Day 4: Hickory Hills

Today marked the debut of my new nordic cruiser skis -- Fischer Rebounds with Voile 3-pin bindings. The good people at Don Orr's Ski Haus set me up once again with the mounting and a rare 10 ounce Bud to boot! I was able hit Hickory Hills for a very brief little spin right at their 5 o'clock closing hour. I was just able able to get my Asolos leathers in the 3-pins to walk myself a ways up Buck in order to pull some tele turns on the way down. More meadowskippin' good times on the way.

Day 3: The Homestead

Imagine teaching snowboarding to beginners inside a pinball machine -- that was what the Sunday of the Christmas/New Year's break is like. The upside is that The Homestead was remarkably busy -- as busy as I've seen in the past five years. I'd think the dollar amount spent on lessons would reflect that as well. The downside is that the limited space available to all, especially learning beginners, was downright packed.
I taught five snowboard lessons over the course of day, made a few solo runs (Morrow 158 + Switch) and went home pooped (plus a little twinge of the winter crud thanks to my runny-nosed students).

Day 2: The Homestead Resort

Busiest day at The Homestead in recent memory -- a "full house" of guests meant enough traffic to keep about a dozen or so instructors hopping. About 5 or 6" of fresh snow brought the hill back around for some quality skiing. I was able to get out on the Tele gear both early and late (Rossis + HHs) with three group lessons in between. Took me all of about one day to remember what works and what doesn't when trying to get folks - young and old -- going in the right direction on a snowboard. Hopefully good fun was had by all.

Day 1: The Homestead Resort

Like the prologue stage of the Tour de France, the first day of the run starts without great distinction -- just a couple hours spent getting the lay of the land at The Homestead, the resort that comes closest to being my home hill. After returning from the holiday, this was the first session I've had out at the Glen Arbor resort -- I took the time to get my bearings straight and my head wrapped around the coming couple days teaching the guests how to best slip and slide around our hills. Also the day was notable as my first day back on a snowboard for the season -- I was pleased to find that while not quite back to midseason form, things came around quite nicely.

Fortunately, new snow began to fall around 3 p.m. this afternoon and still is making an effort. Life should be good for early Tele runs tomorrow morning and for digging flailing students off the deck throughout the day.