A Howling Good Time Was Had at Nordic Symposium

On December 8-10, 2004 the PSIA-W Nordic Symposium was held at Donner summit. The Symposium kicked-off with two days of Examiner/Clinician training, with the Track training held at the Auburn Ski Club on Monday December 6, and the Nordic Downhill (NDH) training at Sugar Bowl on Tuesday December 7.

The Symposium also kicked off with a much needed winter blast, dumping about 18”-24” of cold snow on Monday and Tuesday. Unfortunately, that cold blast turned into a warm pineapple express, pouring rain on the summit all Wednesday and Wednesday night, knocking out power, canceling the NDH day at Sugar Bowl on Wednesday and basically causing total chaos on the summit.

Now this old Dawg’s been kicking around Donner summit for the past 30 years, sniffin’ out the best snow for TeleDawgin’. I must say that the transition in the weather was “shock and awe,” going from powder turns and face shots on Tuesday to warm, sunny classic Sierra spring days on Thursday and Friday.

These conditions were not for the faint of heart. Only free-heel attitudes could surmount the challenges put forth by Mother Nature. Clearly, it was time to Nord Up!

And Nord Up everyone did. Donning the epitome of the Nordic Division “make the best of any situation” attitude, on Wednesday after digging out and having all NDH activities cancelled at the Bowl, clinicians and over 20 die hard attendees set forth into the rain at the Auburn Ski Club for a full day of Track clinics and the Level I Track pre course. Give me some paw!

On Thursday and Friday everyone enjoyed the, warm, beautiful Sierra spring like days and the various Track and NDH clinics that were offered, satisfying much needed (and Division required) education credits, as well as having some big-time Tele Dawg fun! Furthermore, through the offering of the Level I Track and NDH and the Level II NDH pre-courses at the Symposium, many attendees were able to satisfy a critical part of the examination preparation requirements for the upcoming exams.

A couple of new developments resulted from the Examiner/Clinician training that will be instituted during this season and the ’05-’06 season. Through the genius of Urmas Franosch, Chief Examiner, “real time” teaching with an actual student was prototyped at the NDH Examiner/Clinician training. Based upon the results of this experience, “real time” teaching scenarios will become part of the Level III NDH exam this season. The other development was that next year, those desiring to be Examiners and Clinicians for the ’05-’06 season shall be required to attend the Examiner/Clinician training, as the selection of Examiners and Clinicians will take place at that event.

I’d like to give some well-deserved paw to the following for making the 2004 Nordic Symposium a great experience for everyone who attended:

• Sally Jones for the great can do attitude and hospitality at the Auburn Ski Club hosting the Track events;
• the Sugar Bowl crowd of Dave Van Reuten, Greg Murtha and Mike Iman for their gracious hospitality hosting the NDH events;
• Jim Christol and Tor Brown for organizing the Track and NDH clinics, respectively;
• John “Cedar” Seeger for coordinating the lodging at the Oakland Ski Club (what a blast!);
• the Oakland Ski Club; Java Summit Sports, Paco’s Ski and Bike and Granite Chief for their support of PSIA-W Nordic and their great raffle prizes;
• all of the Nordic Clinicians;
• and Urmas Franosch for his oversight, assistance on the NDH events and coordinating the cocktail party on Wednesday night.

A great Big Dawg thanks to everyone! So girls and boys, it’s time to Nord Up and give your buddy some paw, ‘cause the season’s young and there’s a whole bunch of skiing to be done out there! – Big Dawg