skiing after concentrating all day, and I can not wait to go play in Snowbird!

The last three weeks of training have been awesomely intense, and I'm beholden to Kurt, John Fayhee, Reilly McGlashon and especially Andrew Wilson for the incredible coaching and patience with me, and the incredible dedication of their time, and to Jason Clossic, Peter C., and Cindy Lou for sticking with me, skiing with me, filming me and everyone else. And of course, Megan Harvey for freaking me out whenever possible. (She reminds me of Kato in Pink Panther.)

Its been so fun to train with the other candidates who are going from Aspen, I'm honored to be a part of the group, and I'm excited to travel to the tryouts with this great group of people who I really respect: Josh Fogg, Schanzy, Andy Docken, Jonathan Ballou, and Kevin Jordan.

And now, its time. Its different than the first time I drove to National Academy six years ago, in my busted up Bronco with one pair of AT skis and my one pair of ski pants with duct tape on them in a trash bag. (I'm not kidding.)

I wondered if I'd ever get to a place where I had my shit together in a way that felt real, consistent, efficient and professional. Hey. This year, I registered for academy in advance. I have gas money. My oil is changed. My freakin' eyebrows are waxed. My skis are tuned. (note the order of concern here...) My locker is cleaned out, my uniform returned, my clothes are in a piece of luggage with wheels that isn't held together with tape. I have a hot bag thanks to Fuxi Racing, and I feel, well, like a pro. Like the pro I wanted to become. Inspired by all those on that list up there above me. And I'm showing up in a car that runs. Again. Reliably.

Its been six years of lessons learned, and I'm in love with the journey. I can't wait to roll out of here tomorrow, its happened, my kids are 8 and 10, I am 40, I'm healthy, happy, recovered from my surgery, from all the other curve balls that have come my way this year. I've found a community of people who are in it with me, as I'm in it with them, and I'm so very grateful for all I've learned along the way.

The rest is gravy, baby.

Promise to post more from Snowbird. See ya on the flip side!

Kate

Through the bottle neck of frustration and into understanding.

This is my favorite part. The deadline is near, the training is intense. The opportunities for lessons learned are everywhere. The vehicle to those lessons is the skiing. But the lessons learned are all round the skiing.

I have been working on something specific, trying to make a change in my skiing that is appantly really hard for me to make. It's been three months of work to try to deepen my understanding.

I really enjoy this part of the learning process, and I was lucky enough to have about three weeks of dedicated training in which to diagnose the problem, train towards changing the movement, check my understanding, refocus my diagnosis, refine the movement. This meant drilling at slow speeds on groomed easy runs, which for me is the fun part! Yay!

This movement pattern is important, fundamental, and I didn't want to take it off piste or in the bumps until I had made, and kept to some extent, this change in my skiing. I kept bumping into the opportunity to see if I could stick with it.

So the fun part for me is learning to enjoy the bottleneck. When the movement isnt changing. Or when ive felt the change, but I can't keep it for some reason. It's like walking into a wall over and over again. And you want the change, and you've put the time in, and you've been so disciplined about sticking with no other thought in your skiing other than this one singular piece.

You have digested it, turned it over and inside out, broken it down into pieces and put it back into its whole again. And you can't own it. And you have a choice. You can say, screw it, this is frustrating, I need to blow out the cobwebs, or I'm going home, or I want to play in the bumps. Or, you can find a creative way to back off but stay with the thought.

We are here to make this change. So I begin to look for the thrill in the idea of pushing though. All the emotional stuff comes up. I suck, I've gotten as far as i will get. I don't get it. I may never get it. And we go out and drill again. I have learned, over time, to observe these emotions with curiosity rather than with judgement. I know when I hear those voices that are telling me to back off that I am getting close. That becoming comfortable with that place where I am SUCKING at this is the place where the learning takes place, it's the place where's the beginners mind is. It's a scary freakin place!

And it's a place that not a lot of people understand. "Why do you take this so seriously, Howe?" I hear this a lot. "you need to just go out and ski. Stop thinking."

The thing is, that doesn't really work for me. I like this part! I don't have a problem not focusing, thats the easy part. I don't have a problem going out for a fun run. But nurturing the discipline to problem solve my way through the bottleneck of frustration leads to the most wonderful openings and deepenings.

There is bliss on the other side of frustration. And feeling the frustration as an opportunity to grow even more specific and disciplined is where the lesson lies for me this time.

We had to go back days in a row before we could pick up where we left off. But my understanding changed, and my skiing changed. And I skied it for another three days, just to be sure that I got it, from all sides, and then, oh man, I took it off piste. I had my fun runs. And it was like eating desert.

Delicious.

Beginning again is not beginning again, it's just life

I've written a couple of posts over the years about how frustrating it is when life derails you. And it seems like life derails you just when you a getting into the swing of things. Just when you've been going to the gym for two weeks, just when you've avoided desert for a week, just when you are starting to feel strong.

You go out of town and you eat like crap on the road. You begin to get strong and you get injured. You begin to develop a routine and you get sick.

But these aren't things that are sabotaging you. This is what happens in life. It's not "Are you going to get interrupted" it's "when are you going to get interrupted, how much does it rock you, and how long does it take you to get back after it?"

