The place is somewhere off the Pacific Crest Trail deep in the Glacier Peak Wilderness.  It is midnight and one of my best friends and I are returning to our camp site after hours of exploring  snow fields and glacial terrain.  Allowing only the full moon to light our trail we take in the most spectacular twighlight view of high alpine meadows and Cascade peaks that I have ever experienced in my life.  I felt trully alive.  I thought of Thoreau’s words from his essay, Walking, when he said ”. . . .  in wildness is the preservation of the world.”  Thoreau often wrote about nature and wilderness as a sort of holy land and a place that was spiritual. I felt blessed to be experiencing that first hand. 

What is wilderness?  Is there a simple one or two line definition that can be etched into stone that everyone can relate to and understand?  I have heard it described as a sizeable chunck of land untouched by the developments or alterations of human kind.  I have also heard it described in legal terms in the US as areas within the forrests and federal lands designated and signed into law by the US Congress (as established by the Wilderness Act of 1964) as primitive areas off limits to development and where man is a mere visitor.    I provided some links below I think offer some good explanations of what wilderness is.          

1.  Wilderness Watch

2.  Wilderness Resources via Backcountryattitude.com

3.  What is wilderness?  and How a Wilderness becomes Wilderness - Via Wilderness.net

4.  The WILD Foundation

Why is wilderness important?  I am not sure that one blog post can answer that.  If you happen to read this and care to share your thoughts I would love to hear.  I will be spending the next few days working to answer this question through studying the forming of one of my favorite Wilderness areas of all - Washington State’s Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

In a book club I participate in, we read a book called the Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey.   Oddly enough we read this book just after reading Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.  What can I say, we like diversity of thought.  Abbey’s book prompted us to now read Timothy Egan’s book The Big Burn which I have already read.  So here is my project.  

I am going to explore the formation of a few key areas within the US National Forest System that have been designated as Wilderness area.   For an area to be designated as a Wilderness Area, it literally requires and act of congress.  So there are many people involved and quite a discussion / debate / fight in making these parts of the forest into “Wilderness” areas.  My goal this summer is to learn more about these efforts and blog about it along the way.  My other goal is to get out and actually hike in some of the local wilderness areas as well (of course, that is no different from any other summer).   If anyone has suggested reading on these subjects, I would love to hear more.

Thoreau wrote – “in Wildness is the preservation of the world.”  So that prompts my first area of research – what is Wildness and perhaps more direct to this project what is Wilderness?  The journey begins and perhaps I may take the road less traveled, but it should be fun all the same.

Hiking the shores of Lake Pend Orelle with my family, showing my daughter who is only one year old the various types of trees on the trail, thinking a swim in the cold water sounds good, swatting the one millionth misquito off my forearem, ahhhh yeah, it’s summer. 

Now that it is 80 degrees plus and the mountains are drying up a bit,  I have had a chance to get out and hike around.  In between landscaping projects and that thing called work, it is nice to play a little on the hiking trail.  My most recent hikes include a shore and ridgline trail on Lake Pend Oreille and some of the cross country skiing trails at Schweitzer.   I am hoping for many more hikes this summer as well as some good trail rides on my mountain bike.  Here are a couple of shots from my most recent hikes. 

From the Western Shores for Lake Pend Oreille - near Garfield Bay

Picnic Point - Schweitzer Mountain, Idaho

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there are still many more days left this summer.

It’s been too long since my last post.  Nearly a year.   Lots of turns since then and lots of living.  Time to start blogging again and well  . . . . . here I am. 

My wife and I had our first child this summer and that has certainly changed my activities quite substantially.   I must say that has also changed my interest in topics to write about.  So my focus on posts going forward will probably gear more towards general snow country life and activities (including skiing) vs just downhill skiing.  I have spent far more time this winter on the nordic trails in the woods surrounding house that I have on the mountain.  It has been a suprisingly nice change of pace.  The stroller we bought for our daughter converts to a sled you can pull behind you while nordic skiing.   I ski along while she sleeps.  It works out great.  I know it won’t always be that way.    

