This year I attended the 2022 PSIA Women's Summit at Stowe Feb 27-March 2. It was the first time I've attended this event. Maybe some of you will find a report interesting, so here it is.
1. GENERAL
There must have been 200 participants along with a lot of high-level PSIA instructor-coaches at this event. We had a separate entire base lodge reserved for our use, but some members of the public saw the lodge was open (it's been closed this season) and came in anyway; that was no big deal. Most participants were PSIA members, all coaches were high level PSIA people, and all were women. The event was opened to non-members this year. Most attendants were middle-age or older, although there were some skiers in their 30s here and there. I didn't do a count, so I may be off in this.
2. COVID PRECAUTIONS
We filled the lodge. It was totally full in the mornings. There were lines for the women's bathroom. There was no way to do the 6' social distancing. On day one most wore masks. This number diminished over the next two days. At least that was my impression. I would be surprised if more than just a few people booted up in their cars. I found itt was a good feeling to almost act normal in a base lodge like in years past. My worries about getting Covid began to lower.
For the two evening talks, chairs were set up as if there were no Covid risk, and people were encouraged to wear masks. They did. I attended two of the afternoon indoor talks and one indoor dinner in the lodge; a few people wore masks but since food was available the masks tended to disappear.
Stowe required masks in the gondola on Monday, but had deleted the requirement on Tuesday. I saw very few persons on the three days wearing a genuine mask in the gondola. I did not bother; too much trouble with the helmet.
My roommate came down with Covid the day after leaving. I did not. I have no idea how one of us got it and the other didn't. We were both exposed to crowd-air every day in the lodge and the gondola.
3. INSTRUCTIONAL GROUPS
The way participants were matched to coaches was new compared to the PSIA instructional events I've attended in the past. There was a survey sent out through email to everyone ahead of time about what they wanted to get out of the event, and their comfort level for terrain. The survey results were used to group everyone into four groups. On the morning of day one the four groups met their teachers in the lodge. I think there were four or more teachers per group. Those teachers then split their skiers into smaller groups according to aggressiveness or goals, with 6-9 people per group leader ... and we headed out to ski. This seemed to work out fine. I will not be surprised if this process is adapted to other PSIA events. People could have moved to new groups by request if they were not satisfied with their group leaders, but I know this is sometimes socially difficult to pull off. I don't know to what extent people took advantage of this option.
4. CONDITIONS
It had snowed the previous weekend so Stowe had some new snow over the thaw-freeze glare ice beneath from previous warm weather and rain. Groomers had blended the new snow in, so groomed terrain was in pretty good shape. Winds had blown the new snow into the woods on the ungroomed terrain, so most of it was closed. Monday night and all Tuesday we got snow. Groomers got refreshed, and some of the ungroomed was opened. Tuesday night it snowed some more and Wednesday Stowe had everything open. Ungroomed terrain still had glare ice on the steep sections, and bumped up terrain had thin ice cover beneath the new snow so some granite and brush peeped through. This did not deter our hardy New England skiers. So for our three days we had good conditions.
5. EVENT FORMAT
We skied with our groups in the mornings, and had electives in the afternoons. The electives had titles, such as Mogul Madness or All-Terrain Skiing. There were afternoon indoor options in the lodge where we booted up as well. There were Sunday and Monday evening talks in the Stowflake Inn, where many participants stayed. We were given a pizza dinner Tuesday afternoon in the lodge, and a wrap-up talk with snacks on Wednesday afternoon.
6. TALKS and PRESENTATIONS and FREE FOOD
Sunday evening there was a keynote address by a former Olympic gold medal racer and PSIA instructor. She talked about her career in skiing. I skipped the Monday night talk; I don't remember what it was about. Mermer Blakeslee did a Tuesday afternoon "indoor elective" talk on how to ski in a performance setting where one's skiing is being evaluated and/or graded, such as when racing or when taking a PSIA exam for higher certification or placement on a PSIA educational team. She pointed out that learning/training/improving calls for different mindset than when actually performing at one's current skill level. If one brings the learning mindset to a performance event, the level of skiing will not be as high as it could be. She got into the details of how learning mode and performance mode differ. She kept us all laughing as she explained how the skier needs to train for performance skiing independently from training for learning. This talk was optional and I could have skied with an instructor that afternoon but I'm glad I went.
