[Telecaster]

I’m thinking about going for my PSIA Nordic Downhill Level I Certification this year and had a few questions. When I called PSIA for some help, the lady I talked with was useless. I’ve emailed the Nordic Director at PSIA-E directly, but am looking for some outside info as well. I’ve been teaching alpine lessons for 8 winters now and have dabbled in tele for two or so seasons part-time. I’m trying to decide between two clinics; Learn to Tele (at Gunstock in late January) or Teaching/Skiing at Ski Sundown in late February. Here are my questions:

1. Is the Learn to Tele strictly for first-timers? At the end of last season, I could tele ski any blue trail that I tried.

2. Would the Learn to Tele clinic be too basic for me?

3. Am I correct is assuming that the Teaching/Skiing clinic would focus more on teaching and personal skiing skills?

4. What ability level should I be at for the Teaching/Skiing clinic? By the end of February I hope to have skied enough to ski easier black trails.

5. Which clinic do you think is better?

I would appreciate any feedback you can provide.

[Shan]

Good luck!

EDIT: I really enjoyed training with Mickey Stone. A finer skier and nicer guy you're hard pressed to find.

[Jim]

First, the PSIA eastern nordic head is Mickey Stone. You'll never meet a greater teacher or person. He's been on the run for a while now, doing PSIA events all over the east. His e-mail is cpage3@aol.com.` Tell him DownTown sent you. Sounds like you talked to the Albany office of PSIA East. Good folks, but I don't think there's anyone there with much knowledge of tele. It's mostly alpine and snowboard backgrounds.
If you can get to KMart this next week, there is a 5 day Instructor Training Course. I don't know if they can accept last minute reservations, but it might be worth a try. Check with Mickey on this rather than the PSIA office in Albany.
1-2 Learn to tele is primarily aimed at those who are just getting into tele. Not necessarily first timers, but probably not as advanced as you are. More of a learn how to tele event.
3-4 Teaching/skiing is for those who have at least a novice understanding of tele. You'll review the components of a tele turn & how to teach them to a variety of student types, with activities, progressions and exercises. The ability level of the group will have an impact on what is covered.
5 From what you say, I'd suggest first the ITC next week if you can get in, then the Teaching/skiing event. But you can get your Level 1 at any 2 day event. Check out the PSIA-E website for the schedule and loacations.
If you have any more questions and can't get hooked up with Mickey, feel free to send me a pm or email.

[Clyde]

I was recently told that tele lessons are rarely offered at most ski schools around the country. The claim was that they merely list alpine and snowboard as class options and send people to the nordic center for tele lessons and rentals. He partially blamed (small demand was the main factor) PSIA for putting the tele certification under nordic, so it's a bit of a hassle for alpine instructors to add. Any truth to this?

[Jim]

There hasn't been a lot of demand for tele lessons until the past few years. And even now the demand isn't close to that of alpine or snowboarding. And yes, tele is considered nordic downhill. It's not a problem for alpine instructors to cross over, any more than it is for them to go over to boarding. They just have to learn how to do it.
But more and more areas are starting to offer tele lessons, and with the growth of tele, more people will be looking for tele lessons. In fact, ski areas are actually having people ask for tele lessons when none are listed in their brochures.

[velocity]

I got a PSIA level 1 tele cert at Taos last season. My impression is that if you have a background teaching alpine skiing and a solid telemark turn, you will not have a problem passing. Teaching aptitude is the main thing, but you need to be good enough to ski the demos in good style. Not aggressive, just solid. Remember, level 1 is a qualification to take on students who are just starting out. The three day exam is not high pressure, though I found it challenging enough that I was very proud to pass. The first day is more of a clinic and the real testing did not start until the second day. As you might guess, most of the principles translate over from alpine skiing. If you have some wacky bad habit that looks out of place or have a fundamental misunderstanding of the physics you will not make the cut. I have some flaws in my turn that I am all too aware of and hope I can get things refined enough to take on level 2 this spring. The level 2 and 3 candidates were of a very high caliber and theirs exams much harder. Our pass rate was 80%, level 2 maybe 50% and level 3 about 20%. I'm pretty clear on the rates for level 3 and a bit fuzzy on level 2 results. I was really happy to go through the process and recommend it to anyone who is serious about improving their skiing and sharing it with others.

For the folks who think that PSIA is too rigid, I would answer that any rigorous education references a set of standards. These are principles that you should choose to critique and violate if you want, but by building a framework you are able to understand the meaning of your choice to discard the standards. Ask Picasso.

Have fun and good luck!

[Oak]

[Jim]

Oak,
You can go the the PSIA-E website and check out the Level 2 study guide. It's been a while since my level 2 exam, but it was about 50/50 skiing and teaching, on snow & off. The toughest part was watching some hard to see video of skiing and coming up with some teaching activities/exercises as part of the written section. And they asked some history questions as well.

[velocity]

Oak:

We did a number of demos including carving arcs, basic(wedge) telemark, wedge christies, open stance telemark, side slips, medium radius telemark on groomed and ungroomed snow. Also monomarks.

We analysed other skiers' form and did simulated teaching sessions. In addition we had discussions of techincal and theoretical issues.

Study the PSIA books and practice the maneuvers. Some of them I hadn't really done before, so that was an extra challenge. You are supposed to fill out your workbook over the season before the clinic, not at lunch time on the third day...

[Clyde]

Some more questions if I may: does PSIA cover avy awareness in courses? When a student of any discipline reaches a certain level, are they at least given some basic do's and don'ts about backcountry travel?

[revloren]

PSIA
Please Submit Income Association

ie the most worthless moneypit of an organization in the industry.
_________________
"It's good to be alive!"

[Clyde]

I can relate as a former divemaster. PADI = Put Another Dollar In.

[velocity]

Clyde:

PSIA nordic has a backcountry certification course, but I'm not familiar with the content.

[Jonathan S]

The backcountry programs vary by region.
For example, Rocky Mountain has this:
http://www.psia-rm.org/nordicback.htm
Eastern had nothing until this past season, when Mickey Stone organized a three-weekend accreditation (as opposed to certification) program.
I attended the first weekend in early November (indoors only of course), which is followed by a weekend in early February and then again in early March.
Given my background, I didn’t expect to learn anything knew, but I did get a nice refresher in navigation, preparation, etc. (Plus I fulfilled my continuing education requirement.)
Unfortunately, the avalanche classroom segment (about half of the two days) was a complete disaster. In a way, it wasn’t Mickey’s fault, since he essentially subcontracted out the whole thing to a guy whose credentials on paper are impeccable, but who somehow seems incapable of teaching in a classroom setting (although he’s probably a good guy to have explaining layers in a snowpit). It was even more frustrating for me since having taken Level 3 last year from an AIARE provider, I could have done such a better job presenting that kind of intro course - actually, any person with a background in teaching/training/education/etc. could have done a better job after just one reading of Snow Sense. It was really that bad.
But everything else about the weekend was a good intro for bc newbies and a nice refresher for others. Kudos for Mickey for taking the initiative to put this together!

[Biff]

Hey telecaster, did Mickey ever get back to you? The problem is, as I mentioned in my e-mail, I've never taken either clinic. But, if you feel confident skiing blue trails and want to go for your level one, then unless Mickey says otherwise I'd go for the teaching tele clinic. John Tidd just ran the teaching tele clinic up at Sunday River last weekend and at least 4 of the NET instructors were there for upgrades. I sounds like it was just a general review of tele teaching progressions. If you are looking more to improve your telemark skiing look to the Advanced trees/steep clinic at Killington. But that 'teaching tele' clinic seems like it would be best for you.

Hope that helps.