sydneymiyake – Page 7 – Stevens Pass Snowsports School

14 Mar

The Word – 3/14/17

Hello everyone! Welcome to spring in the PNW! Despite the rainy conditions lately, big thanks to everyone for keeping the stoke high for those that are here to play in the rain. Hopefully we get another sneaker spring pow day but until then…

SSS: INSTRUCTORS + STAFF

Bunkhouse Reminders: Just a reminder as our season becomes more relaxed that we still need to abide by the BUNKHOUSE GUIDELINES as well as the LOCKER ROOM GUIDELINES It is a privilege that our department has one of few employee bunkhouses on summit… let’s make sure we keep it that way!

Kudos Board: Here are the most recent Kudos from March 6th – 12th.

Private Book Kudos

Dhawal	3-12-17	My instructor for the group beginners class, Nick, was awesome. It can be hard to teach a large group of 10 adults.
Jack	3-12-17	Patrick Hennessey was Jack’s instructor for High Camp as well as this private lesson. He is great with the kids, always talks with the parents before and after and has improved Jack’s ability immensely.
Jonathan	3-8-17	Josh was phenomenal. Really helped me learn some new techniques to improve my skiing ability. Great guy.
Winton	3-8-17	Instructor Ben was exceptional with our 3 yr old on 3/7/17
Teresa	3-6-17	Brit was fantastic. He did a great job of assessing where my skiing was at, finding out where I wanted my skiing to go, and finding the best runs that would accomplish my goals. His enthusiasm was infectious and super motivating. Thanks!

Youth Programs Kudos

Ellie	3-12-17	Oxona was great!
Luciana	3-12-17	Thanks to Andrew! The whole team at Stevens Pass is a great group of friendly and knowledgeable people!
Nathan	3-12-17	The instructor Dagny was good. The boys had a great time and learned the basics
Benjamin	3-9-17	Oxana was simply awesome. I love that one on one chat with here after a lesson and her honest opinion on what my son can do and can’t do. It helps me when I take him up alone without the lesson.
Kenzi	3-9-17	Jake is an exceptional instructor and is very good with kids. I would recommend him to our friends and family and hope to work with him again next year.
Sahalee	3-8-17	Dennis was awesome. Sahalee talks about him all the time and gets excited every time to ski with him. He has helped sahalee improve her skills.
Kenzi	3-7-17	Jake was a great instructor and I, and my daughter, both requested him for her second day of training.
Morrigan	3-6-17	Ellen is really great! My daughter likes her and is responding well to her coaching. Thank you!
Justin	3-6-17	Ben was a great instructor. My son had a great time with him and learned the basics quickly. Ben provided great feedback and let me know what I could remind my son to continue to focus on when riding.
Julianna	3-6-17	Julianna seemed to learn a lot from Doug today. He provided great feedback on the report card. We skied later in the afternoon and Julianna was able to follow me doing turns on the magic carpet. A big leap today!! Thanks Doug!!
Carter	3-6-17	Ben was awesome. We’ll request him in the future.