7. POUTINE
The lodge we were in has no functioning cafeteria because - well, Covid understaffing issues. But two food trucks were set up outside on Monday and Tuesday for our use; they disappeared Wednesday. I bought poutine on Monday for the first time since so many people praise this Canadian dish. Not something I'll repeat.
8. WHAT I LEARNED
I learned some things about my own skiing through personal feedback, and about how different teachers teach since I skied with two coaches. I also refreshed my bump skiing; it started out abysmal Monday morning and ended up just fine by Wednesday. Bump skiing was my hoped-for focus going to this event, and I wasn't disappointed thanks to Mother Nature coming to our rescue.
Here's a surprise thing I learned: I've assumed I was very good at side-slipping. But my group was given the task of side-slipping down a low pitch run with new snow on it. We were told to sideslip in a very straight line a good distance, and figure out what we had to do to keep that line straight. There wasn't much momentum to help us stay on our line, since the pitch was gentle and the snow built up beneath our skis. Keeping the line straight was surprisingly challenging. I controlled my line with ankle-action - opening and closing the ankles. Others did other things. Then we were told to do the same and go fast-slow-fast as we continued to slide-slip straight down this low pitch trail. That was even harder as the snow continued to pile up in front of our skis. Again, I worked with ankle-action - continuing with the opening and closing to keep the line straight, and ankle-tipping to adjust the speed of descent. Eye-opening!
The value of this exercise came into play the next morning when we entered a natural snow run. It was steep at the top and that part was totally covered with a good distance of sheet ice. Those ankles did their thing and after fighting loose snow the previous afternoon. This ice was a piece of cake.
9. WOMEN'S SUMMIT NEXT YEAR
This event is an annual one, but it wasn't held the last two years. This year was the first time it's been done in the North East. Next year it will be somewhere in the North West. I will consider going again.
1. GENERAL
There must have been 200 participants along with a lot of high-level PSIA instructor-coaches at this event. We had a separate entire base lodge reserved for our use, but some members of the public saw the lodge was open (it's been closed this season) and came in anyway; that was no big deal. Most participants were PSIA members, all coaches were high level PSIA people, and all were women. The event was opened to non-members this year. Most attendants were middle-age or older, although there were some skiers in their 30s here and there. I didn't do a count, so I may be off in this.
2. COVID PRECAUTIONS
We filled the lodge. It was totally full in the mornings. There were lines for the women's bathroom. There was no way to do the 6' social distancing. On day one most wore masks. This number diminished over the next two days. At least that was my impression. I would be surprised if more than just a few people booted up in their cars. I found itt was a good feeling to almost act normal in a base lodge like in years past. My worries about getting Covid began to lower.
For the two evening talks, chairs were set up as if there were no Covid risk, and people were encouraged to wear masks. They did. I attended two of the afternoon indoor talks and one indoor dinner in the lodge; a few people wore masks but since food was available the masks tended to disappear.
Stowe required masks in the gondola on Monday, but had deleted the requirement on Tuesday. I saw very few persons on the three days wearing a genuine mask in the gondola. I did not bother; too much trouble with the helmet.
My roommate came down with Covid the day after leaving. I did not. I have no idea how one of us got it and the other didn't. We were both exposed to crowd-air every day in the lodge and the gondola.
3. INSTRUCTIONAL GROUPS
The way participants were matched to coaches was new compared to the PSIA instructional events I've attended in the past. There was a survey sent out through email to everyone ahead of time about what they wanted to get out of the event, and their comfort level for terrain. The survey results were used to group everyone into four groups. On the morning of day one the four groups met their teachers in the lodge. I think there were four or more teachers per group. Those teachers then split their skiers into smaller groups according to aggressiveness or goals, with 6-9 people per group leader ... and we headed out to ski. This seemed to work out fine. I will not be surprised if this process is adapted to other PSIA events. People could have moved to new groups by request if they were not satisfied with their group leaders, but I know this is sometimes socially difficult to pull off. I don't know to what extent people took advantage of this option.
