Master the Mountain Clinics

Anyone done this before or doing it this weekend?  Interested in feedback.

Wife and I are going to sign up for the ones this weekend.  I am going to do two days and she is going to do one.  I convinced her this should be our Valentines Day gift to each other

Well we are signed up locked and loaded.  Good thing it is going to be nice and warm this weekend.

Look for a report back on the clinics.  Hoping they are worth it!

Just wanted to update this post in case anyone is interested in doing one of the Gore clinics.  Summed up in one word - AWESOME.  Well worth the money.  We started off our 9 day Gore vacation with the two day master the mountain clinic and the timing was great.  We were able to take all the things we learned and put the concepts into practice during the week.  We were both pretty good riders/skiers before but we definitely amped it up a notch.  If you ever think you couldn't learn something from a lesson go take one and see.  If you don't learn something new or learn how to tweek your balance, technique, precision, etc. I'd be really surprised.  1 1/2 hour group lessons at Gore are $35 bucks BTW.

My wife did the snowboard clinic and since she was the only snowboarder got a private 2 day lesson from Brian M who is a great instructor.  The strides she made were huge.  By the end of the week she was excited about riding bell to bell which has never happened before.  She was also popping off the lips of jumps on Wild Air and hopping and spinning down the mountain.  She has an increased level of passion that wasn't there previously.  As she has come to realize - when you get better riding is easier and a lot more fun.

I did the ski clinic which had a good bit more people so we had a 4-5 to 1 instructor ratio.  I could have done without a certain instructor talking smack about snowboarders (since I am one part time and my wife is one and was paying for the clinic) but other than that it was great.  I just don't get the whole snowboarder vs. skier vs. tele crap.  Kind of like the VT vs. NY crap.  I guess some people like conflict or putting down other people.  Whatever.  I say STFU.

I ended up in a group of 4-5 skiers with an instructor who is well known on here (you can reveal yourself if you want).  You know who you are and all I can say is THANKS.  After applying what I learned  during the week I feel confident that I can SKI just about anything on the mountain.  Before that I could say I could GET DOWN just about anything.  There is a huge difference.  I know I could certainly use some more work, I have a much better understanding and feel for where my body, balance, skis, etc. should be.

If you are able to sign up for any of the weekend clinics I HIGHLY recommend it.  The day or two you spend in "class" will reap big dividends.

I have done master the mountain in the past and thought it was well worth it. It is really a tremendous deal if you need to buy lift tickets anyway.

tom

Thanks for the report.  Will definately consider next year.

Glad you had a good time, Danzilla . . .

I'm not a fan of the whole snowboarder/skier thing either. In fact, I wrote a blog post about it. But I'm glad you had a good time regardless.  And I'm definitely glad you can pick up on the difference between getting down a trail and SKIING a trail. You're definitely on the SKIING side now.

If anyone else is interested in this kind of thing, Gore is running a "Glades and Glory" 2 day camp on the first weekend of March that I'll (probably) be teaching. Kind of a dumb name, but I'm pretty decent in the glades, and I can definitely provide a lot of good instruction to help other people make the same advances that Danzilla did.

Danzilla wrote

Just wanted to update this post in case anyone is interested in doing one of the Gore clinics.  Summed up in one word - AWESOME.  Well worth the money.  We started off our 9 day Gore vacation with the two day master the mountain clinic and the timing was great.  We were able to take all the things we learned and put the concepts into practice during the week.  We were both pretty good riders/skiers before but we definitely amped it up a notch.  If you ever think you couldn't learn something from a lesson go take one and see.  If you don't learn something new or learn how to tweek your balance, technique, precision, etc. I'd be really surprised.  1 1/2 hour group lessons at Gore are $35 bucks BTW.

My wife did the snowboard clinic and since she was the only snowboarder got a private 2 day lesson from Brian M who is a great instructor.  The strides she made were huge.  By the end of the week she was excited about riding bell to bell which has never happened before.  She was also popping off the lips of jumps on Wild Air and hopping and spinning down the mountain.  She has an increased level of passion that wasn't there previously.  As she has come to realize - when you get better riding is easier and a lot more fun.

