Today got me so so sooo excited for the work I am learning to do. We spent all of today on the mountain with Jeff one of the head guys at BOEC. He taught us first to ski without poles which I have never done before but it felt great. The funny thing was it kind of reminds me of the feeling of skinny dipping, you feel so naked out on the slopes! After this we learned to do synchro with our student. Charlie and I stayed together as partners all day and she is an awesome partner. I love working with her and hearing her wonderful UK accent of course =)
(My partner in crime today Charlie!)
Synchro essentially is turning at the same time as your student to that you are shadowing them exactly, this also helps to keep rogue skiers from flying down the mountain out of control and crashing into them. After synchro we learned to use the bamboo pole technique. This uses 2 people in addition to the student. We put a bamboo pole across the front of us and use this to control their speed and teach them the feeling of turning. 
(To the right is a picture of some of the interns doing the bamboo pole technique, the middle person would be the "student")
After this technique we used something called a Tip Retention Device or " Edgie Wedgie" this essentially keeps the tips of the skis from separating so that they are able to put themselves in a snowplow position without crossing the tips and tumbling down the mountain. When my turn came I actually found it to be very helpful, it encouraged me to keep semi-equal pressure on both feet as I turned rather than picking up my inside foot which is my usual tendency. After the Edgie Wedgie experience we stopped at the bottom of the hill to talk, one thing Jeff mentioned was never let someone in an edgie wedgie start slipping backwards because there's no stopping them til they hit a full blown splits. Jacob, poor guy was in the edgie wedgie and got a little turned around...i.e backwards and it was too funny watching him slip backwards away from the lifts and into 3 feet of powder on the side. We all died laughing it was great!
(Poor Jacob after sliding down the hill in his edgie wedgie...too funny :] )
Our next learning objective was to be able to use the teathers in combination with the edgie wedgie. We hooked webbing into carribeaners and clipped it to our "student". This technique is hard, you need to have a soft touch when pulling back on the reins or turning left/right so as not to tip them over or yank them out of their boots. This took a little getting used to but I absolutely loved it. I left today feeling like I really learned a lot and that I would be able to get on a lesson and feel pretty dang confident about it all.
(Here Jacob is guiding Adam using the teathering technique while Kevin synchros behind them to keep the rogue skiers out of the way)
Here is a pic of the lift on our way to work such a pretty and snowy sight!
xoxo
-L
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