Our members often write to tell us
about how much they enjoyed attending a recent ASIA program, or how much they
learned or improved their skiing or riding after they spent a weekend
with us at an event. Check out their stories and sign up for an ASIA
clinic today!
Sno Mtn Alpine Certification
Brings New Skills, New Friends
Gentlemen,
I was a student in the ASIA Level I Certification course held at Sno Mountain,
PA on January 5-6 and 12-13, 2007. It was a wonderful experience in every respect.
Our instructor was Les Bucher who is personable, highly competent, kind and
attentive. He smiled a lot, he made it relaxing and fun. He was assisted by
Scott Landis. Scott too is a fine instructor and he and Les worked smoothly
together, one complementing the other. Our coordinator, Pete Ryan, also spent time with us on the mountain. Pete was a pleasure too. All three men
really cared about us.
It was way too warm but Sno Mountain did a great job of maintaining good
coverage and good grooming on the trails we needed. I stayed at Hampton Inn as recommended in Pete’s letter and the accommodations, and the buffet
breakfast was fine.
The entire experience including the après ski was fun. We all had dinner
together and by the last day, we were all friends.
Sincerely,
Donald K.
ASIA Certified Instructor
Gentlemen's Ski Club
ASIA Nordic Certification Program - A Resounding Success
Nordic skiing with ASIA was alive and well in the hills of the
Northeast on January 26-27. Our two day certification and
refresher
clinic was held at Mountain Meadows X-C Ski Center in Killington, VT. Mountain Meadows was an incredibly beautiful area with
really nice staff, GREAT trail coverage and perfect snow...we thought
the best in the East!
Nine people attended this super two day program instructed by Dale
Rodgers, former US National Olympic Pentathlon team member and PSIA
Nordic Examiner. Dale covered everything from the basics to
waxing, teaching techniques, skills perfection, skate skiing and even
yodeling!
Our participants came from NJ, VT and CT
for this event. Congratulations go to our 4 newly certified
X-C instructors: Jean Fletcher, Ron Levine, Sue Poirier and
Steve Shyne. Our newly refreshed and VERY enthusiastic current
ASIA Nordic instructors should be given kudos as well for helping us to
re-establish the Nordic program and significantly contributing to the
success of the program. Thanks go to Betty Aubin, Don Kress, Pat
Mazucca, Pat Revoir, and Penny Trick.
Now that we've
re-established the program, help us keep it going. Talk to those
who attended, find out what it's all about and come slide and glide
with us in the years to come!
Sue Poirier
ASIA Certified Alpine and Nordic Instructor
X-C Program Coordinator
ASIA Nordic Certification - Best
Instruction In 40 Years Skiing
I had the pleasure of taking the ASIA Nordic Certification course in
Vermont last weekend. The instruction was absolutely the best that I've
had in 40 years of skiing, can't believe how much I learned. Dale
Rodgers
is an exceptional person and teacher, always full of positive
reinforcement and direction. The class members advanced dramatically
over the two days.
I didn't get wind of the program until about 2 weeks before. If we
knew earlier, we would have had more attendance. I hope you run it again
soon.
Ron L.
ASIA Nordic Certified Instructor
Garden State Ski Club
ASIA Alpine Level 1 Program a
Great Value - December 2007
Nancy and Ned,
I wanted again to thank you both for a great ASIA event. I learned more
about my own skiing in the Level 1 Certification than I ever expected.
Ned, you did a great job helping us understand our own skiing and then
how to transfer that knowledge to skiers of equal and lower levels. I
look forward to sharing this with club members at Sterling Ski Club and
with my family members.
 The value that ASIA provides through
these programs is incredible. I'm looking forward to taking other ASIA
programs this year and in future years. I will also encourage other
skiers to do the same. Enjoy the ski season and Nancy thanks again for
all your volunteer efforts.
 Lance C.
ASIA Certified Instructor
Sterling Ski Club
ASIA Fall Rally A Great Season Starter - December 2007
Dear Bill,
I wanted to take a moment to THANK YOU for a great Fall Rally at Belleayre this past weekend. We had great snow, awesome conditions for December, and - as always with an ASIA event - quality instructors conducting informative courses. I had the privilege to ski with Rick
Svencer for two days... what a great way to spend my first weekend on the snow. His knowledge, instruction, and most of all personality helped me scrape the rust off and start the season on the right foot.
You did a fantastic job coordinating the event, too. The food, atmosphere, and most of all the friends, were top notch. From organizing events in my club, I know pulling off the Rally isn't as easy as you make it look. Keep up the great work!
Thanks again for everything... I'm looking forward to the next one!
Happy trails,
Brian J. Nuss
President - Ptarmigan Ski Club
ASIA Certified Instructor
Inductee - Pennsylvania Posse
Whistler, BC Snow Flash - December 20,
2007
Greetings from your roving ski bum....
In skiing circles, yesterday is what you call "epic". On the overnight, about 5 inches of new snow fell. Then over the course of the
day, we got another 6 or 8 inches on top. Tree skiing was the order of the day. Whether on trail or off, the snow was pillow soft. Then today after snowing every day since Sunday, the sun made intermittent appearances. I could actually see the mountains upon which I skied. There was still plenty of soft freshies to be found.
Thanks to technology and a well timed website look by a friend back home, attached is a local webcam shot of this ski reporter, lower left of
frame, awaiting the lifts to open on a dark, snowy morning in Whistler in his quest for first tracks of the day.
Bruce B.
ASIA Level 2 Certified Instructor
Hudson Valley Ski Club
Is It Ski Time Yet? Tell me I'm not the only
one...
