Ski Day 10: Drenched at Ski Bowl

I'm writing about this one only because it happened. The only thing spectacular about coaching this past weekend was the amount of water that fell from the sky as rain and didn't freeze.

We knew going in it was going to be a VERY wet training day. To their credit, C Team generally had a good attitude almost all day. We did a lot of work in the morning, since the decision had been made to close off portions of the area to preserve the snow coverage. Since there were almost no guests on the hill, it probably made little or no difference.

The skiing over off the Multorpor chair was excellent, however. Despite the rain and warm temperature, the snow was fast and held up well. We got a lot of good work in doing carving and sideslipping drills.

But the rain just kept coming, and much of the day it was a downpour. We could barely hear ourselves think over the sound of the rain hitting hoods/helmets. I don't think I've skied in that much rain in my life, and we've had some doozies back at Smugglers' in my youth. Not to mention the day we closed Ski Bowl after I completed my ski patrol training that year. Brutal.

The one positive was that it reminded me that I'd forgotten to wash my parka and pants with the NikWax stuff at the end of last season, so I did that as soon as I got home. Might be time for a new parka next season.

Ski Day 9: First Training Day @ Ski Bowl

Saturday the 8th was our first on-hill training day with the current crop of ski patrol apprentices, and it started out pretty well. I joined A Team at Ski Bowl, since they were minus a coach, and we headed off into the fresh snow.

We helped out with the area opening, like the training teams usually do, and I got tapped to drag an empty toboggan over to the Warming Hut. This prompted a quick Toboggan Anatomy 101 session at the Palace before we took off.

Once we finished helping with opening, we rounded up to Rescue Center to give the apprentices their orientation there, then headed off to the Outback. The visibility wasn't what you'd want when doing the "Peak Hike", but the fresh snow looked to make the trip worth it.

For the most part, it did. We skied the West Boundary, and with some exceptions, the fresh stuff was nice. Underneath, there was some crusty stuff, but by and large it wasn't too shabby. After we finished some "area orientation" in the Outback, we headed off to get to work. The first few days of the on-hill training is focused on building the fundamental skiing/riding skills that will facilitate effective toboggan-handling, so most of what we worked on were carving and sideslipping drills, focusing on correct balance, stance, and movement for transitions.

One of the guest coaches we had up with us is a PSIA-certified ski instructor, so we were getting some really good instruction and feedback for our apprentices. The coaches even picked up some new drills to try out. The improvement in the apprentices' skiing was pretty remarkable for just the short time we worked with them.

The afternoon got a little interesting, as the "witching hour" took effect and pressed some of the coaches into service. We had three area guests get injured on the same run, within minutes of each other, so the apprentices got to watch several cases through the assessment and transport phases. I got to do the transport on one of the cases, providing the apprentices with a good example of what their end product will look like. Lower Reynolds isn't a challenging run, by any stretch, but it was a good place for an easy skill demo.

We got through the cases just in time for almost all of the skiing apprentices to join the sweep team for the Outback closure. The snow that fell throughout the day made most of the Outback run pretty enjoyable, and a nice way to finish the day. After sweep, it was off to the Palace and time to head back to Govy and Charlie's for paperwork and de-brief.