Interesting about the assessment part as we were not evaluated during the Womens Ski Week last season so hard to say where I would have ended up.
Seems we were mostly grouped by what we were interested in doing and I guess skill played a factor as we were told there might be changes on the next day.... We had an addition to our group but didn't lose anyone - well until two different ladies got hurt during the week.
@marzNC can speak to the group levels we were assigned to better...
Our Ladies group in 2018 was considered the 9/10 group. The local who moved herself up from the L8 group on Monday had opted out of the highest level on Sunday because she'd had a previous experience with 3-4 women who were friends and were . . . not her type. But she found the L8 group wasn't challenging enough. She was one of the weaker skiers but was quite happy with the change. The group dynamic we had was quite good even given the range of advanced abilities, ages, and personalities. I found it interesting observing what the L2 instructor did or didn't know well when she joined the group on Tuesday (I think it was Tuesday).
Based on the two ski offs that I participated in during the 2018-19 season, the type of terrain a student wants to ski is a big part of the initial grouping in addition to what the senior instructor see as a skier makes a few turns. The question the supervisor asked was about terrain preferences (green, blue, blue with some black, black, double-black). Even in Jan 2019, there was enough double-black terrain open for a Level 8, 9, or 10 group to go beyond black terrain.
In Jan 2019, my group was Level 7/8. We worked on blue bumps at the beginning of the week and did some black bumps by the end of the week. Also plenty of short turns on short steeps on the edges of blues, and even greens (Baby Bear "extreme"). Doing the little side-step to Hunziker led to the steepest and biggest bump run, plus the Staub trees. The L7 people worked their way down a few turns at a time. The L8 folks were encourage to ski Hunziker more aggressively. Not necessarily that fast (unless the one following directly behind the instructor so he was picking the line), but linking turns without stopping or slowing much to shop for the next turn.
In Feb 2019, my group was Level 8/9. We did black bumps on Day 1 while the instructor was assessing the abilities and interests of all the students. The fastest skier, who happened to be a younger man, was moved up to another group on Monday morning, Day 2. That left six skiers, mostly over 50, that included two L9 skiers because they were TSV regulars who had plenty of experience on double-blacks but were still working on technique to make their bumps skiing smoother.
After hearing which groups did drills like pivot slips, it's more obvious that the so-called Level 9/10 Women's Group in Feb 2018 was based on the assumption that everyone was capable of skiing at an advanced level, meaning at least TSV black terrain. Due to low snow, most of the week there was no bump skiing available and only green/blue trails was open. We did 360 turns, along with pivot slips, and not just side slips. We did those drills on relatively steep groomers. Haven't come across an intermediate group, Level 6/7, that worked on 360 turns or 1-leg drills.
Here are the trip reports for 2019. There are some pictures of the ski off, which starts at the Whistlestop Cafe (mid-mountain, take Lift 1) soon after 9:30 on Sunday, with a second ski off on Monday morning for people not around on Sunday or changing groups.
TR Taos Ski Week Jan. 20-25, 2019 with intermediate Divas
TR Taos Ski Valley, Feb. 2-9, 2019, including advanced Ski Week