School is Cool....literally..............



Ski with the Pros

First, we need to thank our ski friends, Jasmine and Ron for recommending us taking "Panorama Snow School, Ski with the Pros Workshop"  Three days of intense expertise and lessons with level 3 & 4 Ski instructors from across Canada. May I say; 12 of the best instructors in Canada.... Priceless!!!

Bob, Rob, Cathy first day of school

Day one:  Find the sweet spot with Rob.  Two hours working on balance and control.  Break for lunch...yes, hungry again and back to school.  The afternoon we spent with Jens and the lesson was;  "How do I turn these things?"  Yes, these things are ski's.  We like school,  and after school it is essential to compare notes with, of course, beer.  Since we have 2 fine gentlemen from California in our group, we need to break them in gently.  More beer,  Red Rock, made in B.C. of course. 
Day 2:  "Grip it and Rip it" with Heather.  Heather's home town, Barrie, Ontario.  Her ski hill is Olympic Park, Calgary, AB.  Yes, you are the cutest!!  and thank you for your patience. We even get a piece of chocolate for attendance.  Lining up to cross the race course was a bit interesting.  We need more practise, and practise we did.  the Nor Am races were taking place on World Cup Way.  We were excited to be there to experience these amazing young people from around the world compete in all disciplines of alpine skiing.  These are amazing, very committed and wonderful people.  They are competing in a series of races below the world cup level.

above the clouds

Lunch again and back to school with Drew for the afternoon.  Lesson #4: "Go with the Flow"  More homework and beer in the Great Hall.  A very aggressive day, and now the Banquet and dance!  Gotta love school.....  until the next morning. Monday and our third day.  That scotch and amaretto last evening was fabulous at the end the day, now we have to be back on the hill for 10am. The toughest part of the day was to lift the head off the pillow.   Lesson # 5  "All terrain skiing with Jason.  Now, Jason is the Director of the Panorama Ski School.  We thank you for all your hard work!  We know how much work is involved in organizing this event.  Yes, you did succeed in making us feel like children and teaching us to ski with one foot.  The falls and tumbles were our idea, but the snow was soft and no injuries in our group, only bruised pride.

To confuse us even more, we have yet another Jason for the afternoon. The last lesson of the weekend:  "The Sum of the Parts"  You expected us to remember two days ago!  We suffer from Sometimers you know.  Tap you head three times and yes, I can ski.............well, ski with some grace.  We failed instruction for apres' on the last day.  But we did find beer, but the wrong location.

On a serious note,  the instruction was by far superior and we did improve in our technique 10 fold!  Yes, we will be excellent skiers, thanks to all the instructors that took the time and patience with this rowdy bunch of hippies from all over North America. 

Banquet @ RK Heliski

We have meet some incredible people and made many new friends Roff, Natalie, Tom, Joyce, Phil, Richard, Ingrid and Allan.  It was a pleasure.

Richard

Now we need to lick our wounds,  have a soak in a hot steamy hot tub and watch the snow cannons and groomers prepare the mountain for another glorious day and days ahead. 

Tomorrow morning, I will be sleeping in..............