marzNC
Angel Diva
The Taos Ski Week is truly unique. Many of the Ski Week instructors have 30+ years of experience. The intermediate groups and the expert groups seem most likely to get the most experienced instructors. For MLK Week, there were less than 75 students. January is still early in the season and coverage is typically better in Feb-Mar for the black and double-black terrain. I think there were seven groups this week, ranging from intermediate to expert, with 3-7 students.
Most of the students last week were from the midwest. There were two ski clubs who joined forces to make the 1-week ski trip happen for 2019. Like many ski club groups, most were over 50, some still working and many already retired. They had a set of rooms at the Snakedance, which is right at the base of Lift 1. My Ski Week group of 7 included 4 from the midwest, all seniors.
TSV uses a 10-point scale and the advanced/expert levels seems to start at 7, which means working on blue bumps to start with black bumps by midweek. Level 8 groups may start on black bumps but are likely to ski double-blacks by midweek, conditions permitting. Level 9 groups warm up the first day or two and may spend the rest of the week on double-black terrain, if open. My ski buddy Bill was in the top Ski Week group with Dan R. the last couple years, just before Dan retired. In general, it's always fine for a student to ask to move up or down although the goal is to have groups set up by the Monday lesson. There is always a bit of a range for ability when there are 4+ students, but as long as the chemistry between the instructor and the students is good then it really doesn’t matter.
Starting on Tuesday morning, Ski Week groups met at 9:50 at the Whistlestop (small mid-mountain lodge with restrooms and a few food options]. Plenty of time for a run or two off Lift 1 or can ride up Lift 2 and cruise down Bambi. Now that Lift 1 is a high-speed detachable quad, possible to get in another run before 9:45. One morning our instructor checked in around 9:30, then did a Around-the-World lap in 11 minutes. That means riding up Lift 2, speeding down the backside, and returning on the long cat track to the main base, and riding up Lift 1 to get back to the Whistleshop. One advantage of doing that is finding out what gated terrain is open.
My group with Trey was Level 7/8 based on my chairlift question on Tuesday. Trey said the group was Level 7 since he had to base the rating on the weakest ability on bumps. Being able to carve down groomers at speed, which all the midwest skiers could do, is not that related to ability and experience in bumps and trees. He said Level 8 groups do double-blacks. Our group did assorted black terrain but were clearly not ready for double-black steeps. It was a good fit for me and Jason. The two of us did a double-back, Longhorn, with an instructor in Feb 2017 when there was deep snow coverage. That season a Ski Week didn't fit in our travel schedules, so we did 1-shot group lesson midweek. Our instructor was a 20-something former racer with no PSIA Certification (racing career derailed due to a very bad injury while back country skiing). An instructor with 20+ years of experience probably wouldn’t have taken us down that trail.
There seemed to be two Level 6/7 groups, each with a female instructor with 30+ years of experience. My group ended up with a midwest man who was originally assigned to Kyle after the Monday morning ski off. He was friends with the two midwest men in my group. A midwest woman could have moved up but when she saw which midwest men were in our group, she chose to stay with Kyle. I think Kyle ended up with five women. Karen's group included @Gidget415 and @alison wong and they were working on bumps after Sunday. One of the intermediate groups was taught by Marvin and included @diymom and @EuniceG, while the other was taught by Mary and seemed to be all midwest women by the flags on their poles.
Here are a couple of articles about long-time TSV instructors. Derrick Gordon was Eunice’s instructor in Jan 2017. He stopped by to say hello to Eunice and Alison in the locker room one morning on his way into the instructor's locker room. It was clear he remembered them from last year.
Learning from the best at Taos Ski Valley - Feb 2016
“ . . .
Burt Skall, the director of TSV’s Snowsports School, said their teaching philosophy can be summed up in three words.
“First, we want to share: to share our energy, our passion and our mountain experiences,” Skall said. “We also want to inspire: to inspire about the ski life and mountain living. And we want to create: to create experiences people will never forget and want to come back to.”
With some 240 instructors, that’s a lot of sharing, inspiring and creating every year. And while TSV introduces many first-time skiers and snowboarders to the sport, a defining characteristic here is the large number of advanced and expert skiers who take lessons.
“In my experience, and I’ve been around a long time, Taos is one of the top places to find great classes for advanced and expert skiers,” Skall said. This is due to “the amazing dedication and passion of the instructors, and being at a great mountain to teach on, with steeps, big moguls and deep snow for powder programs.”
