Ski School Madness

[irab82]

When did they start teaching novice ski school classes up off K peak, all around Great Easter, Great Northern, etc. What a friggin' traffic jam these folks created all over the place. Coming off the K1 at about 12:30 was a joke. 20+ ski schoolers who barely knew how to put their skis on. Sections of Great Eastern, in the high traffic areas, with instructors teaching wedge turns? Come on....that's moronic. My son and I did the bomb down to the Skyeship base for lunch. Passed 3 novice groups on the way, who could not build up enough speed to get thru the flats. We skied down, ate our lunch and about 1/2 hour after we came in, those groups finally got down. Now, we passed them after the Bear Mt cut-off, so they were well on their way. Whole thing was joke. What are they thinking?

[Killington Koyote]

I hate it when an instructor will lead the whole group out into a trail without even looking up the trail, maybe that's why so many people dart out in front from the sides (or wherever they are stopped), the were never taught to do so by the instructors. It's bad enough when you are cruising and have to swing around someone who took off into the trail, but a whole group is a real PITA. Then we get memos from corpoprate to not use the customers as gates, how about sending a memo to the orange jackets to teach one of the most important part of the code. LOOK UP HILL BEFORE ........

my 2c.

[BoozeTan]

I especially hate it when they have a big group and they are all cutting from one side of the trail to the other. back and forth bak and forth. Its nearly impossible to get past them with out punching the instructor in the face.

[IronMan WannaB]

If I were paying for a lesson I would want to spend my time on the slopes and not on the lifts. Max time on snow. If you can ski or ride this really is a non issue.

[Bubba]

I especially hate it when they have a big group and they are all cutting from one side of the trail to the other. back and forth bak and forth. Its nearly impossible to get past them with out punching the instructor in the face.

Give 'em a break, they're learning and they need to swing that wide on turns in order to learn. That's just the way it is. Stop, let them get down and, while you're waiting, enjoy the scenery and reflect on how far you've come since you skied like that.

What I hate is something like what I saw the other day at the top of Needles. The instructor had a class of 8 - 10 people lined up across the trail as you turn left off the Needles chair just past Panic Button and just before you head down onto Cruise Control or Great Eastern or whatever that section is called now. It's a bad enough cluster f*** in that area with novices coming down Great Eastern and the chair unloading into a small area without an instructor having his class block the whole trail so he can collect his group.

[Dr Z]

Large #'s in classes? I thought they were beating their chest about classes being max -5 .

[skiingsnow]

Large #'s in classes? I thought they were beating their chest about classes being max -5 .

The kids are max 3 or max 5, adults are not...

[irab82]

I especially hate it when they have a big group and they are all cutting from one side of the trail to the other. back and forth bak and forth. Its nearly impossible to get past them with out punching the instructor in the face.

Give 'em a break, they're learning and they need to swing that wide on turns in order to learn. That's just the way it is. Stop, let them get down and, while you're waiting, enjoy the scenery and reflect on how far you've come since you skied like that.

What I hate is something like what I saw the other day at the top of Needles. The instructor had a class of 8 - 10 people lined up across the trail as you turn left off the Needles chair just past Panic Button and just before you head down onto Cruise Control or Great Eastern or whatever that section is called now. It's a bad enough cluster f*** in that area with novices coming down Great Eastern and the chair unloading into a small area without an instructor having his class block the whole trail so he can collect his group.

I saw the same exact thing at Needle's Eye yesterday. Left off the chair where you drop into Cruise Control or whatever it's called now. Some poor schnook stuck in a wedge turn between two moguls with the instructor trying to tell him what to do. Meanwhile, the rest of the class stands at the bottom of that little drop blocking the trail. What a disaster!

[Big Bob]

Must be kinda like a funeral procession, they have the right of way and can run red lights and stop signs!

[irab82]

Large #'s in classes? I thought they were beating their chest about classes being max -5 .

The kids are max 3 or max 5, adults are not...

Mr. Snow,
Sorry but I am going to have to disagree with you based on 2 classes I saw today. One was kids trying to make their way onto GE from Carpenter's. Had to be 8 in that class. That little run needs speed and this little kid just couldn't. The instructor was literally pushing him up the hill. The other was on a stretch of Home Stretch where there were 7 or 8 kids sprawled all over the trail while ski patrol and an instructor tended to a down student. Both classes definitely had more then 5, so sorry. Didn't have time to stop and take pics.

[shizzle]

kids classes are max 3 for 2 or 3 yr olds, max 5 for 4-18. Adult classes did go to a max 5 this season. these large classes are all UK folks and have 10 per class-special case.

[skiingsnow]

Large #'s in classes? I thought they were beating their chest about classes being max -5 .

The kids are max 3 or max 5, adults are not...

Mr. Snow,
Sorry but I am going to have to disagree with you based on 2 classes I saw today. One was kids trying to make their way onto GE from Carpenter's. Had to be 8 in that class. That little run needs speed and this little kid just couldn't. The instructor was literally pushing him up the hill. The other was on a stretch of Home Stretch where there were 7 or 8 kids sprawled all over the trail while ski patrol and an instructor tended to a down student. Both classes definitely had more then 5, so sorry. Didn't have time to stop and take pics.

They say the kids stuff is 3 or 5.

And actually they changed it this year that even the adult ones are suppost to be that way too...

[tyrolean_skier]

Large #'s in classes? I thought they were beating their chest about classes being max -5 .

The kids are max 3 or max 5, adults are not...

I counted 16 people with one instructor the other day. I also know there was a large group of British kids with one instructor that I and my skiing buddies happen to help out by going for the ski patrol because one of the kids was having some kind of seizure. The ski instructor was downhill and was not aware of what had happend until I told her.

[boston_e]

Wow... ultra lame if they are not sticking to the max 3 or max 5 promise

[robgoose]

Back in the days when I had a clue about what was going on the brit kid groups were a completely separate deal from normal ski school. The brit groups negotiate special pricing -- and have their own groups. Whether a Brit group has 8-10 has no bearing on what customers paying retail can expect.