Teaching Aaron, days 6 and 7

Aaron, day 6

Friday we had a great time riding at Stratton, VT. Aaron needed miles under his feet more than advice, and that's what he got. We enjoyed sunshine, loose granular snow, and chatting with lots of friendly strangers. We stayed near the green-painted signs but still managed to see some decent terrain variation.

That night Aaron's very cool Uncle & Aunt put us up for the night. We surely learned more spending a few hours with them than the three previous days teleboarding and taking notes, but that's for another blog.

Yesterday, we decided to try to save some driving time and ride a mountain that Aaron might be able to conquer. We pointed the car towards Massachusetts just long enough to get to Crotched Mountain. More sunshine and sugary snow greeted us, as well as some cheerful locals. Within a few runs we had stopped talking about fatigue from the previous days, and starting talking about making some big gains. At the end of the day, Aaron was hop-turning down "satellite summit", a nice little face marked with a black diamond.

I'm pretty proud of the transformation Aaron underwent over the last four days. Just Wednesday he was riding a conveyor belt like a box of cheerios, and now...I'm going to drop that analogy while I'm ahead.

I'm also very glad to have a friend who would willingly fly from Florida to semi-frosty New England in winter, push himself past all preconceived limits with a smile, and add bruises to his bruises--Just so I could take notes and pictures, and maybe sell 5 copies of a book someday. Aaron, if you're reading this, thanks for applying your get-it-done-right attitude to teleboarding, vacationing, and friendship.

Aaron and I came up with a short list of lessons learned or verified on our drive home:

* It's worth alternating between easy and challenging terrain as much as possible. Nailing every turn on an easy slope for two runs may keep a smile on your face long enough to succeed at something you thought you weren't ready for. When you are just starting to be comfortable with what you are doing, you are ready to take on an even tougher challenge.
* Laugh when you fall.
* Hip swivel. I tend to lead with my hips, and after trying it himself Aaron emphasized its importance repeatedly. It seems to help cut through snow sinuously.
* Steeper is easier. Yes, really. Steeps intimidate everyone at some point, but all of the basic movements of teleboarding work better when the ground is sloped.
* Stay positive or eat snow. (that sounded more positive in my head)
* If you think you are about to fall, adopt a lower stance and lean a little forward. You might stay on your board.
* Don't splay your your knees. You need both legs working together to use the whole length of the steel edge. Feeling your knees touch each other is a reminder that you have a good stance and you are about to do justice to the terrain you're looking at.

Aaron's 3rd attempt at a jump. 6 inches in the air and stuck the landing just like the first two.

* Jumping isn't a trick. It's a basic building block of good technique that you should learn right away. I mean beginners, especially. Take a meandering "easiest way down" sort of trail and look for little rises in the terrain. Not jumps, not dropoffs, just slight convexities. Get your board one inch in the air. Then keep doing it. It's fun and it sorts out your balance instantly.
* Once you jump, you can learn hop turns easily, which are great for steeps.

OK. That's all for now.

Teaching Aaron, day 5

Today was a big success. Over the course of 3.5 hours at Wachusett, Aaron got better by leaps and bounds. I think he is in the phase where he is less in need of information, and more in need of miles of snow passing under his feet. We mixed up the terrain slightly and I got to watch him gain confidence, control and speed.

Aaron said the big realization of the day was a lower stance. For him that made it all fall into place. When you're on a board, standing a little bit lower might make a big difference, but you might as well get as low as you comfortably can. It will take more energy, but many things start working better...suspension, edge engagement, etc. Also, I think it focuses the mind.

Another thing we talked about today was the "oneness" with the board. It's a hard thing to put into words, but I think I recall snowboarders talking about the same thing. One board, one thing to do, no distractions, natural focus, and mental bliss. Something like that.

Another fun thing tonight was getting more attention than usual. I think we were on the schoolchildren's shift, which came along with many questions and candid appraisals of our strange ski-like devices. One child saw Aaron on his teleboard and asked him if he had a prosthetic leg. Another boy asked me 3 quick questions about my board, said, "I know what I'm asking for for Christmas", and sped off on his merry way. Aaron and I both enjoyed the attention. Personally, I'm better at having conversations with strangers than starting them, so it works for me.

A thought on poles. One of my ski poles got stolen yesterday so I've been riding without them for two days. Leaving poles behind for that long is only slightly unusual for me. I like to drop them occasionally to force better technique, but Aaron came upon a similar realization a different way. His skill got to a point where poles were less necessary and he just stopped using them. They were still in his hands, but he decided to stop using them to cheat down the slope, and thus force good technique out of his legs and torso.

Near the end of our session, I happened to notice Aaron slide to a stop with some real finesse. It started out like a carve, changing the direction of his momentum, then shifted into a hockey stop, leaving him facing the direction he came from. I often use the same trick to pull up right to the lift line. I think that it might be a good indicator of readiness to graduate from the bunny slopes.

On that note, I'm going to bed so I can drive to Vermont bright and early tomorrow, for two more days of hurtling down frozen mountains.

