Hello Mt Hood Meadows Instructors!

Have you seen the forecast for this weekend? We are looking at 28” to 42” by Sunday night. The photo in this email is from this morning. The storm is rolling in already. Rarely does February disappoint on Mt. Hood. Presently all systems are go for a big weekend of enriching people’s lives (and your own life) through skiing, riding and teaching! There’s something in this weekly update email for everyone … so here we go!

 

Toyota Saturday Night Learn to Ski/Ride

We have 207 Toyota Learn to Ski/Ride night. It is sold out. We are looking for extra help tomorrow night with these lessons.

 

Cooper Spur is Opening!

This weekend on Saturday and Sunday Cooper Spur will operate from 9am to 5pm. We are looking for 1 alpine and 1 snowboard instructor to work both days this weekend at Cooper. It’s an all day shift paid the entire time (not just when you’re teaching). If you want a super fun atmosphere please let Mark Fischer know that you want to work at Cooper Spur this weekend!

 

Individual, Positive Feedback and Coaching

Consistently the highest satisfaction from our guest surveys come from experiences where our guests felt like their instructor had a vested interest in their success. Remember, to provide your students individual, positive feedback on what they are doing well, then add a tip on how they can do it even better. Empathy goes a long ways too, “When I was learning how to do this when I did this it worked really well. Try this…..” Keep in mind too that Safety, Fun and Learning are the tenets of snowsports instruction. Ask your students if they are having fun and why? “What’s fun about skiing/riding for you?” Then you can provide coaching that will help them get there!

 

How am I doing, coach? – Instructor Support

An ongoing comment from the instructor survey is that you haven’t received enough feedback on your performance – “I don’t know if I’m doing a good job. Some people prefer a little more feedback, some a little less. Some prefer direct observation of their performance in a lesson in a “ride along”, while some may prefer simply a conversation about a tactic or drill to use in a lesson while others may want feedback on how to address a tough lesson situation. Our job, as your team leaders, is to help you be the most successful you can be as an instructor. We are here to help you! So, we have created a way for you to ask for feedback or help, based on your own preferences – check it out here: https://mhm.snowproportal.com/training/instructor-support

 

How Does Skiing & Riding Look Different When You’re Working?

You’re skiing or riding slower, being especially conscientious of adhering to The Responsibility Code, using a “swivel head” approach even if you have the right of way and exhibiting good decision making with regards to terrain selection for you and your students. The conditions have been amazing the past several days, so save the ripping riding and skiing for when you’re off the clock and in your personal jacket.

 

Deep Snow Safety is Serious

With the amount of new snow we have had over the past few days and the snow that is expected, we are going to need to be particularly aware of deep snow safety, both for yourselves, your fellow instructors and your students. For example, a tree well is a void or depression that forms around the base of a tree can and contain a mix of low hanging branches, loose snow and air. Evergreen trees in particular (fir, hemlock, etc) can have large, deep tree wells that form when low hanging branches block snow from filling in and consolidating around the base of the tree. These voids can be hidden from view by the tree’s low hanging branches. There is no easy way to identify if a particular tree has a dangerous tree well by sight therefore, treat all tree wells as dangerous.

 

90% of people involved in Tree Well/ Snow Immersion Suffocation (SIS) hazard research experiments could NOT rescue themselves. If a partner is not there for immediate rescue, the skier or rider may die very quickly from suffocation – in many cases, he or she can die as quickly as someone can drown in water. Want to learn more about deep snow safety? Check this out: https://www.deepsnowsafety.org/

 

Latest Pig Payments and Stories – what’s yours?

Pinky Hamilton: Coaching her students to keep their board straight while riding the Ballroom carpet, then let her board turn sideways, then fell and caused the entire Ballroom carpet to stop. Nice one Pinky! Hallie Fall: Crashing into Marmot Ridge rocks in full view of the Cascade Express chair lift – glad she’s ok! Tyler Barnes: Ram’s Head Trees … the trees are a little tight and just barely covered by snow. Nothing like one-ski ballet moves in the trees!  Brian Feucht: Newly minted Alpine Level III, teaching a visually impaired student, crashed and caused his student to crash too – no one was hurt and everyone was laughing. Tell us your story when paying the pig!

 

Guest Comments – Yay!

·         Max was a fantastic instructor, with a super positive attitude. He made me feel at ease on skis…

·         Thanks Harvey for making my lesson the best one ever. You helped me so much and I can’t wait for my next lesson. I learned so much and know exactly what my next steps should be. You took the fear and anxiety I had going into it away, I hope my next instructor is as good as you. I was one of the Fabulous four girls you helped & I was so thankful to be be there. I learned SOOO much! Thanks again, Sadie

·         The instructor was very friendly, energetic and my daughter loved his personality. She learned a lot

·         My instructor was positive, funny, and most importantly, informative. He taught me everything I needed to do and then some. He’d help us out when we fell, and gave us feedback on what to not do in order to prevent that from happening again. I learned everything I needed to know about skiing, and if you fix the problems I explained previously, I will likely return here.

·         He was very friendly and had great feedback

·         My son’s experience was great. He learned the basic skills and after his first day with Cole (Heili) he is hooked. He also had lessons from other instructors through the ski bus program. I don’t know her name but my son learned important skills with her for his 2nd lesson.

 

Instructor to Instructor Props

From Humaira Falkenberg recognized David Macintosh with exceptionalism in … just overall greatness, “I saw Dave and his ski school class at the bottom of Buttercup. The class and Dave were having lots of fun standing in the lift line. He also had his class give props to Roy by yelling "We love you Roy." Awesome job to Dave for making sure his kiddos were having a good time while they waited to board the lift.”

 

Billie Eidson recognized Harvey Johnson for exceptionalism in … just overall greatness, “Harvey did an excellent job reverse shadowing me for my first adult lesson. He spent time during and after the lesson to give concrete feedback and offer innovative tools for teaching the beginning skier. I look forward to applying some of his techniques in my classes! Thanks for sharing your knowledge, Harvey!”

 

Jeff Breazile recognized Ashely Kastner for exceptionalism in …going above and beyond the call of duty, “I took my student and his gear into the rental shop so the instructor could take the rest of the class out and begin the lesson. I just want to say how helpful and supportive the rental staff is in getting these issues worked out, fixed and getting the student back with the class even though the environment in the rental area is chaotic. They always find a way to do 20 things at once and clearly value service and customer experience, this is why I want to send a kudos to Ashely and two others who help me and the student this weekend, I want thank Miegal, and Jeff. Thank you Ashely, Miegual, and Jeff!”

 

Got someone you’d like to recognize? Submit your Instructor Props here:

https://mhm.snowproportal.com/instructor-props

 

 

Looking forward to seeing you this weekend!

 

Tyler

 

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