It's a lot like bump skiing. You are going from the top to the bottom. You are going to get knocked out of balance at least once. At least one of those bumps is going to be bigger than you guessed it would be, the hole after it will be deeper. But you are still moving down the mountain. What do you do when you hit it? How do you regroup?

Do you give yourself grace? Can you make a compassionate choice in the midst of super-frustrating chaos? Yes, your house is a mess and you have over-committed yourself again. What is the plan to get the train back on the rails?

In my own experience, while I was trying to change my life, to re-become a person who had nutrition and fitness and health as a top priority, every time I got sick, or injured or had to travel, or ate poorly, it felt like the road back to the right path was a difficult one.

I was counting in pounds - they seemed so hard to lose, and so easy to gain back. When I looked at life that way, it seemed next to impossible to gain ground. When I had three jobs and no money for yoga, I felt stymied.

But I finally opened my eyes to the fact that I could go for a walk with my kids, and if that was all I could do that day, so be it. I did something.

I realized, somewhere along the way, that if I just kept starting again, eventually I would just be living rather than starting over.

And I realized the other day, when my head touched my knee in yoga, a position my (excellent and talented) surgeon was pretty sure would never happen, that I had started again after surgery, by waking up from surgery and asking to take a walk. That desire to move, because movement leads to healthy, helped me heal. I put my scale away. I stopped counting my health in pounds.

It is true here that I needed to be willing to listen to my wise friends who had been through surgeries like this before me when they told me, "your job is not to get strong right now. Your job is to heal."

That was a hard thing for me to keep in perspective, it was hard for me to know when was pushing to hard, and when I was doing all I could in the boundaries of good healing. My body told me, and I learned to listen to it, and my friends.

It was a three month practice in patience. And then two more months of humility and more patience. My body would get strong in its own time, if I helped it, if I let it, if I asked it consistently, but didn't push it. I had to let go of my fear of being weak, of losing ground, and just be where I was, doing what I could do.

I knew I needed to get strong to make it to the tryout. I lost a huge amount of muscle in the 16 weeks after my surgery in september. I was weak. And flabby. And tired. And in pain. And I had to start again.

But something about this time was different. Maybe I just didn't want to atrophy, maybe it was having the surgery only a few months away from the tryout, but I was motivated to heal. And I didn't have a lot of cash, September and October are not terribly lucrative months in the ski biz. But I got some help from my community, and I looked to people that had been there before me, and I Reprioretized some things.

As soon as I could get a hundred bucks together, it went to the yoga studio. Because I knew that being in the hot room would help me heal. And it became a matter of health that I wish it had not taken a major surgery to teach me. I wish I could have felt permission from myself in my life earlier to do that. To go every day. Because it makes me strong, and healthy, and whole.

Because it gives me energy to play with my kids and do better at my job and it encourages me to fill my body with good, healthy food.

But it took the surgery, and that's okay. And after the surgery, I got healthier. And then I got sick, and I didn't t have to start over. I just went back to yoga after I felt better. I cared for myself long enough to recover and then I went back to the studio. And this time, it didn't feel like a long road back. It took six years to get to a place where I crave exercise. The kind that used to make me groan.

I could get there, after about three weeks of hard work, I could look forward to a workout. To a summit. But I never looked forward to the suffering. And now, the work doesnt feel like suffering, it feels like celebrating, it feels like living, it feels like necessary and wonderful care taking of my body and heart and mind.

And the journey back after a life event (rather than a setback) is just a re entry, not a starting over.
And here's the wonderful part. Now that I've stopped dreading the long journey back, the journey back has gotten shorter. Sometimes, it only lasts an afternoon. And then my routine is so familiar, that my body, in whatever state it is in, healing, healthy, somewhere in between, is just there, and so am I, and we work together to get stronger and more balanced and the journey continues, almost seamlessly.

And it occurs to me that this is not unique to changing fitness, it is unique to changing habit. Whether that's learning to be better with managing money, or time, or anger, or organization, or whatever it is that triggers you to wish that things were different. Change is very hard. It takes diligence, and practice, and grace, and compassion. And a willingness to begin again and again until one day, your beginning is just a continuation.

So stay after it when it feels like you've fallen off the band wagon, or life had thrown you a curve, or your pagan or momentum was interrupted, its going to happen again, thats life, that's living.

Practice starting again over and over and one day you may feel that you aren't starting again. You are just picking back up after the interruption ends, like restarting a conversation. You may need to recap to get back on track, and that's just fine. Welcome back.

Knowing, Believing, Guessing, Wondering, Being Unsure

What a wild ride this is becoming. Its interesting to watch myself ping pong every couple of hours back and forth between:

This is insane, I am so far away from where I need to be with my feet that I have bitten off WAY more than I can chew, what was I even THINKING?

to:

Wow, that was a big change, that is sticking, and my understanding is unfolding, too, so maybe if I stay with it, over the next 70 days, what I have will be enough. (Should I get invited.)

to:

Holy shit, I need to re read every technical skiing book I own for the sixth time, so that I can read it from this place, and understand it better.

to:

Now that I've bitten this off, I guess I'd better chew. Humble pie for dinner again.

to:

out right fear

to:
excitement for the process and the journey

to:
periods of calm and good focus that feel good, sane, and in line with where i am now, rather than worrying about where I'd like to get to

to:
holy crap, where I'd like to get to is reaaaaallllllyyyyyy far away.

to:
who knows? stranger things have happened. (I hope)

And I think that this is just kind of part of the journey. I think its good to check in with reality and then live in possibility. If I only lived in possibility, I would have no concept of where the ground really was, and where I was working from. If I only live in the reality of where I am or was, I will never believe change is possible.

