Month: January 2020

Friday Club: Phil, Bob, Terry, Terry, Paul, Sophie, Don, Gina. Lots of chocolate, tons of, enough for ‘breakfast’ before out the door at 9:30AM, now that’s a start to the day. Not so cold, but … top of Kensho held up the Breckenridge tradition. Focus: short radius turns, pivots, softer inside leg, more aggressive leg steering (especially through finish), more skidding all the way through the turn, hockey slides, hockey stops, hockey stops in bumps, using ‘hockey’ movement to hold a tighter line, some trees, Peak 6 all afternoon, two passes to find Lost Cabin, Intuition Bowl maybe the best snow, Dreamland some good cut up bumps. Taking the ‘hockey-ish’ movements into steepe

r terrain and having success – that was a good day!

Thursday Club – Laurel, Rebecca, Mitzi, Paola, Diane, Vicki, Deb, Chongie. Snow most of day, not too cold (by Breck standards), T-bar somewhat brutal with the wind (yeah, nothing new), trees skiing well (found some tight ones today). Focus: separation & softer inside leg, getting more differential leg movement, strong counter through the finish allowing the skis to steered to completion, hockey stops in bumps, octopus turns . B-50 ridge, Meadow, High A, Rounders, Crescendo, Swinger (liking this one for a warm up), Toilet Bowl, Bong Alley (not really sure of this name), Boreas, more trees than normal (good snow in them now). Two types of chocolate for lunch, now that’s a good day. Good skiing to all, there was some steep narrow stuff.

Sunday Club – Don & Tina (all others sick or out of town). At last a warm day, light winds, delightful sunshine, snow starting to set up, will become more challenging up high. When to extend, when to flex, how not to do it with both legs together, more of a bicycle motion (inside flexed, outside extended), strong let steering at edge change (working on shorter radius turns), inside ski pivots (these are hard, huh), one ski inside pivots (these make the others simple by comparison, huh), committing the hips inside the new turn (these words will probably be here every night). Peak 6, Intuition, Daydream, Stampede, Rounders, few trees. Snow sculpture weekend, but just not that busy today … just stay high … grand day, you ‘guys’ are skiing like pros.

Saturday Club: Meow, Nick, Brenda. Snow off and on all day, strong wind high, no wind low, long lines, busy mountain, lunch at Grand Lodge in lunch room, avoided the chaos. Hips facing to the outside of the turn (I know it’s a mind twist, will become less so as skill develops), being upside down (doesn’t have to be huge, start small), ‘greeeep’ (thanks for that Nick, I’m stealing it), completing the turn with flexion/strong steering/counter, some trees, some bumps, Peak 6 (that place is skiing good). Brenda – thank you for chocolate … Meow – thank you for Madras Lentils. About three inches new this morning, such good skiing – much fun.

Friday Club: Ernie, Phil, Terry, Bob, Kari, Paul. Sunny, windy (sooo), warmer, T-bar a wind blast but (sooo). Chopped up off piste snow now, not that heavy (but heavier than yesterday for sure). Focus in the morning = alignment. Focus in the afternoon = inside ski steering. Static practice of steering the new inside foot, uphill arcs (trying to turn all the way up the hill), one turn arcs, slow skiing to initiate and finish the turns with inside leg rotation (steering), slow speed bumps, round turns, weighted release (don’t lift the new inside ski – unless that is you want to go fast and end up shopping), steeper slow speed bumps. 4 O’clock, Imperial Bowl, Imperial Lower Face, Amen, White Crown, Toilet Bowl, Rip’ Raven, video (thank you Kari for use of phone). You guys wore me out – let’s do it again next week, maybe even get to Whiskey River.

Thursday Club: Laurel, Olive, Diane, Chongie, Rebecca, Mitzi, Vicki, Deb. A day to put on the calendar – anywhere from 12 to 24 inches, sometimes up to the waist (well, when flexed). Way Out, Solitude, Amen, King, B-50 ridge, Rustler, Snow White, Ptarmigan, Sidewinder, more trees than we’ve skied all year. Wake up the rotary, strong steering right from transition, finish the turn while flexed by steering our legs, not sitting back, don’t give up on the turn when only 3/4 done, staying forward, shin pressure, arms and hands aligned with skies, back angle aligned with lower leg angle, more even pressure, be somewhat more aggressive in this snow, functional tension in the core. What a day!!!

Sunday Club: Catharine, Don, Kay, Annette (Lisa and Tina not able to come today). Imperial Bowl, Whales, Deb’s Alley, Toilet Bowl twice, High A, Crescendo, some trees. Alignment, foot pressure, shin pressure, pivot turns (keep practicing these, lead with the new inside ski), pole touch/hip cross, shuffle turns, pulling feet back to re-align, staying balanced in the bumps (no extend and twist), initiate to new edges then strong rotary (don’t be shy when applying the torque), keep it slow in the bumps on on the steeps, complete the turns. Ok, that should be enough to practice for awhile. Great day guys, no moss growing under our feet today!

Saturday Club: Meow, Nick, Brenda, Sophie, Don (who was actually not present today, which was too bad because he is usually loaded with chocolate). Another cold one, we couldn’t face the upper mountain so stayed low and worked on bumps. Early edge transfer, strong rotation with lots of torque, slipping to adjust line, lead the rotation with the new inside ski (the outside will follow – not so much vice versa), target just three bumps with a nice slow line, keeping both skis on the snow. Early lunch at 10:50, we were frozen, probably the smarted collective decision of the day. Good skiing, we had to be hardy today, cold fingers and toes (but not Brenda, WHO, has a heated vest).