Adult Programs Kudos

Marsha	3-12-17	My instructors were Sean and a younger guy, I can’t remember his name- he just started snowboarding this season. They were both amazing and taught a very simple way to snowboard. My last instructor didn’t provide the information the same way, so it seemed that I learned more for my second session rather than the first.
Laura	3-12-17	Dave was awesome! Best instructor yet – learned a bunch, really felt like he anticipated needs and was great with corrections.
L	3-12-17	Sheria was kind and attentive, and challenged us to improve. She also taught us a few things that I hadn’t learned from previous instructors. I would totally recommend her as an instructor to a friend.
Peter	3-12-17	I have been snowboarding a few times now and needed help making turns (along with a list of other things). Frank, my instructor, was very helpful and did an excellent job helping me feel more confident on my board. If I can remember half of what he taught me, I should be in great shape the next time I go out.
Alison	3-12-17	Dave was very encouraging!
Berty	3-12-17	David was great! Loved learning under him. This is the second time he taught me in a group lesson, and i appreciate his responsive and supportive nature.
Limor	3-12-17	Megan was very good, paid attention to every individual in the group
Randi	3-12-17	I appreciated the opportunity to get more comfortable with myself on the slopes. I liked how Britt got me to sort of look inside myself to get comfortable with skiing more advanced areas. We tackled some unfamiliar terrain/territory, which I needed to do.
Eric	3-9-17	Britt, was a great instructor. Just the wife and I so it was pretty much a private lesson.
Matt	3-8-17	Abde was a seasoned professional. It was clear he’d done this before. Amazing positivity. Pushed just enough to make us a little better. We can’t ski yet. Abde kept us having fun anyway…And he did teach us !
Jing	3-8-17	The instructor Dave is very experienced and did help me improve my skills. He also showed me how to wax my skies. I’m really glad I learned something new from him.
Robert	3-7-17	Alex was great!
Rebekah	3-7-17	Grey made me feel so confident on the slopes and didn’t push me past my comfort level. I had the most fun, learned the most out of all of my previous lessons and I finally graduated!
Zach	3-7-17	Nice job, Abde! I took on a couple of blues that day. Mixed success.
Michael	3-7-17	John was a great instructor! He made us all feel welcome and comfortable. He was very patient.
Janet	3-7-17	My instructor, Ed, was fantastic! He obviously enjoys skiing and wanted to pass on that passion for skiing to our class. He took time to provide personalized feedback and altered the course based on the skills/needs of the group. He makes Stevens Pass look good.
Tim	3-7-17	I really appreciated how well prepared, streamlined, and well organized everything was. We checked in, you had our names and passes on release forms, we got our gear, and went straight out to the lesson. John was an AMAZING instructor!! 90 minutes is not long enough! It needs to be two hours.
Michael	3-6-17	Sean C. was awesome. He is very interactive with his students and pushes then to get better while not making them feel like they can’t advance..
Kent	3-6-17	It was clear Tom cared about each student, and preparing them to be independent on the mountain.
Celinne	3-6-17	John was a great instructor and was always motivating us to do our best.
Danielle	3-6-17	My instructor (Greg) was really helpful and encouraging, providing really valuable and specific feedback. I also really appreciate the team’s help to upgrade my 1 class to the learn in 3 as I was told I could in person in February and over the phone. The manager on Saturday made my day in being able to figure out the issue and solidified my loyalty to the resort and classes.
Ross	3-6-17	Dave was great.
Ke	3-6-17	John C. is my favorite instructor on the mountain! He’s so invested in our progress and learning with him helps me build the confidence to ski more and better!
Anitha	3-6-17	Alex was excellent. He taught us techniques that I find are very useful. Helped me build confidence. Even showed us a couple cool ski moves for inspiration and learning. Overall a great lesson and would love taking his lessons again.
Max	3-6-17	John was very kind and pushed us in the right areas. I wish we could have gone down more challenging runs.
Hailey	3-6-17	Our instructor was John. He was very knowledgeable and present. It was a great lesson.
Lindsay	3-6-17	Ed was an incredible instructor. He was very patient and helped to build my confidence.

Photo Shoot:This Saturday, March 18th, Marketing is looking for a variety of volunteer skiers and snowboarders to participate in a photo shoot during the day and/or evening; must be comfortable having their photos used for future marketing needs such as company brochures or on the company website. If interested please email benjamin.fok@stevenspass.com.

SSS: TRAINERS CORNER

We have tried to create a variety of clinic opportunities this season and we will continue to have clinics going out. We wanted to reflect on how clinics have been going so that we know what went well and what can be improved and make any adjustments for the spring season. We thought now would be a great time to ask for your reflection on the clinics and the learning that you have done so far so that we as trainers can learn and improve too!