So its become this strange blend of beating the crap out of myself only to come up for air and go, well, this place is nice, too, lets work here and believe in the future.

Sometimes, I'm overwhelmed with a sense of calm that I'm moving smoothly in the right direction, regardless of whether I get there or not, that's not the point. That's a nice place to live, its really productive.

In the midst of all of that is just the simple, repetitive process of getting out there on the snow, and turning my feet again and again and again.

Which leaves me here: Just keep working. Work is prayer. Each turn is an opportunity to learn. I will either arrive in one destination or another, regardless, the journey is tremendous.

The Desire to Win means the Desire to Work. Thoughts on Healing and the Future.

Hardware. Feels good!

Hi, guys! Its been a bit since I've written, there's been lots of drooling and lots of sleeping. I've had a couple of long walks and hikes and my first post op exam.

The surgery was really succesful, as far as we can tell. My motor nerve seems to have come back 100%, but until I regain hand strength, we won't be able to tell. I can't start doing massage until after November 1, when I'm fully fused, and it will take about 6 weeks of massage to get my hand strength back, so by mid December, we'll know if I got my whole motor nerve back or not.

In the meantime, the headache that I've had for the last three years is GONE. WHAT? Yup. Gone. Wow. That is an unreal and awesome sensation.

Most of the time, the pain I've been living with in my neck, spine, back, shoulder and left arm is gone, but I'm still taking a lot of muscle relaxants and pain killers, so again, we'll have to wait and see. But it feels really promising.

I also am not having Fibro symptoms right now, but Fibro can by knocked out by narcotic drugs, so again, as we wean off the drugs, we'll see.

Woke up on night 2 in the hospital to this beautiful gift sleeping
in the Lazy Boy next to me.

I'm weaning off the collar now since the xrays look so good, I'm trying to be patient, but wow it is hard because I feel strong and I want to get after it.

I'm very lucky to have some folks in my life who have been through this themselves and who remind me to take it slow. The most important thing right now is that in the next four weeks, the fusion happens completely. As soon as I am fused, I  can start getting strong.

So I have this mantra running through my head right now, fuse first strong after, fuse first strong after... can't be strong if you aren't fused.

I'm sleeping as much as I can to aid healing, walking twice a day when I feel strong and resting a lot. I'm trying hard to get off the pain killers, but not so hard that I'm suffering.


Today, I realized that to some extent I've been repressing my stoke for skiing this winter, and toning down my internal hope that I will get invited to tryouts and my internal hope that I'll be able to get my feet where they need to be.

I felt as my condition worsened over the summer that this probably meant that it just wasn't meant to be for me. That the journey had been about the journey and that to some extent the surgery meant the end.

All done, and glad for it!

I felt as I was preparing for surgery like I was preparing to give up on this dream, like I was preparing for the end of my life as I knew it. It had never been about "making" the team, although of course that would be lovely, but just about going to tryouts.

Tryouts became an invitation event, making it one step harder to get to (although I think it will get them a nice field of candidates to chose from). But the consiquence of that change is I can't just go and ski my best.

I was pretty sure that I'd end up going through the motions this fall, getting rejected because I would be weak and have missed summer training, and that would be the sort of anti climactic end to this very educational journey.

Well, let the lessons continue.

I came out of surgery feeling so good! State Farm ponied up some money for a down payment on the surgery, and with that cash, I was able to hire my friend Janice to make nutrient dense vegitarian food that I've been living on.

As a result, I haven't gained weight, I haven't lost THAT much muscle, and I feel really healthy and strong. It occurred to me as I walked into town from the ranch last week, about 7 days out of surgery, that I was way stronger than I had expected.

I relized that my friend Andy had been right, I had been wearing fear for a long time about the unknown of the surgery, and it had been slowly pushing me into the ground.

Now that the surgery was over, no one was going to come and get me and say, "okay, we are ready to take you back" and wheel me into the operating room, I was free.

Free to wake back up, to look up at the mountains, and to remove the restrictions of fear. Free to dream again.

 So I'm applying .There's a piece of me that feels like this may be the most fun year I've had training and playing so far. I'm excited to be a trainer for the ski school. I looked up at Aspen Mountain today at the snow on the top and was thrilled to my toes. I could feel the turns coming on, feel the comeraderie of the locker room, of my skiing family, of all the folks who help each other learn and grow every day.

Unexpected family. The best win so far.

Its such an amazing family to be a part of. A big part of me feels like I've let out a huge breath, like I get to let go and just play and ski and the training will be the result. I feel like I've found my home, found my voice, and that it doesn't want or need to be a loud voice.

I feel like I've found a way to help, and that feels good. I feel like my body didn't let me down, and that feels good. I feel like I get to slow down in intensity and focus hard in work, which I love.

I am so grateful for this process, for the path that's taken me through all of these lessons, some of them over and over and over.


Today, I turned 40.

That seems unreal and ridiculous, but appropriate. I'm not worried or concerned about it, the last 10 years were way more fun than the 10 before it, so I'm expecting things to become more interesting, and I'm excited for the lessons that are on the way for me. I like the process of becoming, even though sometimes in the midst of it I really wish I was done.

