the powder room

Had a great day today, I’ve been teaching a nice Aussie lady, Jasmine, to ski for a couple of days, taking her from first timer and now she’s wedge christie turning, so I’m pretty pleased. We were joined today by another Aussie, Lisa, who is equally as enjoyable to ski with and have generally had a great day skiing around and working on their turns. I’ve found it really helpful for my skiing too as it’s made me focus on more basic things and refine my free-skiing. I’ve not taught a snowboard lesson for quite a while now and whilst I’m a little annoyed about that, I’ve also been really enjoying teaching skiing and finding it very rewarding. I think the fact that I’ve passed my exam also gives me a stronger sense of confidence in my knowledge and ability. I get on with all my guests, but there are just some times when you click with them and it feels like skiing with friends. I guess what I’ve really enjoyed about skiing with Jasmine and Lisa is that I feel comfortable in what I’m doing and much more able to be creative with my exercises and lessons – although I’ve taught skiing for a long time, it just feels like I’m doing a good job (on a par with my snowboard instruction), which is very satisfying (although I’ll have to leave it to them to pass judgement on whether that’s the truth!!)

Hurrah, I am now an official, bona-fide ski instructor! Woohoo. So I only just scraped through on my riding, but a pass is a pass. Out tonight celebrating with everyone (who all passed!).
We had just about every type of weather over the last few days, chucking it down with rain, blowing a gale and then heavy snow and wind on the last day. Poor Gavin and Brian had to stand around outside in freezing and horrible conditions.
My skiing was pretty sketchy for most of the week, but something came together at the end and I started to feel that I was skiing like I was in Winter Park, which was a relief.
Anyway, job done – one step closer to ISIA certification!

So I started my NZSIA Level 1 Alpine Ski exam tonight with an indoor session. Everyone seems pretty cool and Gavin, our examiner, is a really nice guy. I’m feeling quite relaxed about this exam although I know my skiing is a little borderline. I’ve been working on it as much as I can, but work has been getting in the way a bit!
It feels a little odd to be doing another exam and very different from my previous ones. Partly because I’ve done it before and partly because it’s not had such an intense build up of training and analysis. I feel a little under-prepared compared to how I felt before my CSI exam, but confident in my teaching and technical knowledge (I should hope so given that I taught skiing for a season!).
The exam is over 4 days:
Day 1 – Progression from first timer to advanced wedge turns
Day 2 – Applying the progression to kids
Day 3 – Wedge demo assessment and freeriding assessment
Day 4 – Teaching assessment

You can’t really fail in the first 2 days, which is a relief. They basically are a course, which gives us time to work on our freeskiing and technical knowledge.

Unitas dining hall, large can of Asahi in hand
It snowed today. A lot. All day. Man, I had to shovel my way out of the room this morning. Got to work early cos I was on set-up duty and spent the morning shovelling snow off the magic carpet, then Tom gave me an all-day private level 3 (translation: 7 hours of work, guests that can actually snowboard, generally a free lunch too). Hung around for half an hour waiting for them, freezing my knackers off, but then had a great day, trundling around, teaching them to ride powder and generally exploring. The snow in the trees was sooooooo deep, it was hip deep at least and face shots (when you spray yourself with snow) all round.
Although to be honest, it was bloody hard work and I was complaining about it earlier, but if I think about it, I’m still getting paid to ride and chat to people. I’m physically shattered today, but a bad day on the slopes is still better than a good day in the office!

25 September 2006, 1920
At home

It’s been a funny few days. Now that we’ve finished, I’m at a bit of a loss as to what to do with myself. We had a good night out on Friday and a final Rookie get-together on Saturday, but I felt strangely detached from it. Felt like a bit of an anti-climax (again). Sure, I’ve enjoyed this and met some great people, but it just doesn’t feel like the end of a major occurrence. I think I need to rest and let it all sink in.

Went up the mountain on Sunday and regretted it, the Saddle lift was shut and I was just tired. I ended up renting some skis and having a blast around, which was good fun, definitely need to get some proper lessons though!

Spoke to Tim Williams, the snow school director, about shadowing some lessons a while ago. He seemed quite amenable to the idea, but the past few days, there haven’t been enough lessons going up. But today, I managed to shadow Bronnie’s level 3 lesson and ended up taking one of the clients on my own. Seemed to go well, she had fun and didn’t hurt herself! Managed to get her down Easy Rider by lunchtime. Then spent the afternoon riding in the Saddle, hitting the park – managed to land a few kickers, so result all round today.

Still, feel a bit funny though – not really sure what it is, tired, lonely, lost, bored, down. Dunno really – going to the cinema tonight, then will spend tomorrow packing stuff up and getting ready to move out of here.

22nd September 2006, 13.29
Internet kiosk at TC

Well, Kipling provided the script for today, but in a somewhat different manner than what I was expecting.

“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same”

Yep, failed my BASI exam. Was on my riding, I just wasn’t up to scratch. It’s the right decision, but it’s still tough and I’m gutted. But at least I’ve got my Stage 1 and a job to go to.

