Before exploring these new ideas, it’s important to note that the majority of people take only one cross-country lesson. Once people have that beginner’s lesson under their belt, they ski off without another lesson in their ski careers.
Some touring centers and teaching groups have tried to counter the one lesson habit by limiting what they teach in a beginner lesson. Their philosophy is that by limiting the amount of material a person learns, that person will need to come back for more instruction. The instructor’s job is to teach a few fundamentals thoroughly during the lesson while whetting the students appetite for what will come later if he returns for more lessons.
Other cross-country centers have come to realize that no matter what they do, it will be difficult to get people to return time and time again for lessons. These centers have decided to make the skier’s initial lesson experience a memorable one. This idea is to give the lesson-taker the most for his money and hope that as a happy student he’ll pass the word along to other people who will come and take lessons.
Two years ago, Trapp Family Lodge, VT., took an innovative step that has proved very successful in their teaching operation. Sensing that people disliked being taught in full view of lodge guests or near a crowded main trail, Trapp’s head instructor moved the teaching area away from the flow of traffic and out of view of the public eye. The new teaching area was set up expressly for beginning lessons. It features several straight tracks for beginning diagonal work, easy curves for turning practice and a section of easy downhill.
By providing students with privacy, Trapp Family instructors have found their students to be more receptive to instruction and more willing to bumble along, laugh and enjoy the lesson. Instructors also indicate that they get better group rapport and that they feel they can impart more information to their classes because of the secluded environment.
Another innovative teaching idea is being used by Oregon’s Mt. Bachelor Nordic. Bachelor is offering an all-day cross-country ski lesson designed to give skiers a comprehensive look at cross-country skiing and the ski touring experience.
All day means an hour-and-a-half session in the morning and afternoon with a lunch break of the same duration. During the morning session, students are taught the fundamentals of prepared track skiing. After lunch, the group is introduced to off-track ski techniques like breaking a trail in deep snow, crossing a creek and how to adapt their style from on-track to unpacked snow conditions.
Another innovative teaching idea was tried and proven successful at several Rocky Mountain Alpine ski areas last season. Beginning Alpine skiers were put on cross-country skis for the first day of instruction to become aware of skis through cross-country skiing.
The results of these programs were good. New skiers reported that they were less intimidated by the cross-country ski equipment and that they were impressed with how fast they picked up the sport. Bouyed with this confidence they were ready to learn Alpine skiing and the Alpine instructors found them easier to teach than people who had never been on any type of ski.
Several ski areas will try the program in reverse this winter. As part of a cross-country ski instructional package, they’ll include a day of Alpine ski instruction. This makes a great deal of sense. Far too few cross-country skiers realize that Alpine ski instruction and skiing can be very helpful to their cross-country skiing. Selling both sports with cross-over programs is a good promotional vehicle for the sport of skiing. For both Alpine and cross-country to continue to flourish, ski areas have to sell people on the ‘total’ sport of skiing.
As teaching becomes an important source of income for touring centers it must be approached with fresh programs that impress people with the skiing experience at the touring centers. The wham-damn hour group lesson outside the backdoor of the warming hut in full view of the bar jockeys is becoming a thing of the past. The instructional innovators are making lessons pay with new concepts and exciting teaching ideas.