Today, I spent the day with Tom, my ex, who is now living in Aspen, and who is now my housemate, and our two boys. We had a birthday breakfast, went to the bookstore, walked to the movies and saw Real Steele, an awesomely cheezy underdog movie that the boys loved.

Aspen Mountain promising fun this year!

I looked at how far we had come, Tom and I, to become good friends again, good enough to live together and be supportive of eachother as we hit bumps and dificulties in our other relationships, and I was just, once again, grateful and amazed that life works this way.

We've talked a lot on this blog about the fact that success is often about the wanting. To want it bad, the will to win, and also that wanting is the easy part.

Tonight, I realized, looking at the success of Tom and I, working through divorce, financial hardship and fear, and being able to beceome close, trusting, respectful friends who share a home, that the Will to Win means the will to work hard enough to win. The desire to win means the desire to fight, to train, to learn, to listen, to put in the hours and hours of hard work in order to acomplish something. You have to have the desire. Not for the prize, but for the work that manifests the prize.

Guess what? I have the will to tryout. I really hope I get invited, I'm excited to share that experience. And if I don't, man, the desire to work hard enough to get there will have been worth it.


Thanks for sharing my birthday with me!!

PSIA 50/50 was an historic event!

The Professional Ski Instructors of America hosted the National Academy this year is in Aspen instead
of in Snowbird.

Normally at this time of year everybody is packing up their cars and driving out to Snowbird and this year we're not. Its an interesting experience to be here rather than on the road, because when I go to Academy every year, its an opportunity to focus on skiing without worrying about other responsiblities. on the other hand, I'm kind of glad for my kids because I'm hoping be gone for the summer starting in June, and so I'm sort of glad that I'm not taking a trip right now.

Last night, we went to the opening welcoming banquet and got to see so many faces! It was dissapointing not to see many people who have been academy attendees over the years, but I understand the situation, this year's event, being the 50th, was much more expensive than the Snowbird even. I myself only went to the dinners and social events, which were quite expensive just on their own.

So we're down at the welcoming banquet and we're hanging around and everybody is saying hi to everybody and I turn around and all of a sudden, who do I see standing there, but
Michael Hickey!

Mike Hickey is my first coach.  I went to him as a, you know, pre-Level 1 and said,  "Will you train me to try out for the national team in five years?" I'm sure he thought I was insane, but he looked at me and he said okay.

Michael Hickey and Andy Hawk at the PSIA 50/50!

Of course, I had no idea what I was asking of him and I'm pretty sure that he knew exactly what I was in for, since he'd been through several tryouts at that level and been on a team himself.

He took me seriously enough and he unbuckled my boots andtook away my poles for three months and basically, forced me to learn balance.  He was the first person to teach me a patience turn and, and really to hold the level of accountability in training that I had not found in other areas.

It was wonderful to stand there and see Michael join all the past team members for his photo. It was amazing to see Weems, Michael, Kurt and Megan standing together, amongst a sea of other incredible teachers and mentors. What an amazing night to be present!

These folks, as well as POC and Elan, all believed in me before I had proved myself to anyone, and it is thier continued belief in me that helps me stay on track, not let go of my dreams, and not focus so hard on how impossible the task is, but just let every turn count, go skiing, be open, evolve, learn, play and connect. I'm so grateful!!

Its hard to believe in someone before they can show you the proof that they are worth your time, faith and energy. But that is when we need to be believed in. Just like raising kids, we don't wait for them to come home at 24 with a degree and a good job before we encourage and respect them. We believe in them preemptivly, and that's what these guys did for me. Its a lesson that I take to heart, understanding that one of the reasons I've been able to stick with my goals even when its scary or dark or lonely is that I'm really not alone.

Watching them mentor me has taught me a lot about how to be a better teacher, mentor, parent and friend myself.

For more info on the 50/50, other articles and photos, visit the PSIA website here.

RAT- Rocky Mountain Assessment Trials... here we go!

As you read this, you might want to hit PLAY.



Oh, my god, its becoming reality. Look what I am working on now:

2011 PSIA-RM TRIALS APPLICATION
Welcome to the PSIA-RM Assessment Trials (RATs). As a Division, we are creating this 3-day event to better prepare you for your process at the National Education Team Tryouts. An important part of the National Process is the Application that you turn in to the Selectors ahead of the event. This Application gives Selectors an opportunity to better know you and understand your goals and ambitions.

The selection process, while intense, can be rewarding. As Maverick says, "You never ever ever leave your wing-man."

Its time. It is finally time to begin filling out the paperwork and sending it in. I have such mixed feelings about this. First, it got here seemingly suddenly, as do many things once ski season starts. Bam! Its Christmas, see you in two weeks... work every day, try to keep food in and clothes clean... BAM! Christmas is over, fill your calendar with clients if you can and get your butt out there training because BAM its time for exams in February!

Wow. Here we are five years in to a six year process. First of all, I'm quite stoked to be able just to write that sentence. I think part of me was pretty sure I'd be shaken off my tree way before this by one thing or another.

