Interski 2019: Heidi Ettlinger’s Top Takeaways from the Alpine On-Snow Presentation

Tom Waddington of the British Association of Snowsports Instructors (BASI) recently posted a concise, insightful summary of his impression of the PSIA Alpine Team’s Interski 2019 on-snow presentation.

The presentation on Alpine Skills and Fundamentals in Pamporovo, Bulgaria, features Alpine Team members Heidi Ettlinger and Brenna Kelleher.

You can watch the video on Facebook, and then read Heidi’s top takeaways from the presentation –  including what it means to the world and snow pros here at home.

Heidi’s Top Takeaways: 

1. In the U.S. we teach our guests and train instructors using the Five Fundamentals vs. isolating skiing into a specific technique or rigid maneuvers.

2. We believe that the passion and motivation for learning to ski, and more importantly, sustaining this passion, is accentuated when skiers develop skillfulness and versatility. The Five Fundamentals allow us to customize our training of instructors and our focus when addressing the public in lessons to accommodate for each individual’s choice of terrain, conditions, equipment, and the chosen performance in these areas.

3. Given the ever-changing demographics of our guests and their individual motivations for participating in snowsports, we must prioritize simplicity to help them get better more quickly, while giving them greater freedom in how they personally choose to explore the mountain environment.

4. This presentation highlights the need to appreciate the diversity in how skiers individually interpret the mountain as a playground. When we coach to this diversity, we reduce the stigma that there is only one “correct” way to navigate the mountain. Ultimately, these Five Fundamentals become a gateway to greater willingness to experiment, versus solely gauging one’s success by mastering a particular technique.