. . .”
No signs of slowing down
Taos Ski Valley instructor Max Killinger begins 50th winter on the mountain - Nov 2018
Most of the students last week were from the midwest. There were two ski clubs who joined forces to make the 1-week ski trip happen for 2019. Like many ski club groups, most were over 50, some still working and many already retired. They had a set of rooms at the Snakedance, which is right at the base of Lift 1. My Ski Week group of 7 included 4 from the midwest, all seniors.
TSV uses a 10-point scale and the advanced/expert levels seems to start at 7, which means working on blue bumps to start with black bumps by midweek. Level 8 groups may start on black bumps but are likely to ski double-blacks by midweek, conditions permitting. Level 9 groups warm up the first day or two and may spend the rest of the week on double-black terrain, if open. My ski buddy Bill was in the top Ski Week group with Dan R. the last couple years, just before Dan retired. In general, it's always fine for a student to ask to move up or down although the goal is to have groups set up by the Monday lesson. There is always a bit of a range for ability when there are 4+ students, but as long as the chemistry between the instructor and the students is good then it really doesn’t matter.
Starting on Tuesday morning, Ski Week groups met at 9:50 at the Whistlestop (small mid-mountain lodge with restrooms and a few food options]. Plenty of time for a run or two off Lift 1 or can ride up Lift 2 and cruise down Bambi. Now that Lift 1 is a high-speed detachable quad, possible to get in another run before 9:45. One morning our instructor checked in around 9:30, then did a Around-the-World lap in 11 minutes. That means riding up Lift 2, speeding down the backside, and returning on the long cat track to the main base, and riding up Lift 1 to get back to the Whistleshop. One advantage of doing that is finding out what gated terrain is open.
My group with Trey was Level 7/8 based on my chairlift question on Tuesday. Trey said the group was Level 7 since he had to base the rating on the weakest ability on bumps. Being able to carve down groomers at speed, which all the midwest skiers could do, is not that related to ability and experience in bumps and trees. He said Level 8 groups do double-blacks. Our group did assorted black terrain but were clearly not ready for double-black steeps. It was a good fit for me and Jason. The two of us did a double-back, Longhorn, with an instructor in Feb 2017 when there was deep snow coverage. That season a Ski Week didn't fit in our travel schedules, so we did 1-shot group lesson midweek. Our instructor was a 20-something former racer with no PSIA Certification (racing career derailed due to a very bad injury while back country skiing). An instructor with 20+ years of experience probably wouldn’t have taken us down that trail.
There seemed to be two Level 6/7 groups, each with a female instructor with 30+ years of experience. My group ended up with a midwest man who was originally assigned to Kyle after the Monday morning ski off. He was friends with the two midwest men in my group. A midwest woman could have moved up but when she saw which midwest men were in our group, she chose to stay with Kyle. I think Kyle ended up with five women. Karen's group included @Gidget415 and @alison wong and they were working on bumps after Sunday. One of the intermediate groups was taught by Marvin and included @diymom and @EuniceG, while the other was taught by Mary and seemed to be all midwest women by the flags on their poles.
Here are a couple of articles about long-time TSV instructors. Derrick Gordon was Eunice’s instructor in Jan 2017. He stopped by to say hello to Eunice and Alison in the locker room one morning on his way into the instructor's locker room. It was clear he remembered them from last year.
Learning from the best at Taos Ski Valley - Feb 2016
“ . . .
Burt Skall, the director of TSV’s Snowsports School, said their teaching philosophy can be summed up in three words.
“First, we want to share: to share our energy, our passion and our mountain experiences,” Skall said. “We also want to inspire: to inspire about the ski life and mountain living. And we want to create: to create experiences people will never forget and want to come back to.”
With some 240 instructors, that’s a lot of sharing, inspiring and creating every year. And while TSV introduces many first-time skiers and snowboarders to the sport, a defining characteristic here is the large number of advanced and expert skiers who take lessons.
“In my experience, and I’ve been around a long time, Taos is one of the top places to find great classes for advanced and expert skiers,” Skall said. This is due to “the amazing dedication and passion of the instructors, and being at a great mountain to teach on, with steeps, big moguls and deep snow for powder programs.”
. . .”
No signs of slowing down
Taos Ski Valley instructor Max Killinger begins 50th winter on the mountain - Nov 2018