I do know that my skiing and teaching and technical understanding is improving every day. I think my teaching and technical understanding are still far ahead of my skiing, and while I got several nice compliments from the TREW crew the other day on my skiing (blush), I got some video taken yesterday that made me want to crawl under the chair in Bernie's office and cry. Then I noticed my client saying "But it feels so much better than that! I can't believe it looks like that!"

I remembered Katie Ertl (nee Fry) last year sitting in the Movement Analysis watching her skiing from the year before get torn apart by a group of 40 trainers with a big smile on her face. She squirmed a bit, she was embarrassed a bit, she laughed, she taught us how to take it. Its never as good, as clean, as "correct" as we want it to be.

So my job here is to take my feedback from Andrew, Joanie, Johnathan, Scotty, Kurt, Trish and Weems and get out there and ski it until it sticks. I made some major changes in my skiing in the beginning of the year. When I looked at the video, I'd kept some of them and been lazy enough to let others go.

There is not time in life for lazy, let alone in the pursuit of a goal which has a definitive time line which is looming! If a change is made, it is my job to keep it. To have the discipline to hold it in my skiing as it tries to squirm its way out and default patterns, easier and somewhat efficient, present themselves as attractive options.

Train on, see you at Tryouts!

Final day of Demo Team training

Leaving my house at the T Lazy 7, fresh snow here, over a foot on the top of Snowmass!

Today, while it was dumping, blowing and howling, I got out with my friends who are all training toward trying out for the 2012 Demo Team. Josh, Schanzy, Will, Kristen and Squatty and I went ripping around Snowmass in about a foot of fresh powder.

I was excited to see what had stayed in my skiing and if my day skiing Telluride with Scotty Kennett was a fluke or not. I have to say, that I've been feeling like I opened the door to another level of skiing that day with him, and I've been hoping that it would stick.

I tried to explain it to Josh Fogg today while we were hanging out waiting for the rest of the group to pop out of the trees. I feel like I have a new beginning. Things feel simple, easy, unconfusing.

I feel like NOW I have a starting point. I don't feel like I'm constantly trying to find the right place to stand on my skis, even when I am out of balance, as we all often are when we are skiing, I feel like there is a movement pattern (oh, there's an App for that...) just something to do to get comfortably back in the middle.

I feel my feet and my skis in a way that I haven't before, I've let go of my heavy dependence on rotary and added a lot more patience in my turn, finally finally my BODY understands why that's important. Before it was an esoteric wish without a practical application.

I feel like most of my work with Weems has been in where in the turn to apply the things Ive learned in Demo Team training, and most of the time its in the transition. How much to I want to move to the foot, how fast, with how much pressure, and how much edge. What do I want the ski to do?

I'm skiing through mank and crud at speeds I've never felt comfortable at, and skiing in the tighter trees at speeds I didn't know I could ski at.

Of course, in the trees, I'm chasing Schanzy, trying to stay right on his line so that I can learn to make these movements at speed in a place where there are consequences. All I want to see is the turn and when to make it. He's far enough ahead in the trees that I am following the line he's left in the snow, and making the tactical choices that allow me to follow his line, more often than not accurately enough to make me feel happy and free.

When I can get on his tail, I like to stay about two turns behind him and just ask my skis to do what his did right in the same spot. I'm not so much looking at the terrain or making choices as I am purely mimicking him while trying to keep up. In this way, I get a purely kinesthetic lesson, and my skis do things without me worrying or wondering if they can. I realize in that moment that in order to make that turn, I have to make my feet do what his did, its really that simple.

I wasn't as confident jumping off stuff today, I was on my Magfires rather than on my big fat skis, and it was good for me. I've gotten so used to kind of cheating on the fatties when I've allowed myself to get on them, that getting on this heavy all mountain ski, (which is short, I ski it in a 160) and trusting that it would come back up was a great exercise.

I took a good digger hucking off a tiny little kicker, landed a little back straight in the fall line and going mach chicken. Rather than bouncing and making a turn, I gave up and took a big one, lost a ski and learned a lesson. Turn your feet, Kate.

The other little hops we took today were a lot of fun, I skied out of all of them, some of them had a surprising amount of fall away and longer air than I expected, and that felt good. I had one really good one with a nice landing that reminded me of my new understanding of platform angle in powder, I landed at the angle that the ski would plane at rather than trying to match the slope angle and that went really well.

All in all, it was a playful day, no feedback whatsoever from the group, and I was kind of glad of that, it felt like a day to sort of flip through what we had worked on all year and rip around trying things out, seeing what had stayed, and how my beliefs about making the ski work had changed.

I'm looking forward to Academy because I want to ski hard like this, with some feedback and see what someone from a completely outside perspective thinks about where my skiing is and how far I have to go.

Its an interesting place to be, today I felt like, if I wasn't heading for the team, I'm happy with my skiing. I feel like I can ski the whole mountain and that I can work on certain aspects, but I don't feel like there are huge holes in my skiing anymore, either condition or terrain specific. There are certainly some things on the extreme end that I could work on, going straight and drops of more than ten feet, but on the whole, I feel like I have an understanding and the ability to ski effectively enough to have fun playing without feeling like I'm hanging on for dear life.

I'm glad, just for that reason, that I am going for the team, because its exciting to be at a place where I could get complacent, and wonder what kinds of doors will open after that? If I keep learning and I keep skiing and I keep asking and trying, what in the world is it going to feel like under my feet at this time next year!!??

