Breckenridge Ski Lesson Pictures And Some Food For Thought

Thursday Club: Laurel, Rebecca, Mitzi, Vicki, Chongie. Tons of snow, all day, cold but workable, lots of wind, only one place to be = trees. Lots of trees today, Bong Alley, American trees, High A, Springmeier tree, Dukes trees, Peerless trees … and, Inferno and Mine Shaft. Some hot chocolate with whip cream about 2:30, was that ever good. Focus: short radius turns, hockey slides/stops on steep bumps, pole plant, bicycle legs, synchro  turns with 360s (this will take some practice but it’s doable). Good tree skiing ladies, lots of fun stuff in there (and a few rocks just to keep us honest).

Sunday Club: Kay, Catharine, Lisa, Annette, Tina. Warmest day yet (I think), pleasant, just about right, snow devils swirling around the upper mountain, beautiful. Focus: unleashing the new inside ski – aka, clean release, then steering and shaping, carving (yes for sure even though there is skidding, not to be confused with just riding the rails and arcing), more hockey slides and stops, some trees, narrow corridor, skis off how to commit, uphill arcs, flexing the inside leg with hip rotation to facilitate steering and completing the turn. Whales, Y-shoots, Deb’s Alley, few drills on Peak 7, skiing the rope line on Peak 6, Intuition Bowl. Lots of encouragement and helpful coaching within the group, so fun to be a part of such dedication and enthusiasm! Maybe post a few pictures tomorrow.

Saturday Club: Meow, Brenda, Don, Sophie, Gina, Terry, Kari. A most pleasant day (with the exception of top peak 6 … well, even that was not so harsh). Focus: inside leg everything – tipping, steering, flexing, pressuring … it’s the brain, us it to shape the turn, don’t get hung up on making the outside leg do all the work, it’s the strength but not all that smart, uphill arcs, divergent uphill arcs, super charged uphill arcs, inside leg steering and how it relates to hockey stops, inside leg steering and how it relates to short radius turns, inside leg steering and how it relates to every turn! Peak 7 and 6 – Rustler at day’s end might have been the best snow. Cheers, terrific day!

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.