4. CONDITIONS
It had snowed the previous weekend so Stowe had some new snow over the thaw-freeze glare ice beneath from previous warm weather and rain. Groomers had blended the new snow in, so groomed terrain was in pretty good shape. Winds had blown the new snow into the woods on the ungroomed terrain, so most of it was closed. Monday night and all Tuesday we got snow. Groomers got refreshed, and some of the ungroomed was opened. Tuesday night it snowed some more and Wednesday Stowe had everything open. Ungroomed terrain still had glare ice on the steep sections, and bumped up terrain had thin ice cover beneath the new snow so some granite and brush peeped through. This did not deter our hardy New England skiers. So for our three days we had good conditions.
5. EVENT FORMAT
We skied with our groups in the mornings, and had electives in the afternoons. The electives had titles, such as Mogul Madness or All-Terrain Skiing. There were afternoon indoor options in the lodge where we booted up as well. There were Sunday and Monday evening talks in the Stowflake Inn, where many participants stayed. We were given a pizza dinner Tuesday afternoon in the lodge, and a wrap-up talk with snacks on Wednesday afternoon.
6. TALKS and PRESENTATIONS and FREE FOOD
Sunday evening there was a keynote address by a former Olympic gold medal racer and PSIA instructor. She talked about her career in skiing. I skipped the Monday night talk; I don't remember what it was about. Mermer Blakeslee did a Tuesday afternoon "indoor elective" talk on how to ski in a performance setting where one's skiing is being evaluated and/or graded, such as when racing or when taking a PSIA exam for higher certification or placement on a PSIA educational team. She pointed out that learning/training/improving calls for different mindset than when actually performing at one's current skill level. If one brings the learning mindset to a performance event, the level of skiing will not be as high as it could be. She got into the details of how learning mode and performance mode differ. She kept us all laughing as she explained how the skier needs to train for performance skiing independently from training for learning. This talk was optional and I could have skied with an instructor that afternoon but I'm glad I went.
7. POUTINE
The lodge we were in has no functioning cafeteria because - well, Covid understaffing issues. But two food trucks were set up outside on Monday and Tuesday for our use; they disappeared Wednesday. I bought poutine on Monday for the first time since so many people praise this Canadian dish. Not something I'll repeat.
8. WHAT I LEARNED
I learned some things about my own skiing through personal feedback, and about how different teachers teach since I skied with two coaches. I also refreshed my bump skiing; it started out abysmal Monday morning and ended up just fine by Wednesday. Bump skiing was my hoped-for focus going to this event, and I wasn't disappointed thanks to Mother Nature coming to our rescue.
Here's a surprise thing I learned: I've assumed I was very good at side-slipping. But my group was given the task of side-slipping down a low pitch run with new snow on it. We were told to sideslip in a very straight line a good distance, and figure out what we had to do to keep that line straight. There wasn't much momentum to help us stay on our line, since the pitch was gentle and the snow built up beneath our skis. Keeping the line straight was surprisingly challenging. I controlled my line with ankle-action - opening and closing the ankles. Others did other things. Then we were told to do the same and go fast-slow-fast as we continued to slide-slip straight down this low pitch trail. That was even harder as the snow continued to pile up in front of our skis. Again, I worked with ankle-action - continuing with the opening and closing to keep the line straight, and ankle-tipping to adjust the speed of descent. Eye-opening!
The value of this exercise came into play the next morning when we entered a natural snow run. It was steep at the top and that part was totally covered with a good distance of sheet ice. Those ankles did their thing and after fighting loose snow the previous afternoon. This ice was a piece of cake.
9. WOMEN'S SUMMIT NEXT YEAR
This event is an annual one, but it wasn't held the last two years. This year was the first time it's been done in the North East. Next year it will be somewhere in the North West. I will consider going again.
I note that 