I want to say thank you to Schanzy, Will and Josh for letting me tail them all over then mountain, its very kind to let me be your shadow, I learn a lot on your tails, and I'm grateful.

Mike Hickey shreds up South Bowl!

I saw him in the air MORE THAN ONCE today, but wasn't quick enough. Here's my Zen Master, Michael Hickey of the '76 National Alpine Demo Team doing what he does best.

I Have National Teams Tryouts Video!

Thanks to Ben Roberts, and Chris Kastner, I have an hour and 15 min of video on DVD from the National Alpine Teams Tryouts this year, if you'd like a copy, send $5 and a SASE to:

Kate Howe
National Teams Video
628 Starling Dr
Bozeman, MT
59718

Sneak Peek at the National Teams Tryouts Book!

I was originally just going to make a quick memory book, similar to the one I just did for Academy, so that folks who went could look through and, well, remember. But as I started making it, I started writing!

Writing about what it was like to talk to the athletes and watch what they went through, to see some of the administrative side, to talk to the selectors, the volunteers, the coaches, the incumbents, the folks who had stepped off the team and come to watch, the folks who stepped off the team and didn't come to watch, what it was like to be present during cut after cut, to feel the incredible energy on that mountain for ten days or so.


I think this one is going to be about 150 pages long, its 50 already, and it will have short interviews and thoughts on the process as I experienced it as a coach, friend, and volunteer.

Going through these photos and thinking about this experience this intensely again is incredible, I am once again grateful to everyone who allowed me to stand close and photograph the experience.

I was so busy participating in observing and in working that I didn't have time to blog while I was there in May, so I'm excited to have the chance to write about the experience... and I'm looking forward to getting some perspectives five months out.


Here are some sneak peaks at some of the ROUGH layouts. If you see XXX in the type, its because I need a name, fact, or spelling. Anywhere there is a light colored box, text will go there, the photo layout and text are kind of happening free form.

I'm dying to show you the cover, its my favorite shot I took at the tryouts... but I think I'm going to save it as a surprise for when its ALL done!!

ACADEMY SIGN UPS ARE OPEN!

OH, do you want to have a TON of fun this April? This sucker fills up fast... COME TO ACADEMY WITH ME!!

SIGN UPS ARE OPEN! This year's PSIA National Academy at Snowbird in Utah is going to ROCK!

Come get schooled by our NEW Alpine Demo team! Ski with Alumni, international Demo team members, have fun, wear a toga, and party like a rockstar!

This is one of the most amazing weeks of skiing you will experience! Spendy... yes, it seems that way, BUT!!!

You get almost EVERYTHING included, six days of all day coaching STRAIGHT from the horse's mouth (the D team) do electives... last year I got a day skiing with Ellen Post Foster (who wrote Skiing and the Art of Carving) and Stephen Nyman (you know, that dude on the world cup circuit??) so that was fun... banquets, breakfast, lift tickets, a room at the SWANK ski in ski out Cliff Lodge, hot tub, friends, good times, ski ski ski! Its AWESOME!

There are indoor presentations, boot fittings, an awesome party in the Aire bar every night, and a super special "secret" theme party every year thrown by Ms. Cindy Lou and Ms. Stacey Gerrish!!

Sign up now, you DON'T want to end up on the waiting list for this!

Click here to read about it and sign up:
http://www.psia.org/01/Education/Academy.asp

Click here to see photos from last year's academy:http://www.flickr.com/photos/katehowe/sets/72157605087872386/

and feel free to email me with any questions you have about Academy! katehowe@mac.com

UPDATE: You only have to put $500 down to attend Academy, the balance isn't due till the end of the season! YAY! Check it out, its a BLAST!

Welcome to the team, Megan Harvey!

Wow, what a day. Yet another amazing addition to my "official" training team, without whom I would have NO chance of success, Megan Harvey, who was my first Academy Coach, met me after I'd been skiing for two months again, and who gave me my first set of real skis, because I was too broke to buy gear, has blushingly let me call her my Mentor, which is what I called her anyway behind her back.

Aside from being an amazing source of never ending energy and playfulness, Megan believes in me, and has from the first day I met her. The author of the Alpine Technical Manual, and a three term D Team member, Megan is an incredible woman, and I'm constantly blown away by her generosity with her time and everything else.

She's also a great friend. So, we (and that's the royal we, I guess) are thrilled and honored to have Ms. Harvey on our team. Thanks, Man!!

More photos are up on Flickr!

There are two sets of pics now, one is the "Best of Tryouts" with about 100 photos that I like the most, and the other set is all the pics that were in focus!(almost 600 now.) (minus a few repetitive ones). If you see pics of yourself and want to see if there are more, email me at katehowe@Mac.com with a link of a picture of yourself, and I will do my best to send you copies of all the photos I have of you.

I have two more CDs to go through and edit, but they aren't reading well on my computer, so hang in there until I can grab them off another computer! I'll get em up as quick as I can.

Thanks so much for having me at team tryouts, I have to say it was an incredible thing to watch, and to be a part of, and I am grateful that I got to participate!!

More photos from Team Tryouts are up!

Here are a few of my favorites, but go here to see all 300 I put up today. Still have three CDs full of pictures to edit and post!

PSIA-AASI Announce National Teams

The sun was shining and the winds relatively calm for the final day of PSIA-AASI’s National Team Selection on Friday, May 2.

