1/7/07, 10 am: Highway Star Freeskiing Clinic

[Highway Star]

YOU ARE ALL INVITED!!!!

http://forums.epicski.com/showthread.php?t=49634

Main thread:
http://forums.epicski.com/showthread.php?t=48964

Meeting Place:
http://forums.epicski.com/showthread.php?t=49035

Killington, Sunday, January 7th 2007, 10 am, K-1 Gondola line in front of the Waffle Haus.

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As some of you may have noticed, I will be teaching a Freesking clinic this coming weekend. Here is what you need to know.

It is free of charge, and is open to the general public (epicski and guests). I am offering my time and knowledge in an effort to expose epic skiers to a different perspective on skiing and expand peoples horzions a bit.

We will ski for approximately 3-4 hours, so be prepared to be on the hill until at least 2 pm. I recommend taking a few warm up runs before the 10 am meeting, however, we will be taking at least one easy warm up run so I can assess everybody's ablity levels and you can see what you're getting yourself into. The skiing will get progressively harder as we go along and the terrain we ski will thin the group by attrition. Thus, I will try to cover topics relating to all ablilty levels first, and move up from there.

I am not a professional ski instructor and this will be my first experience teaching a skiing group. The focus will not be on any specific technique or style, but I will be giving selective feedback on anything I see fit to give feedback on - thus, if you have any really major technical flaws, I will be happy to discuss them with you. I would expect anybody attending this to be roughly level 7 or above, carving turns, and be comfortable on normal black diamond terrrain.

I recommend bringing a pair of skis you don't mind hitting a couple rocks with and that you feel comfortable on in challenging snow. I would suggest an older midfat ski in good shape. I personally will be on 179 public enemies.

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The clinic itself will go as follows:

We will start with a basic introduction, I'd like everybody to be able summarize in about 30-60 seconds:

1. Where do you normally ski
2. How many days a year do you ski
3. How long have you been skiing
4. Your basic skiing background (racing, instructing, freeskiing, etc)
5. Your identity as a skier (what type of skier are you?)
6. What kind of skier you want to become

I will then briefly assess your equipment. I will give a bit of a discussion about my personal thoughts on ski gear, and what people are skiing on in VT. I will then go into my personal philosophy on skiing a little........why I love to ski, and why skiing continues to entertain and engage me.

We will then talk about freeskiing strategies and goals, which will include the following:

- Maps, ski area layout and skiing strategy, specifically at Killington
- Weather, wind, pitch, exposure, elevation, and how they relate to snow quality....ie. where to find the good snow.
- Terrain and line choices

Then we will commence the on snow portion. We will take an easy run to get the kinks worked out, and so I can size everybody up. We will then start to locate good spots to ski. I will give advice based on what we see out on the hill - why we are chosing to ski a spot, how to ski it, etc. We'll start by skiing short sections of medium difficulty and work up from there. There may be some tree skiing and poaching involved, if conditions allow. I can assure you that by 2pm, we will have skied both the best snow and the most challenging terrrain available on the mountain that day.

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So, that's about it. I wrote this up for your benefit, and so that I know what to be ready to talk about. If there's a specific topic you'd like me to address, please mention it and I will try to be prepared to talk about it.

Thanks,

Highway Star

[RustyK]

Is free beer included?

[pbolo]

How about another weekend?
It's going to be crowded and the weather is gonna suck.

Is a bag lunch included?

[pbolo]

Or how about a mt biking clinic or water rafting clinic instead. I bet great eastern will be sweet for both.

[ozzy]

wow, i may have to wake up early for this one...

[CAPBOY]

I've seen you ski. I think I'll bring the snowboard this weekend.

[Highway Star]

I've seen you ski. I think I'll bring the snowboard this weekend.

Yes, this should get very interesting very quickly........

[Humpty Dumpty]

What a tool.

You remind me of the stuff that ends up on the toilet paper after I wipe my ass.

[Highway Star]

What a tool.

You remind me of the stuff that ends up on the toilet paper after I wipe my ass.

Lame.........put up or shut up.......I'm calling you out, bitch!!!!

[Bubba]

What a tool.

You remind me of the stuff that ends up on the toilet paper after I wipe my ass.

Lame.........put up or shut up.......I'm calling you out, bitch!!!!

Oh STFU already with your callouts. Get some new material.

[powbmps]

This is a serious question (not intended to be a put down).

What makes you "qualified" to judge the freeskiing technique of other skiers?

It actually sounds interesting, but I can't make it up on weekends. Are you ever up during the week?

Chris

[johnny the jibber]

im gonna stop by...

[Bling Skier]

What do I get when you find out that I ski better than you?
Will you let me take over teaching along with you moving to the end of the line?
What say you?

Oh BTW just what the hell is "Free skiing" anyhoo?

[johnny the jibber]

free skiing is when you poach the liftlines...

[Vinny Vincenzo]

I'll stop by. I need some tips on breaking out of the wedge.