 More posts to come in the following days.  I am going to return to my evening enjoying the fire and listening to the rain fall on the roof.  I am hoping the weather forecast holds true and that rain turns to snow by morning.

This is the fourth and final post in a series inspired by two weekends of teaching all day lessons in the children’s ski school programs at Schweitzer.  The first three posts can be read at the links below. 

1. 1st post in a series of lessons learned when coaching children.
2. Lesson 2 – The impact of a coach
3. Lesson 3- Teaching for a Split – Creativity Forcer

Enjoying the simpler things

Skiing for a child four to six years old is much more than just about learning to get better.  In fact, getting better really isn’t a concern to these kids.  The key measurement of success at this age is having fun.  However, having fun is not about some well thought out game or lesson plan that an instructor comes up with.  Having fun is about enjoying the spontaneity of the day and all the different types of terrain and snow conditions.   

I took a group of four to six-year-old advanced skiers down a mogul run.  They were a bit perplexed at first because of the steepness and because of the bumps.  They laughed and enjoyed skiing over and around the bumps.  I watched them and saw how they were interacting with the terrain.  Then enjoyed ups and downs of skiing across the hill through the bumps.  So, the lesson for this run was to explore and try a few different things in the bumps. 

1st – I had them pretend there is a ceiling just above their heads as they ski across the slope.  I explained that they did not want to let their head touch the ceiling.  So instead of going up and down with their whole bodies, they should allow their legs to bend and their knees to come up to their stomach when they go over a bump.  Their head will not move and their legs act like shock absorbers.  Of course I didn’t explain all this in this much detail.  I showed them the imaginary ceiling and said use your knees so you don’t hit the ceiling.  Then I showed them by skiing across the hill doing what I wanted them to do.     

2nd -  When they stopped on the top o the bumps, their tips would be in the air hanging over the back side of the bump.  I showed them to come to stop at the top of the bump and then slam their tips down on the back side of the bump.  Saying “now they are in the air, now they are on the snow,  now they are in the air, now they are on the snow.”   

We as a class were playing and experimenting with this fun new terrain (moguls), but they were also learning good movements in the bumps.   You have to go with the flow sometimes with good skiers at young ages, but be quick to think of something to focus their attention.  Seize these opportunities and have fun with it and keep it simple.  Apply this to your own skiing.  Everyday the mountain becomes an adventure.

This is the third post in a series inspired by two weekends of teaching all day lessons in the children’s ski school programs at Schweitzer.  The first two posts can be read at the two links below. 

1. 1st post in a series of lessons learned when coaching children.
2. Lesson 2 – The impact of a coach

 

Lesson 3 – Teaching for a Split – creativity forcer

There is nothing like trying to teach a class of kids where two can rip down any run on the mountain and the other four are making wedge turns on blue terrain.  Add to that these kids ages range from four to six years old.  This is a fun age, but attention spans longer than 30 seconds are not part of the equation.  This mix of students is an instant forcer of creativity.  It is sink or swim for an instructor.  I am by no means perfect at this, but here is what I did the other day when I encountered this very mix of students.  

1.  Set down some expectations and ground rules

After the two advanced skiers took off leaving us in the dust, scaring me half to death about losing them only to find them patiently waiting at the bottom, I learned that I needed to set some ground rules.  I didn’t have to be mean about it.  Expectations in this environment are best laid out in a positive manner.  But some ground rules at the beginning of the lesson are important.   With this group, I said that we have a big group and to make sure everyone has fun it is important that we stick together.  

2.  Assign tasks

I assigned the two advanced skiers a task right away.  They had to make short turns and use their pole touch to initiation their turns.  They also had to make their turns exactly at the same time as each other and never ever get in front of the other four students.  This forced them to alter their turn shape to slow down, round out the turns.  Sometimes I had to assign a strong wedge turner to lead us and have the two advance students follow my track to show them the turn shape that would keep them slow.   The wedge turners task was to speed up and match their skis to parallel at the end of their turns.  Positioning myself in the middle of the class also allowed me to give instant positive feedback to wedge turn students who were matching their skis because I was right behind them.   I could yell – “Nice match Susie!”  ”Skis like two french fries!”  “Good job Brady!”  

