LOL, my (female) manager and I were rolling our eyes about this same phenomenon today. We swore our women's programs would NOT involve wine or yoga. Or a "She Shed"
but don't give me some lame experience charge me $500 for the weekend. BWT last year they did "hole in the wall" back side of mt, b/c of so much snow. I'm not sure what happened w/ marketing between we are going to rock a tour back side on a double black to well, lets just ski for 5 hours out of 2 days and suck some wine......
SO agree. I'm new-ish to skiing and have been really frustrated with much of the instruction I've paid for so far, which has felt to me to be short on substance. I'm not new to athletics and to being coached, and I hate it when an instructor is short on useful feedback but is sort of vaguely encouraging because I'm a middle-aged-lady-intermediate skier and they assume that I'm just looking to ski blue groomers better and can't handle criticism.
SO agree. I'm new-ish to skiing and have been really frustrated with much of the instruction I've paid for so far, which has felt to me to be short on substance. I'm not new to athletics and to being coached, and I hate it when an instructor is short on useful feedback but is sort of vaguely encouraging because I'm a middle-aged-lady-intermediate skier and they assume that I'm just looking to ski blue groomers better and can't handle criticism.
These comments reminded me about what happened at a 1-day clinic at Elk a few years ago. There were four women in the most advanced group, which I was in. However, I was the only one who had any interest in bumps so we worked on fundamentals on groomers in the morning. A couple of the women had done Elk Ladies' clinics before. The other was the wife of a ski partroller and a mom who hadn't taken lessons before as an adult. We saw her young daughter (6 or 7?) enjoying the bumps with her father from the chair at one point. During the first couple of teaching runs, the L3 instructor would give general criticisms but it wasn't that clear which comments were directed at which skier. Finally one of the locals spoke up and said she wanted direct feedback for her skiing, not general comments that applied to the group. The range of abilities was enough to make it a little hard to interpret what an individual should do differently. All of the students agreed. After that, the instructor was much more direct and the lesson became far more useful. The latter part of the morning was more like semi-private lessons I've had with L3 instructors with a friend or two when the skiing ability was somewhat different. More like parallel private lessons than a group lesson with the same information for everyone in the group. She was an experienced instructor, teacher by profession, older, but probably not too much experience teaching advanced skiers simply because not that many advanced adults take lessons at Elk.That said, my experience at the Okemo WAA Program was somewhere in the middle of the scale, with wine-and-yoga on one end, and Olympic-training-camp at the other end. There was substance in the instruction (although not as much as at my running seminar), and also plenty of social opportunities. Personally, I’d like a little more focus on the instruction.
One of the side benefits of a Taos Ski Week is the opportunity to make friends with someone in your group at the beginning of the week. Which opens up the possibility for eating lunch together and/or free skiing together in the afternoon.Wine: well at Taos they have a martini tree as a fun ending w/some history about the 'tree'. I think it is nice in a multi-week clinic to end with a 'farewell' party that could include wine/hot chocolate so all can share emails etc. to stay excited, make plans to ski more together and be excited about what was learned.
Mammoth is missing out is the parents of the kids on the ski teams. Why would you not offer some type of program for them? They are there every weekend the kids are.
Why not do SOMETHING for the parents who are shelling out the $$ and the time to be on the hill?
Oh and you will need a baby back country class -- since its the fastest growing segment of skiing and you have that availability would be nice to do some intro to back country clinics.
I'd love something like this!I'm also wondering how appealing a women-only "introduction to the park" would be. (Learning to do small jumps properly, small box slides, etc.) I think a lot of skiers ignore park features, but it seems to me that some of the skills would translate well to skiing in trees and bumps and are just a fun extension of what you can do with good form and technique.
I've had video analysis twice.... once in a group called "Ski Espirit" at Whistler in the 90's. We all sat together and watched.... why did I look like I was sitting in a chair while skiing? Second time was last season at Taos. Once again the whole group watched, but I didn't feel intimidated at all by the instructor or the group watching. Watching my skiing was like "oh shoot there I go again" getting a little back!!!Has anyone done a clinic or lesson that involved video analysis? Curious about how appealing that would be. I know I would find it extremely helpful, but also would want to be careful about how the analysis was delivered; I imagine that not everyone would want to have their form dissected in front of a group.
Good points about making sure a woman is in the correct group. Has been more than one story of a Diva who didn't end up in the correct ability level to start with. Usually because of being too shy to talk about her goals and/or background with lessons, or worrying about getting in too good a group for whatever reason. If someone is doing a group lesson, or a lesson with a very experienced instructor, for the first time, they may not know what's possible. Meaning they would be in the "do not know what they do not know" stage of learning. Then it's more up to the organizer and/or instructor to help guide them into the correct group, even if that means changing groups after the first lesson.3. Don't be afraid to move women around if they are holding the group back. I paid for the lesson, as did the other women in the group.
4. Don't be afraid to advance someone, either. If someone is not challenged/not learning in the level she started in, bring her into the advanced group where she gets value for her money.
That was @Albertan ski girl.I was in the Gore Ladies program a few years ago. I would like to mention the things I didn't like so you can avoid them when creating your program.
1. Small classes are required. One, or even two, instructors are insufficient for a group of 12-15 women. Try to keep it at 5 women per group to allow for instruction. Just watching us ski without personal input wastes my time.
2. Constructive criticism and effective teaching is required. One instructor in the Ladies program at Gore told me that they tried to keep it positive for the women. Women see criticism as hurtful? There has to be a happy medium. If I'm not told that I am in the backseat, how will I know if I am doing it wrong? I paid for the lesson, teach me. Teach me in a positive way. I'm not a snowflake whose feelings get hurt.
3. Don't be afraid to move women around if they are holding the group back. I paid for the lesson, as did the other women in the group.
4. Don't be afraid to advance someone, either. If someone is not challenged/not learning in the level she started in, bring her into the advanced group where she gets value for her money.
I wish I could remember the name of the Diva who impressed me so much last season with her group class. I remember how she felt so uncomfortable in the steep and deep and thought she was holding the group back. The instructor told her that she was in the right class. I was so impressed with her courage to try and the success she found. Do you remember her story? She needs to be linked into this topic.