‘Show Us Your Pins’ Contest Winners

We asked PSIA-AASI members to ‘show us your pins’ in a Facebook and Instagram post earlier this month, with the promise that one lucky winner would get a new beanie from PSIA-AASI Official Supplier Patagonia.

Boy, did instructors deliver. Members shared more than 100 images of their 30-year pins, brand-new Children’s Specialist 1 pins, Level III cert pins (some of which were earned in 1978 and 1974), name tags, and, frankly, a couple images of pins from Europe we had never seen before.

You can see all the pins your colleagues shared, and add your own images on Facebook. You can also follow @thesnowpros or #snowpros on Instagram.

Earl Poe, an alpine Level II instructor from Hidden Valley Ski Resort in Eureka, Missouri, won the beanie with his image, and said of his experiences teaching, “Having taught for over 30 years, you discover the great friendships that the profession has allowed you to form. Working ‘in the trenches’ with the same great group of instructors year after year forms a special bond.”

Poe added, “Every year, as the ski season approaches, it seems that those renewed acquaintances just continue where they left off the season before. Never missing a beat. Even when an instructor has been on hiatus for a few years, everything just falls back into place. That’s the benefit of a truly shared work experience.”

You supplied so many great images that we added two caps from the warehouse to award to a couple of runners-up, which included Squaw Valley, California, Ski Team Club Manager Kristin Cooksey, and Dash Hegeman of Ski Taos in New Mexico.

Cooksey said of her experience as an instructor, “Some people look their whole life to be a part of something that feeds their passion and helps them grow, PSIA serves that purpose for me, and all the membership family. Teaching skiing and coaching ski racing is my life, and I am passionate to share that aspect to all that want to know more!”

Hegeman said of teaching, “AASI has allowed me the opportunity to travel, meet incredible people, and develop a whole new appreciation for the snowsports industry. Instructing has made me look at snowboarding in ways that I probably never would have if I wasn’t analyzing other people’s riding abilities in order to help them achieve their riding goals.”