3.  Allow for fun skiing time

I was fortunate that at the bottom of the runs there were kid trails through the trees.  Kids of all ability levels love going on trails through the trees.  These trails are made by kids for kids and adults should just stay out (watch on the sides and only go in if needed).  This was their reward for working hard on the upper portions of the run . 

I had my challenges with this group, but everyone advanced.  The key was to keep assigning the advance skiers tough tasks – hop turns, one ski turns, etc. to keep them challenged and focused on mastering harder skills, while allowing the other skiers to work on the movements they needed to master at their level.

This is the second post in a series inspired by two weekends of teaching all day lessons in the children’s ski school programs at Schweitzer.  To read the first post, click here – 1st post in a series of lessons learned when coaching children.

The impact of a coach

I learned to ski when I was 10 years old.  My first instructor was a World War Two veteran named Howie.  He had an athletic build, a long weathered face and wore those 1980s style tight black ski pants.  He usually greeted us with a huge smile only slightly altered to hold the cigarette in his mouth.    

I was rather timid in skiing for the first day and a half.  About half way through my second lesson it was apparent that I was holding the class back.  Howie was having us follow him one by one.  Our class formed the classic snake of young kids following older instructor down the hill.  Except me – I was way behind everyone else that morning, but not for long.  Thankfully Howie knew just how to handle someone like me.  He used my fear and turned that into a more positive motivator.  He stopped the class and put me at the front.  He told me that I had better ski fast and stick right behind him, otherwise I was going to get run over by the other students behind me.  The fear of being skied over overtook my fear of speed or falling and so I sped up.  To this day if I am in a training clinic of any kind, I am always right behind the coach.  It was a lesson I learned well that day and has stuck with me my whole life.  

Howie taught me a few other lessons over the course of skiing with him that season.   Here are few of Howie’s lessons learned well by me.   

1.  Never ski with Gum in your mouth.  Howie, as he was chewing gum, told us that it is dangerous to chew gum while you ski because you could accidentally swallow it and choke.  He said that he was old and didn’t know any better so he could do it.  BUT, we had better NEVER do it.  I listened to everything Howie said because he said it with such confidence and sincerity.  So to this day, I don’t chew gum while I ski and I never let any of my students do it either. 

2.  Never ever Smoke.  Howie smoked all the time, but he told us to never smoke.  He said it was terrible for you.  He said that in the Army they told him to smoke and now he is too old to quit.  I listened to that advice too and never smoked. 

3.  Any day you are skiing is a good day to ski.  This one I took to heart and never forgot.  Howie loved to ski and it was contagious.   I have never had a bad day skiing. 

I think about Howie every time I ski and every time I teach kids.  If I can have half the effect on my students that Howie had on me, I have succeeded.

For the last couple weekends, I have been coaching in the children’s ski school program at Schweitzer.  These next few posts will be about some of the valuable lessons the students taught me.    

There is a fine line between pushing students hard for gains and pushing them over the fence 

The first day out of the chutes I was working with an intermediate group of 7 to 12 year olds in an all day lesson.  In the first part of the day, they were nailing everything I was teaching them.  We were having fun and skiing great.  Then, I made a huge coaching error.  Just before lunch, I was so excited about their development that I thought I could push them into an intermediate bump run.  They started the run beautifully, but by the bottom they were exhausted.  I had pushed them too hard and I knew it.  They were spent and I was unsure if they would be able to do much of anything in the afternoon.  They were definitely too tired to go into the bumps again.  Their attitude was worn down and with them so tired, they risked injury.  The first coaching responsibility that I was not going to error on was safety.  We went in for an extended lunch to see if a little extra juice, apples, chicken strips and cookies could re-energize them.     