9/08/07 - An incredible amount of smoke has been rising from the Central Bucks County area. Over the last 24 hours, billowing dark clouds are rising over Buckingham Township. Numerous state and county agencies are investigating the source of the smoke, each group being more dumbfounded then the next.
The investigation has identified a home in Buckingham Township. The residence belongs to the Gottshalk Family, Ron, Pat and Kate. Hoards of personnel from the EPA, local fire services, state health officials, and haz-mat team members have checked everything from the roofline to the French drains. The source remains a mystery.
Neighbors and friends were questioned, the UPS driver was being interrogated when the rural mail carrier arrived. Nancy, the family's mail carrier revealed that the Gottshalk Family gets the same type of mail as most homes "but the ridiculous amount of paper related to skiing is overwhelming. The white stuff mail outweighs the junk mail. Some days I need an extra truck for
it."
The investigators returned to the home's family room. The coffee table revealed what they had been looking for the last 24 hours. The worn and tattered pages of the Fall, 2007 Professional Skier were smoldering. Mrs. Gottshalk was standing in her socks on a piece of laminate with smoke coming from her ears. Nearby was a pair of the brightest yellow ski boots this author has ever seen.
The homeowner was pivoting, carving, edging and producing smeary turns. In her left hand was the PSIA manual and in her right was a stack of hand written notes along with newsletters from various groups; UBSC, NPSC, and ASIA. The notes contained short sentences, parts of paragraphs, along with names such as Hornbeck, Powers, Betsy, Sir Nedley, Papa Smurf, Knuckle Dragger, aka Boy Toy, Scotty the Peanut Butter Boy and many others. Federal agencies are being utilized to assist with decoding the messages that contained words such as "P-E-P-S-I", "ski with B-O-B", "PA Posse", "Snow Pigs" and "OOMPA LOOMPA". The notes continued to talk about progression, balance, stance, along with dates for events throughout the next winter. Some notes were more coded then others, the most pondering was, "Where do I put my goggles when I wear my sunglasses?" from Cluck.
As the Feds poured over their decoding tools, the last note revealed the whole
story. Trying to get Mrs. Gottshalk's attention, they repeated it louder and louder. Finally, she spoke, babbling, rambling and telling all who would listen
the benefits of skiing with ASIA, the fun of traveling with the Pennsylvania Posse, how many ski days she got last season (41 in case you were wondering), and hoping for an early start to the upcoming ski season.
Yes folks, that’s right, the smoke was from a serious case of winter
withdrawal. Although this condition is typically seen in late spring, addiction counselors believe the large amounts of ski related mail caused a relapse of avalanche proportion.
Investigators revealed what was on that last note that brought Mrs. Gottshalk from her skiing trance and stopped the smoke from
her helmet covered head - "SHUT UP AND SKI!" Thanks, Neville.
Mid Summer Ski Memoirs - July 2005
Dear Betsy and Bill,
Sitting here in sweltering mid-summer, the simple act of filling out my ASIA
membership renewal has triggered an avalanche of thoughts, some real good, some a little less good:
Bad: I only started REALLY skiing 12 years ago, in my mid-40s! What the HECK was I waiting for?
Good: Been makin' up for lost time, largely thanks to friend and ww kayaking buddy Denis
McL. on the Belleayre Ski Patrol, who dragged me to Grey Rocks, his wife Phyllis who, before they moved from
Phoenicia, coerced me into mid-week "sick days" at Hunter, and my wife Ann's college buddies who keep forcing us to join them in Colorado each year, often in December.
Bad: In '99, we couldn't do Colorado 'cause the "Y2K" computer scare and corporate over-reaction canceled vacations. So instead...
Good: I took Killington's week-long "Learn to Be a Ski Pro" course and realized that,
hey, I think I could actually do this! They even offered me the job - that I couldn't accept then, or yet, but ya never know!
Good: Picked up an ASIA brochure in the Belleayre base lodge.
Bad: Put off joining ASIA for several years 'cause most events didn't fit our
schedules. That's what happens when ...
Good: ... your biologist wife drags you to meetings in interesting places like Hawaii, Prague,
and...
Bad: ... long-time friends, mostly skiers and ww kayakers, start retiring and moving away to ...
Good: ... interesting places like New England, Colorado, Idaho!
Good: Finally joined ASIA when I realized that we could make at least one of the '03 events.
Bad: Still a tough time scheduling (dang those visits to friends!) but...
Good: ... we've made an event in each of the last 3 years. Wish it could be more.
Good: Skill level has made a big jump, mostly because Rick Svencer (Okemo Spring '03), Alex Sharpe (Belleayre Bump '04), and Ned Crossley (Belleayre Bump '05) have each pushed me gently out of my comfort zone and into a new level of... comfort! And Ann's (inadvertently?) all-female Intermediate Improvement class with Betsy B. at the '04 Bump Rally was a MAJOR shot-in-the-arm to her skiing.
Ann, an apprentice instructor at the time, had a major accident in '72: double compound at the top of the boot, 9 months in a cast, nerve damage, spinal fusions, yadda, yadda, knees, yadda, yadda, up until a second foot re-structuring as recently as '02. Was told in '72 that she'd never walk without a leg brace, proved 'em wrong. Got back on skis in '95, skied Gore from the top 23 years to the day after her accident. Hasn't slowed down since....
So now it's my turn to thank the whole ASIA crew that puts together such a great calendar. While Nancy Nolan and Ray Owens organized my specific events, it's obvious that lots of people put in lots of time to keep all of these things running smoothly. THANK YOU ALL!!
Thanks also to whoever added that last little phrase onto the ASIA byline:
"... or to ski like one." Those few words make the organization way more approachable for those who aren't already instructors of some sort.
Thanks!
Ed Hanrahan
ASIA Contributing Member
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