A total of 139 candidates came out to Mammoth Mountain, California for the weeklong tryouts, where they had to contend with variable and challenging conditions, including frozen “coral” in the off piste reaches, high winds, and deep slush. Nonetheless, candidates for all four teams—alpine, snowboard, nordic, and the first-ever adaptive team—used the opportunity to showcase the top level of expertise that characterizes all of this year’s contenders as truly the best-of-the-best in snowsports instruction.

The week started with snow sliding tasks on and off piste and in the terrain park before two cuts narrowed the field to 51 people for the final two days of the selection process. On Thursday and Friday, the remaining candidates took part in teaching and learning activities, an in-depth interview process, and group project assessments.

Friday’s selection determines who will represent PSIA-AASI as National Team members for the next four years. Under the accomplished direction of Teams Manager Katie Fry and coaches Rob Sogard (alpine), Lane Clegg (snowboard), Scotty McGee (nordic), and Bill Bowness (adaptive), national team members will be instrumental in charting the course of United States snowsports instruction. Chief among their duties will be representing PSIA-AASI as the public face of the association, and working with PSIA-AASI divisions and snowsports schools throughout the country to inspire lifelong passion for the mountain experience.

PSIA-AASI is proud to announce the 2008–2012 National Teams:

Adaptive Team:

Bill Bowness (coach), Geoff Krill (alternate to the team)

Alpine Team:

Rob Sogard (coach), Robin Barnes, Matt Boyd, Jeb Boyd, Mike Hafer, Nick Herrin, Eric Lipton, Dave Lundberg, Dave Lyon, Bobby Murphy, David A. Oliver (freestyle specialist), Doug Pierini, Michael Rogan (alpine team captain), Jim Schanzenbaker, Jennifer Simpson

Nordic Team:

J. Scott McGee (coach), David Lawrence, Charlie MacArthur, Tom Marshall, Ross Matlock

Snowboard Team:

Lane Clegg (coach), Scott Anfang, Gregg Davis, Dave Lynch, Tom Morsch, Eric Rolls, Josh Spoelstra

More News at the PSIA site

Photos Up On FLICKR!

If you'd like to view the photos from the tryouts, I have SOME of ONE of the five disks of photos that I took up on FLICKR. Click HERE to view and download any photos. If you see some of yourself, email me a description of what you are wearing, or a link to the photo of you that I DO have, and I'll email you ALL THE REST of the photos I have of you. Don't worry, there's LOTS more going up in the next few days. Enjoy!

Thank You From Sacey Gerrish!

(Click on a photo to see a nice BIG version!)Here is an incredible letter from one of the athletes I was coaching at National Teams Tryouts, Stacey Gerrish. With her permission, I reprint it here. What an AMAZING positive force this woman is. This letter is a great representation of the tight family community that were the candidates at the tryouts. Congratulations to ALL the athletes for their hard work and dedication, and thank you, Stacy, for sharing this with us.

To my Rocky Mountain Comrades,

It was an honor to participate with all of you at the National Team Selection. An honor and a humbling experience! To be there participating with other athletes who share my same passion for skiing, learning and excelling was a win. Regardless of the final outcome this was one of the finest experiences of my skiing career.

I have the utmost respect for everyone who challenged themselves and took the risk to participate in the selection event. We have remarkable pros in our industry and it’s great to be reminded of why I’ve chosen to dedicate my career to the sport of skiing.

Let’s keep the momentum going; ski together whenever we have the opportunity and look forward to the next adventure on skis.

Thank you for your inspiration, your encouragement, training, support and dedication. Congratulations for your efforts and my best to the new team.

You are all rock stars in my world!

Stacey


Stacey Gerrish
Training Manager
Beaver Creek Ski & Snowboard School
970-754-5344 office
970-754-5321 fax
www.beavercreekskischool.com
www.beavercreeksnowboardschool.com
sgerrish@vailresorts.com

PSIA National Academy at Snowbird 2008 was OFF THE HOOK!

This April marked the end of my first full year of dedicated skiing. And I really can’t think of a more intense and incredible way to end it than an ENORMOUS road trip, starting in Aspen on April 9, and ending in Los Angeles on May 11. It has been a tremendous ride.

I am so sorry that my computer died and I couldn’t post in real time as the try outs and academy were happening, but we are back on line now, and you can expect daily (or nearly daily) posts going forward!

This summer is chock full of adventures as well, which I will post about, including a photo shoot in the Teetons, several trips to the Beartooth wilderness, and quite possibly house hunting in Aspen in August.

The National Academy began in style, with Alisa and I pulling into the Cliff Lodge two days early at exactly the same moment as our friends Schanzy, Andy, and Kurt, who drove a Skico van out from Aspen.

Needless to say, we were all amped to be at Snowbird, and a fun and fantastic night was had by all. Kurt, being the animal that he is, RAN to Alta the next morning at 6 and then hauled all our sorry buts out of bed to go skiing at 9am. It was glorious, sunny, warm, the mountain was huge and filled in, the snow was firm, but not awful. It was great to be out without any clinic or anything to do, just skiing with friends in the sun, and then hit the hot tub.

That night was registration and group selection. I started out in Schanzy’s group, but Megan grabbed me and said, “You can ski with that clown any time. Come over here.” And she put me with Michael Rogan, who I have never skied with before. WOW, that ended up being an amazing thing. Amazing.