I spent the second half of the lesson mixing drills and games with fun runs through the trails in the trees on intermediate and beginner terrain.  I think I recovered some of the gains we made in the morning, but they were all tired campers and it showed.  My goal was to let them have some fun in a safe environment and use a more subtle coaching technique to input learning where possible.  It seemed to work, but I could have increased their overall experience for the day if I would have opted for an easier run back to the lodge before lunch.  

A good coach knows how hard to push his students and when to back off.   In the resort environment, our first responsibility beyond keeping students safe is to make sure they have fun.  Learning comes after all that.  In other environments such as racing or instructor training, sometimes you can substitute learning for fun.  However, in either case, it is important for a coach to know just how far he can push a group before they hit a breaking point that will render them useless. 

Know your audience and know your own tendencies.  

This last weekend, I almost made the same mistake with a group of 4 to 6-year-old advanced skiers.  At the top of the run I noticed that they were showing signs of being tired.  I quickly lead them on a traversing trail through the trees to a groomed run.   We skied down with less effort ending with just some “free skiing” and then into lunch.  After lunch they executed turns lifting one ski, jump turn entries and hop turns exceptionally and were able to advance their skiing all throughout the lesson.   They ended the day a much happier group of kids.

First run of the day and yesterday’s slushy crud has turned into this morning’s iced up chunky monkies.  The sun is out, but the temps have not yet reached a point to where the snow has started to soften.  I have already skied about five turns in and so what do I do?  Traverse out to a groomer?  WROOOOONG.  No way man, I love this stuff.   You think I am crazy?  Well try this the next time you encounter it and let me know if you like this type of snow any better.   First - here is a glimpse in the photo below of what I am talking about. 

Schweitzer Mountain - between White Lightening and Styles Runs

    Ski this snow just about the same way you would carve up groomers, with some alterations.  1st – Forget the pivot.  If you pivot, it won’t work.  Think about it this way.  Try taking a 2 X 4 board and pivot it through this thick icy chunky snow and see how well that works for you.  Unless you are powered by hydraulics, not sure that is going to work out too well.  Now think of this – using a shaped ski that bends with a metal edge, slice through this on a clean arc.  All of a sudden, this heavy chunky stuff isn’t so bad. 

Many people try to rush the beginning of their turns when they get in crud.   They want to pivot through the top half of the turn to get the skis back across the fall line quickly.  Then they ride out the bottom half.  To get the new turns started again, they feel that they either need to hop or power through with a quick pivot.   That is just the opposite of what they should do.  Their turn shape is more like a J or Z instead of a nice clean C.  A “C” has a gradual arc at the top and the bottom.  So should your turns.  That means allowing yourself to draw out the top of the turn guiding your skis more gradually into the fall line.   The top of the turn should feel like it takes longer than the bottom of the turn when you are skiing.     If you round out the top of the turns, you can arc your whole turn and allow your skis to slice the snow versus plowing through it.  

When you are slicing the crud, big piles of crusty slush do not hinder you.  You cut through them on an edged ski and can easily roll your ankles and knees into turn after turn.    Skiing like this through this type of snow is amazingly fun and surprisingly it does not wear you out as much as one would think.

February is the BEST month of the year and the very HEART of ski season in North America.  Temps remain cold, spring dumps arrive early and life is good.  It is often in February when I have felt my ever spinning life seem to halt for just a moment.  The view at the top on a clear day seems that much sweeter.  The Alpen glow in the evening is all that much more noticeable.   Powder days where you ski fresh tracks one run only to return to that same spot to find them covered with fresh snow seem more prevalent in February. 

Years like this with the Winter Olympics in the world spotlight turn February into a snow country craze.  It will seem as if all the world revolves around snow sports with crowds watching in awe at the marvels of going downhill fast, mastering gravity, seeking speed and dancing gracefully with danger.  

Yet when all the hype of the Olympics dies down, we will still have a few days left of February.  While the fame  of snow sports will fade in the world’s short attention span, I will still be skiing that February snow with my cheeks stinging from the frigid air and my teeth cold from smiling. 

I am anxiously awaiting February!