Teaching Aaron, day 4

I've been teaching my good friend Aaron to ride a teleboard for a short while now (three ski days). He is helping me test my teleboarding book by using it to learn and giving me lots of great feedback. I'm using this post to take notes for the book. I hope you'll find some useful information in here, because it's the direction I'm going to steer this blog going forward.

Aaron and I got together for the 4th day of teleboarding, the first day of a four-day effort. We both learned a few things. For one, don't turn your nose up at a little rain. When the sky let loose on us for 15 minutes we saw many people head for the lodge--but we enjoyed some of the best carving snow I have seen. It's also a perfect night to pick out our tracks from the chair.

Hrmmm... what else did we learn?

* Don't get off the chairlift until you are over the hump and the ground starts to fall away. No heads were clobbered by chairlifts tonight...yet.

* These wet conditions are ideal for pure-lean edge changes. Aaron was apparently ready to take a crack at it too, with much success. Between turns, don't hop or spin,but just shift your weight o the other side. It makes the cleanest, most fluid turns of any edge-changing technique. The tracks left behind show a gap exactly the width of a teleboard where two arcs meet. This marks the first time Aaron was able to tailor technique to the conditions.

* The trail you choose really matters for beginners. We yo-yo'ed "Indian Summer" at Mount Wachusett all night, which is more or less the perfect trail to get up and running. Nothing but a wide, consistently shallow trail that goes on for a long time--And the length is key. Every run provided several chances to stop and try again. We quickly decided that there was no reason to be anywhere else for the night--a choice validated by Aaaron's rapid improvement every single run. When we head to the mountain again today (I'm finishing up this post the morning after night skiing), I'm sure I will take Aaron to some more difficult trails before too long, and I'm going to remind him that it's the technique he already knows that will get him through anything he comes across. Not leaning back, bailing out, or worrying about what he doesn't know how to do. A trail like "Indian Summer" is the way to build that technique to begin with.

* Getting across flat ground on a teleboard. Your front foot is clipped in and you push off with the other foot as if on a skateboard or snowboard. That much is obvious. Now, swing/kick your back leg forward, following through all the way. With your foot reaching forward, pause for an instant before rythmically swinging back for the next push-off. I consciously realized I was doing this last night and gave Aaron the tip, which he found helpful. I think it makes me about twice as efficient, squeezing more glide out of every kick.

That's it for Day 4. Day 5 starts now.

Aaron, my willing volunteer student:

A couple of my tracks, still visible in the slippery corn.

From left to right: Aaron, me, and Mikey (a friend who joined us for a few runs)

Teleboarding season begins

My teleboarding season begins now. I'm heading off to killington with a friend and looking forward to 28+ open trails.
I hope your season is off to a prompt start too!

tele fest @ bretton woods tomorrow

I hope to see you tomorrow at the last New England Telemark festival of the season. If you buy a lift ticket at bretton woods tomorrow upstairs instead of at the normal ticket window, it comes with free equipment demos, lessons, & beer. You'll probably see a few teleboards there too, including me.

Slope testing day 1

Last night I got in a first teleboarding night with my friend Aaron, who volunteered to help test my book. Thanks, Aaron!!!

I gave him an *extremely* rough draft to read. He gave me some useful feedback on the spot, and let me photograph him struggling with unfamiliar equipment & techniques. I think that photos of an actual beginner making typical mistakes, and then getting it right, is exactly what a teleboarding book needs.

We were on the 4-10pm shift, so pretty soon we lost the light, put away the camera and draft, and decided to pass some distance under our feet. A wide and shallow slope is good for learning, but a long one really is ideal.

Even though Aaron getting clocked in the head by a moving chairlift didn't help anything, our mission was a huge success. Around 9:30, I got a good look at the bottom of Aaron's board, carving a wide arc as he sped past.

Slope testing day 1 summary:
- Aaron went from zero to grinning intermediate in 6 hours.
- I have a bunch of tweaks and new material for the teleboarding book.
- You can learn technique from a book, but you get to teach yourself finesse.
- Helmets are a great idea.
- It's nice to have a good friend that will take some risks for you.

Keep thinking snow!!

time passing

As I recover from yet another smuggs trip, I'm realizing it's been almost a year since my last post. Since then, I've done a bunch of teleboarding, made some new ski buddies, tried yoga for the first time, learned how to make telemark turns, misplaced my helmet, and made it through many snowless months.

This season has gotten off to a great start for me. Starting the weekend before Thanksgiving, I visited Killington, Sunapee, Sugarloaf, Wachusett (in many short visits), and, recently, Smuggler's notch for 3 days. We're still getting an unusual amount of snow in Massachusetts.

Lately, I've been riding, forming ideas, and doing everything else except writing.

I hope this serves as a reminder that we should use the time and opportunities that we have. If you're in New England, we're getting snow now, so go ride it! Or go ride some snow somewhere else!

A few days ago, I gave my friend some advice on how to make a better telemark turn, but it turned out that I was really giving myself advice. I heard the words in my head, took my own advice, and improved on the spot. So here I go again:

Get out there and take a risk. Leave your ski poles on the rack. Jump off a mogul. Compliment a stranger. And post to your blog even if you don't think your thoughts are fully formed yet.

That's all for now, but I've got some partially formed tips and stories for the next posts.