Teaching with the club

Well it was another fun weekend of skiing, aren't they all?  The IAEA Ski Club went to Hinterstoder and Wurzeralm for the weekend and I was fortunate enough to go along as an instructor.  The Ausrian instructors, Gerda and Berny , are good about making me feel welcome. Holli also joined in the fun, but as a paying member.  The hotel was nice, and clean, although, the dinning area did have the feel of a church basement, but the food was good.  The ski areas were smaller than most of the areas I have skied in Austria.  The days were warm and pleasant.  There was not nearly as much snow as i would like- I defiantly hit some rocks, and the run were a very hard pack with just a touch of soft on the afternoons.  In Wurzeralm I had my first funicular ride.

I had the one never-ever skier, Claudia, in the morning for two days and she did great.  She progressed quickly, felt comfortable on the snow, and most importantly, had a great time.  By the end of the lesson on Sunday I took her down a difficult red run.  She did not panic, which is great, but she was exhausted by the end.  She did not do that run again, but what she skied the rest of the day was easy for her.  She wants to ski again, so the lessons were a success.

In the afternoons I had the intermediate skiers, Ruan, Kirsten, Victor, Sylvia, and Anya (for one day).  We worked on a number of things but we really focused on learning to carve and turn completion.  They all showed vast improvement, and by the end they looked better skiing than I was feeling about my skiing.  Again they seemed to have a great time and that is what it is all about.

Although I would love to have seen more snow and less hard pack, the weekend was great.  Thanks to all of the skiers on the trip, and especially the ones in my lessons.