I did the ski clinic which had a good bit more people so we had a 4-5 to 1 instructor ratio.  I could have done without a certain instructor talking smack about snowboarders (since I am one part time and my wife is one and was paying for the clinic) but other than that it was great.  I just don't get the whole snowboarder vs. skier vs. tele crap.  Kind of like the VT vs. NY crap.  I guess some people like conflict or putting down other people.  Whatever.  I say STFU.

I ended up in a group of 4-5 skiers with an instructor who is well known on here (you can reveal yourself if you want).  You know who you are and all I can say is THANKS.  After applying what I learned  during the week I feel confident that I can SKI just about anything on the mountain.  Before that I could say I could GET DOWN just about anything.  There is a huge difference.  I know I could certainly use some more work, I have a much better understanding and feel for where my body, balance, skis, etc. should be.

If you are able to sign up for any of the weekend clinics I HIGHLY recommend it.  The day or two you spend in "class" will reap big dividends.

This is quite a testimonial.

Outside of two 5-day hut-to-hut trips in Colorado, I've never had any instruction. (Matt can tell you that it shows - he tells me!)  I've resisted lessons because I get so few ski days and I've got this feeling that I'll be standing around talking vs skiing.  I'm rethinking the whole thing.  Would definitely want to do it with Matt.

Harvey44 wrote

I've resisted lessons because I get so few ski days and I've got this feeling that I'll be standing around talking vs skiing.  I'm rethinking the whole thing.  Would definitely want to do it with Matt.

Harv - I hear you.  I have been thinking about doing the Master the Mountain thing for the past 4-5 seasons but either didn't want to blow the days or had friends coming up that I didn't want to ditch for an all day lesson.  What convinced me was taking a snowboarding lesson last year before I did my trip out west.  I do a trip each year with some pretty advanced riders/skiers and if you can't keep up they will leave you and you are stuck riding by yourself the rest of the day.  Its kind of a dick move, but it forces you to get better.  What I learned in that 1 1/2 hour lesson helped me not get left behind and convince me that the clinic would be worth the time investment.  If you aren't ready to blow a day or two sign up for a lesson.  The hour or hour and a half will be enough for you to come away with a few things you can focus on.  The biggest thing I came away with is FEEL.  I can feel what is right/wrong and also what my body, feet, skis, poles are doing.  Just having the feel of rocking weight back and forth in my boot is huge.  Much better awareness.  I'm not sure how the ski school can reach out to the more advanced (or even intermediate) skier and convince them to take a lesson.  I recommend at least a lesson a year to anyone no matter your level.  

Matt - thanks again for a great weekend.  Wish we could do the glades clinic but Amy's sister's baby shower is that weekend (plus our house is rented).  Maybe I'll sign up for a glades lesson the next time we are up.  I did get into the trees during the end of our trip and felt much more comfortable.  The tip of "look between the trees and not at the trees" is priceless.  I read your blog post and had to laugh at the video.  Love the guy hucking a 360 with a brown 70's leather jacket.  Some people have such attitude on both sides of the aisle.  Its interesting to hear from people that have never really ridden with snowboarders or vice versa.  I remember the first time I rode with Harv and he commented on how different it was because I was always on my knees/butt when we were stopped and talking.  The people I ride with come in all flavors - tele, alpine, and snowboarder (no snowbladers:.  Many have done more than one at some point.  My wife started out sking and took up snowboarding about 5 years ago because its easier on her knees.  I haven't tried tele yet but I like alpine and boarding equally.  If I am in bumps or the trees I would probably rather be on skis.  If I am free riding powder then I want to be on a board with that feeling of floating/surfing/wakeboarding.  I guess for me it comes down to having fun on the mountain and not being a jackass - no matter what you have strapped to your feet.  Its wierd to me how people generalize - like someone knows the type of person I am becuase of what I am riding.  A jackass can come in any shape, size, or flavor.  I don't understand how one can talk sh!t about the other if they haven't even tried the other.  

Brian Mersereau is the instructor my wife had for the clinic (couldn't remember how to spell his last name).  Amy and I took a lesson from him later in the the week and he was great.  He had us jumping in the park, spinning 360s (on the snow) and doing big fast carving turns.  If you are looking for good snowboarding instruction ask for him.  

One of my buddies on my Utah trip told me "Dude you gotta pick one thing or the other and really focus on it".  I don't think I can.  Hopefully one of these days I'll move somewhere I can get 40-50 days in a year.  If I do, those days will probably be split 50/50 (or 33/33/33 if I take up tele:)