With economy the way it is, there was some discussion about the impact to Monarch. Will guests not be able to afford visiting our mountain? Well here’s an article that says that drive-to areas may actually benefit from more visitors that cannot afford trips to destination resorts. People will still want to ski and snowboard…

Since we only have natural snow at Monarch and there isn’t quite enough of it yet, opening day has been postponed until December 5th. It’s kinda what happened last year. Hopefully the jet stream starts dipping further south. I read in the news that Vail and Beaver Creek opened yesterday. Curious I looked for their…

One of the best reasons I’ve heard for teaching the wedge is that it is a blended maneuver, one that incorporates all the skills needed for skiing well. If a student learns direct to parallel, even if they are athletically gifted, they may not adequately develop rotary skills (for one) and thus actually hinder their progress…

Ha! I just saw a Wiki page on how to ski. Yesterday I mentioned that the European website I added to my list of links here called the wedge a “snowplow.” I’d forgotten that it is also sometimes known as the “pizza” like it is described in the Wiki article.  Of course it all depends…

The other day at the re-hire clinic the supervisors passed around a sheet asking those of us who would consider being Monarch’s PSIA representative to sign -up. Before I could even think about it, I raised my hand to volunteer. They still have not made a decision as far as I know. I see it…

I was asked to place a link to a site here. The site is called TalkSkiing and can be found at http://www.talkskiing.co.uk/. The site’s focus: “The site is mostly aimed at helping the beginners and those who aren’t sure which skiing resort is for them. We are in the process of reviewing every major skiing resort…

Looks like I’m going to be working more than 90 days at Monarch again this year. We had to fill in our schedule at our recent employee re-hire meeting on Saturday. I basically tried to give myself two days off a week. During the middle of the season I switch to Thursdays and Fridays off…

Monarch Ski and Ride School is holding it’s employee re-hire orientation today. It will be held up on the mountain in the “bubble.” It should be interesting to see who all shows up again this year. It should also be interesting to see new faces, or perhaps people that took a few years off and…

Turned in my paperwork for Monarch Mountain employment for the ’08-’09 season the other day. The deadline was something like November 1st. I applied for full-time, 90-days (probably means actually working more than 100 days). Monarch Ski and Ride School has 90, 70, 50, 30, 18, and 10 day commitments. The more committed you are…

Wondering how other instructors in the snowsports industry get ready for the next season. Do they look over all the materials they’ve gathered over the years? Review online materials from their respective associations (PSIA, AASI, etc.)? How many keep notes from the previous season? I once heard an  instructor say in a clinic that she…