Free Your Heels This Season … And the Rest Will Follow

There will be no better time than the ’05-’06 ski season to free those heels and have some big fun with the PSIA-W Nordic Division. Myself, Chief Clinician Urmas Franosch, and Directors Tor Brown and Geoff Clarke have worked hard to put together a calendar for the Nordic Division that has plenty of education and certification opportunities, as well as some big fun for all who attend the Nordic events during the ’05-’06 season.

The PSIA-W Nordic Division has a long-standing tradition of kicking everything off with the biggest Nordic party of the season, the Nordic Symposium. This season, the Nordic Symposium will be held at Bear Valley on December 14, 15 & 16, 2005, and is being organized by Aaron and Kimi Johnson of the Base Camp Lodge and Mountain Adventure Seminars, and Paul Peterson of the Bear Valley Cross Country Center.

This year at the Symposium a number of new innovations will be implemented to increase attendance at the event (that means you!). First of all, there will be a total of four examination preparation courses offered at the Symposium: Level 1 Track; Level 1 Nordic Downhill (NDH), Level 2 NDH; and Level 3 NDH (see the Nordic Symposium enrollment form in The Edge for dates). There will also be a Level 1 NDH Exam offered at the Symposium (please note that prior approval of the Chief Examiner, Urmas Franosch, is required to attend the Level 1 Exam at the Symposium; contact Urmas at urmas@hollowstone.com).

Remember, the Nordic Division requires a minimum of four (4) attendees to run any given event. So, if you are interested in taking the prep courses or the exam at the Symposium, or any other event this coming season, sign up early and rally your friends to show up too!

Also at the Symposium will be numerous NDH and Track clinics given by PSI-W Nordic’s finest clinicians and examiners. One clinic of note will be a video clinic that can be attended mulFree Your Heels This Season … And the Rest Will Follow Nordic – Randy P. Wall, Nordic Chairman tiple times based upon the interest of the attendees. I mean, who doesn’t like to watch themselves Telemark down the hill on the big screen, and get real-time input from the Clinician? The banquet will be on Wednesday night this year, hosted by the Base Camp Lodge.

The big news for the ’05-’06 season is more prep courses, and with the exception of Level 3, more exams. Level 3 is Level 3 after all. Based upon the attendance at last season’s certification events, more prep courses have been added to the schedule throughout the season, and the majority of the Exams have been moved towards the end of the season. The hope is that more Nords will be able to prepare for examination throughout the season, and therefore more Nords will attend the Exams. Let’s have reality mirror theory on this one, what do you say folks?

A couple of great opportunities for you NDH’ers to satisfy your continuing education requirements will be to attend the Winter Carnival, and (key word “and”) the D-Team Clinic Day at Bear Valley on the day before the Bear Valley Telemark Festival. You were planning on going to the Bear Valley Telemark Festival anyway, so why not get in a day with the National Nordic Demonstration Team exclusively for PSIA-W Nords? What’s not to like?

Finally, but certainly not least, is the biggest news of all for the ’05-’06 season, the roll out of the PSIA-W Nordic The Edge, Fall 2005 – Page 8 Backcountry program by Nordic Director Geoff Clarke. Geoff has been working diligently on getting his certifications and originating the curriculum for the Backcountry program over the past few years. Referring to the ’05-’06 Nordic Calendar, the program will consist of: a Level 1 Avalanche Certification; Avalanche Tour; Backcountry Introduction; Day Tour Leader Course; Day Tour Leader Certification; and a Overnight Backcountry Tour in the Mammoth Lakes area. The Nordic Division is extremely excited to be able to offer courses in such an important segment of the Nordic arena, so please sign up early and often for the PSIA-W Backcountry events.

But what it really comes down to folks is participation. Think about it for a minute, and you will realize that you can’t beat the value from participating in a PSIA-W Nordic event. For the price of an event, you get a reduced price lift ticket and the opportunity to ski with some of the most talented Nordic skiers the industry has to offer; all that for about the same price of a lift ticket at a big mountain. Once again, what’s not to like?

So get your beer goggles off and get in the game with the PSIA-W Nordic Division. Greater participation in Nordic events presents greater opportunity to everyone to learn, enjoy the fellowship and have a great time. Get fired up and free your heels, the rest will definitely follow.