I’m still proud of what I’ve achieved and how far my riding has come this season – this was always going to be a huge challenge and to have walked away with 2 qualifications and a job means a lot to me. I’ve travelled the road not taken and don’t regret a second of it.

21 September 2006, 23.37
In bed, eating lollies (sweets to non-Kiwis – no idea why they call them lollies, there’s no stick or frozen syrup involved, but I digress…)

Why I’m up when I should be fast asleep for tomorrow, I don’t know! Anyway, had a good day today – fresh powder, lots of strong riding and positive feedback. I scored well on the areas that we’re being assessed on, but still have work to do. I’m a little disappointed, cos I was hoping to have had it all wrapped up by now so that tomorrow wouldn’t be so pressured. But now, I’ve got one last shot to prove myself – I know I can do it, I just need to get out there, focus and do the business.

You’ve probably noticed that I like to quote various bods, tonight, Kipling is my inspiration for tomorrow:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

20th September 2006, 19.38
Alpine Resort

Teaching went well today and we had the written exam today too – think that was pretty sweet, so all that’s left to do is the riding assessment. We’ve been continually assessed and last week’s riding was pretty poor by me.

But I’ve had lots of feedback and worked hard on things, so hopefully I can prove myself tomorrow. Just need to focus and remember to relax too!

Chew taught us how to ride boxes too today and I nailed a straight box about 4 or 5 times. Even tried a nose slide (where the tail of the board hangs off the box as you slide along) – just about managed that too – really enjoyed that and look forward to playing a bit more after the exam is over!

On other news, Jen got the job at Winter Park! So we’re all set to head over there, just need to figure out the visa situation – but from initial investigation, doesn’t seem too bad! Can’t believe it is actually happening – will be awesome to be in Colorado!

19th September 2006, 21.16
At home, watching rubbish music on J2 having had a power nap.

Been pretty slack at blog entries, partly due to techincal difficulties and partly due to being totally exhausted. So, three days left and I think it’s safe to say that I’ve been through every emotion I’ve got. It’s been a pretty intense time and I’ll be glad when it’s over – snow’s been terrible and the weather not much better.

Started buoyantly as a few things had dropped into place just before the exam started. But, by Wednesday, I was feeling totally exhausted and my knees were killing me. The weather and snow continued to get worse, which made it hard to keep spirits up. We had lots of video sessions and none of them particularly good. But I thought the latter half of the week would be better – we were due to cover carving – an area that I felt really confident on. However, on the day, the snow was really difficult (not that that’s an excuse) and I had an absolute shocker – scoring around 2/3 instead of the 5 I need to pass, so ended the week on a real bummer.

Spent the weekend working on a few things (despite barely being able to get out of bed) and Saturday was great – a bit of fresh snow and the whole day spent working on turns and riding bumps with Mike. Basically, needed to concentrate on closing off my turns and pedalling around the board.

I decided to take Sunday off as I needed the rest, but spent most of Sunday wandering around in a daze and feeling really low on energy. Went out on Sunday night as it was the last night of Wanakafest – watched the rail jam and snapped away with my camera at the fire poi and fireworks displays. It was a good distraction and Monday was a much better day – got lots of real positive feedback on all the stuff I’ve been working on.

Which just about brings us up to date – today was the first day of our teaching assessments. I had to teach garlands to a group of unfit clients – it went well and I feel pretty good about the teaching side. Got one more lesson to give tomorrow – I’m doing it on aft-pressure (basically, pressing the back of the snowboard to get more grip) – something that I’ve only recently discovered but has really helped my riding.

So there we have it, my BASI so far, feeling totally exhausted and tired of being assessed continuously, only a few more days to go – just writing my lesson plan now, then will have a good sleep! Tomorrow is the last teach, then there will be two more days of riding assessment – a chance to redeem myself from last week’s performance.

10th September 2006, 22.38
In bed

My quest for space took me up Mount Roy today. It’s been ages since I’ve done any proper walking, so it was quite a nostalgic relief to go up the side of a mountain.

Mount Roy (or Roy’s Peak) is at around 1500m, so is over 1000m above the road – pretty vertiginous climb, steep switchbacks snaking all the way up. It took Kev and I nearly 3 hours to get up (via a small diversion into some prickly tussock – oops!). The views were spectacular – right the way down the Matukituki river to Mount Aspiring, over to Treble Cone and right back over to Wanaka. Couldn’t have asked for better weather – clear blue sky and not a breath of wind in the air.

As we reached around 1200m, we hit the snowline and had to dodge the odd patches of spring snow. Right up the very top, we were forced to trudge through snow to climb the last few metres up the ridgeline.

I was supposed to be having a rest day before BASI, but I’m glad we went. I needed to get out there and do something (not that I don’t do that on a daily basis, but you get what I mean).

I’m looking forward to starting the exam tomorrow – not sure how I feel, don’t feel worried as it feels just like another week of training. Well, we’ll see how it goes. I feel much more confident about my riding (and feel that I’m now riding like a Stage 1 qualified instructor!) and the teaching is pretty much the same, so am quietly upbeat about it. I’ve just got to focus and consistently show that I can do it.