PSIA-AASI

6.9.2010

The 50/50 Blog: The Friendliest Sport in the World

We all love to talk about technique, the weather, snow conditions and the latest innovations in gear. But most of all we love to talk to each other, and to hear the echo of the passion that we all share.

That sense of community is the one aspect of American snowsports instruction that impresses me most – the fact that the entire system is based on how each and every student is best wired to learn. It supports a structure in which the best teachers are the best students, because they are constantly looking for clues to how others see, hear, and feel.

It’s also why in the first few weeks of reaching out to members of the snow pro community, I’ve been looking forward more and more to each new call – because, of course, the best listeners are typically the best conversationalists as well.

One topic that keeps coming up in those conversations is the camaraderie that’s at the heart of snowsports, and especially our snowsports schools. Or, as Craig Albright, managing director of the Mammoth Mountain Ski and Snowboard School, put it, “If you go out surfing and say ‘hi’ to someone in a surf lineup, you might get your butt kicked. But if go up to a chairlift and yell, ‘single,’ a complete stranger will step up to ride the chair with you. And it might very well be some single, attractive person, too.”

Here are a couple other quotes on that theme from recent interviews:

“When I go through this movie reel of the past, what stands out is how every face has a smile on it. From the very start I felt this sense of belonging from sleeping in a lodge and going to ski school, and there has only been that great sense of being a part of it all.”
-    Earl Saline, PSIA-AASI Education Manager

“Ski school locker rooms have this incredible social outlet with a full cast of characters, including moms and dads cleaning up after all the younger instructors, and kids running in and out, guys and girls getting next-to-naked next to each other, the locker room romances, and the kegs of beer and Thanksgiving dinners together at the ski area. It’s this community that we all share.”
-    Michael Rogan, PSIA Alpine Team Captain

“My best memories of teaching in the ’70s are of this big group of people that are passionate about skiing and this fun existence they’re living that seems like nothing else in the world. I remember how we’d all get together at Donovan’s Bar at the end of the day, and it felt like we were on the edge of the frontier.”
-    Don Welch, former Vail Ski Instructor

In the next 50/50 post – ‘What Story Do You Have to Tell?’

- by Peter Kray