Be Strong, Stay Safe, and keep sharing the Stoke!

by Herb Davis, NRM CEO

Greetings NRM Snow Pros!

I hope you all are faring well in these unprecedented times. Like many of you, I’ve found the time to look at photos and videos from the winter: an epic pow day skiing with my sons, skiing with clients who finally “get it” skiing powder that has always challenged them, many photos of clients families and friends smiling at the top of the mountain on a glorious blue sky day. It’s a great reminisce, and brings to mind what we, as instructors, are all about: building relationships, making connections, and sharing our passion for sliding on snow. I encourage you all to recall those joyful days you’ve had on snow with your clients, families, and friends.

In an effort to help us all stay connected in the NRM community, your Education Teams are working on a series of webinars and online socials where we can connect, share, and continue to learn as snow pros. We plan to have a schedule of these sessions posted on the Events Calendar on the NRM website soon. Some will be offered that will have Continuing Education Credits to allow you stay current. We are also working on an online auction where you can bid on some swag and support the NRM Education Foundation and the scholarship fund.

I know many of you are filling this unplanned down time by skiing in the backcountry, carving the skies, and other adventures we like to pursue. Please keep the throttle down and the risks low; we need to do our part to avoid unnecessarily stressing our Search and Rescue systems and our health care providers. It’s great getting some exercise and fun in the backcountry, but we are in a time where we need to be cognizant of significantly minimizing the risks and the potential for close contact with each other.
We’re planning to host a Beartooth camp in late June, using the lifts at Beartooth Basin Summer Ski Area. Lodging options will include the elegant Pollard in Red Lodge and camping up Rock Creek. Stay tuned for more info. Fall Festival will be at Big Sky, December 4-6, save the date!

Please stay in touch, be strong and have a safe spring!

Herb

Member-Submitted Photos

Photo Credit: Ben Jacobsen

Ramblings of the President

by Stu Marsh, NRM President

Okay, didn’t see this coming. Or, "What? The season's over?" Or perhaps I think I’ll just stay around my place and work in the woodshop, take the dog out for extra walks, and avoid all unnecessary interaction with the people that I really enjoy spending time with. However you are explaining this to yourself, we are, as they used to say, “off the map and in uncharted waters”. Having spent my Forest Service career managing wildfires and specializing in developing longterm plans dealing with anticipating fire behavior and movement to protect people and values at risk, it was good to see how proactive Herb Davis and Nick Herrin were in addressing how PSIA-AASI was moving forward for the remainder of our northern hemisphere ski season. As unfortunate as it is for those that had been preparing all winter for a certification event or maybe attending National Academy at Breckenridge, making the decision to postpone all events was the correct course of action for us.

Looking to keep our NRM community active through this, Herb and our education staff are working on putting together some webinar training sessions. These sessions will be on topics ranging from Movement Analysis to Teaching Effectively and the Learning Connection. More information will be coming in the next few weeks/months, so watch your email for messages from PSIA-AASI-NRM. If you have a topic that you’d like to share with members, please get in touch with Herb. We would really like to hear from you and have you share with the rest of our NRM community. Let’s see, how can I twine my interest in making sawdust and sliding on snow into a fact-filled, interesting webinar? Hmmm, I will have to think this out. Stay tuned.

Just before all heck broke out, Craig Beam and I were able to make a fun journey to Sleeping Giant and Antelope Butte (I was also able to visit Terry Peak and Red Lodge). What fun it was to get away from my home base of Lost Trail and ski with instructors from these areas. Too often we are so busy with our lives at the home area that we aren’t able to break away and go make turns, sliding on snow for the fun of it. It was so much fun asking a bunch of young high school instructors at Sleeping Giant to take us where they like to ride. There wasn’t so much as a thought about the skiing fundamentals, the fundamental here was all about FUN and comradery and being in the moment. It was a hoot. And yes, sometimes it's best not to follow said high schoolers, but it was a lot of fun. We saw a lot of excitement and passion in teaching our sport and were able to share some of ours with those areas. Hopefully you share that passion with your fellow instructors and guests at your home.

So, for the time being, stay healthy, be a hermit, break out your manuals, listen to the First Chair Podcasts, and always smile (it keeps them wondering).

Stu