The next morning we went out, and I found out why everyone says that Michael is sort of the unofficial captain of the group. His coaching energy is unending and totally sincere. He has the ability to almost conjure performance out of a client, telling it like it is, and asking for more, without ever making you feel like you aren’t enough. This man has mad skilz, as it were.

We started that morning with the idea of extension, traveling along the length of the ski, to make sure it is a directional movement rather than a pop. Patience, Kate, PATIENCE!! Allow the tips to seek the fall line.

I had been wondering why I was starting turns srong on an early edge, and then loosing power off of the ski, only to find it again in the apex of the turn. It turns out, I was moving too far inside too fast. Back to that old video post that Shannon and I made in Aspen in February. I stand by it. It truly is what you need to do in any turn. Travel the length of the ski, subtle directional movement to patiently load the outside ski, so the pressure increases over the duration of the turn. So simple. So difficult!


After that session, we had electives, and the next afternoon, I had carving with Deb Armstrong. Working along the SAME LINES as Michael, Deb had me work on not giving away my power by transferring a BABY amount of weight to the uphill foot at the transition of the turn, and then envisioning the turn cut up into corridors. I’ll make a drawing about this later, the concept of directed energy was so phenomenal, when I got it, I felt my ski load and bend like it never has before. I have never EVER felt so comfortable and stable and in control going so so so fast.

The next day was the all day elective. And I took the Drills for Skills segment for the US ski team, and got to ski with Ellen Post Foster, which was awesome. We skied in front of Steve Nyman, a member of the US ski team, who gave us incredible feed back.


I finally got to race in a full course of gates. It felt awesome. Something about the concept of where you enter and exit the turn, the idea of arcing back to the gate and finding the line just completely resonated with me. I had demo’d a pair of Elan GS skis, and was just as happy as a clam on this rock hard icy snow, carving and feeling the ski move under me. I never wanted it to end. When the line felt right, it was like riding a smooth arcing wave down the hill, with no panic or fast moves. It felt like I had time, plenty of time, and it was all just trajectory. I loved it.

When I returned them, I talked with Scotty, who offered me Elan/Dalbello sponsorship, which was amazing, and now I have a choice to make between Technica/Blizzard and Elan/Dalbello. I am so grateful and beholden to these amazing people who are helping me reach my goal!


The guys in my group, and the one other girl, Emily Smith from Big Sky, ended up being super fun to ski with all week, just a happy, hard working bunch of excellent skiers. I have a series of interviews with these guys which I will post in a bit as I slog through all the events and information from the last five weeks!!

That first night at the Academy, the new Marketing Director for PSIA National, Andy Hawk, had presented the Movement Matrix with Rob Sogard (the national teams coach), which is a truly phenomenal learning tool. The database of video hours is filling rapidly! If you haven’t seen it yet, you HAVE to check it out. During the presentation, Rob kept pulling up videos in which my coach from the week, Mike Rogan, had introduced the segment.

“Hi, I’m Michael Rogan from the PSIA National Alpine Team”. After the fifth or sixth time that Andy and Rob showed this at the dinner, Michael was hiding in his sweatshirt hood out of embarrassment, and I saw an opening that I just couldn’t let pass. For the rest of the week, Cindy Lechtenburg, of Aspen Highlands, and I video taped EVERYONE we could find saying “Hi, I’m Michael Rogan of the PSIA National Alpine Team”, and at the closing banquet, we inserted the video in between all the photos from the week. TOO much fun! I will post them here for your viewing pleasure!!

Oh, and of course, I also duct taped shiny red pom poms on Nick Herrin's poles because he is SUCH an awesome cheer leader, but he didn't ski with them. He took them off in the tram. But I think we MAY have a chance to see him ski with them some time soon!! Keep your fingers crossed!!

Also at academy, I sat down with Andy Hawk and re-pitched the full cert free ride idea, which he seemed very interested in. I also suggested that all instructors at Academy need to be in an Academy uniform, which they should get to keep, so that the Demo Team guys can put their patch on it, and the international guys can put their patches on it, but that the alum can put team year patches on their coats, so everyone looks as valuable as everyone else.


Andy asked if I’d like to be on the PSIA Membership Marketing Task Force, and of course, I jumped all over that! He also asked if I would be the face of the National Membership Recruiting Campaign, which was flattering and lovely, and after some thought, I said yes to that as well. Later, Andy told me that they were linking this blog to the National site! How totally exciting is that??? What a week.

I also got to take a steeps and bumps clinic from Kurt and see him teach for the first time, it was SO fun. He has this amazingly dry and honest sense of humor, and an almost zen like quality on his skis, it was an honor to watch him spark his group, and ski till 4:30, when he could have been done an hour earlier.

To make a long story short, the Academy was an invaluable experience. My skiing changed dramatically every day, in a way that stuck and made sense. Skiing with the Captian was incredible and inspiring, and working with Deb before she stepped off the team was amazing as well. I learned some hard lessons from Schanzy, who isn’t afraid to tell it like it is, and made good friends. I can’t wait for next year!

Check back soon for videos of Mike Rogan, a photo album from Academy, and interviews with some of the academy participants. Thanks for your patience while I catch up!!

Xoxo
Kate