Clinic Feedback

Please note this is optional, however we’d love to know your thoughts to help grow our trainers and put out clinics YOU want to see. Here are some questions to help get you thinking, please email back your answers to: snowsports@stevenspass.com; Russ@PetersonRealtyTeam.com; bpowell_00@hotmail.com

What clinic topics did you really like this season and why?
What would make you attend clinics more often?
What was your own personal favorite clinic moment?
Who would you like to see lead more clinics and why?

Thanks you in advance for taking some time to reflect, and give feedback, on your clinic experiences and takeaways.

MOUNTAIN WIDE NEWS

End of Season Company Party:It’s hard to believe our season is starting to wind down… join us in a fun evening of celebrations with the whole company!

When: Friday, March 31st from 5:30-8:30pm

Where: Granite Peaks Lodge, 2nd floor

What: Dinner, awards, and raffle drawing

Please send in your nominees for the Spirit of Stevens Award, Leader of the Year Award, and Department of the Year to HR by Saturday, March 25th. Fill out the below form and either print it out or email it to humanresources@stevenspass.com.

End of Year Awards Recognition Nomination Form

Updated Transit Schedules:With our additional 6pm closures here are updated transit schedules for the Spring season.

Eastside Transit

Eastside Transit updated 3-12-17

Westside Transit

Westside Transit updated 3-12-17

07 Mar

The Word – 3/7/17

Happy Powder Week! Snow, snow, and more snow is what looks like is in the forecast for the start of March. Hope you all are able to get up and enjoy some of this!

SSS: INSTRUCTORS + STAFF

Alpine and SB Level 1 Exams:Mark your calendars! Level 1 in house exams have been set for Saturday, April 8th. Anyone anticipating one of these exams needs to attend the mandatory exam checkpoint on Saturday, March 18th from 3:30pm-5:30pm.

Kudos Board: Here are the most recent kudos from March 1st- March 5th.

Private Lesson Kudos

Sana	3-5-17	Abde was the instructor and he did the great job.
Andy	3-5-17	Appreciate David being very attentive and giving us some great coaching!
Andrei	3-5-17	Don was very positive and fun to learn from!
Henry	3-5-17	My 6yo had Ken, my 4yo had TJ, and both were excellent! Both my kids said it was on of the best days of skiing they had, we left with them wanting to ski more, and already eager to return. Your team did a spectacular job!
Hailey	3-5-17	Alicia was great.
Jasmine	3-5-17	TJ was amazing! He was very supportive, but most of all he was very encouraging. I’m new to skiing, so he was great at explaining all the ski terminology.
Nikolas	3-1-17	Alicia was awesome! We will request her next time.
Jon	3-1-17	Abde was great, he was wonderful and patient with my son and perpetuated the stoke for the mountain! Would recommend him and will be back to get my son into another lesson

Youth Programs Kudos

Osten	3-5-17	Thanks for adventuring coach Dennis! Way to get the kids out there ridding the whole mountain.
Luna	3-5-17	Overall great! Doing a great job, WAY BETTER than snoqualmie. We’ll be back!!
Eliah	3-5-17	William did a great job teaching and explaining things to my son, and was very detailed in describing what he did we and where he still needs work for next time.
Ilana	3-4-17	Alicia was awesome! If Lana takes another lesson this season we will def try to schedule with her.
Jd	3-1-17	Payton was AWESOME! Our son JD talked about her the rest of the day. Her feedback post lesson was also very valuable. Kudos!!!
Mackenzie	3-1-17	My son had a great time and felt he was able to explore the mountain and ski a variety of terrain. thank you to the coach and thank you to the program as we liked getting the card at the end of the lesson letting us know what our childs levels and strengths

Adult Programs Kudos

Paulina	3-5-17	Savannah was such an amazing instructor. Before her lesson I struggled to get down one of the learning areas and after 5 minutes with her I felt like a pro. Her enthusiasm combined with a simple way of explaining the basics made all the difference.
Andras	3-5-17	Mike, our instructor was really flexible and did a great job of giving us just the right amount of challenge throughout our class. Thank you!
Pranith	3-5-17	Instructor Steven is very good and supportive. He gave us more confidence and motivation to ski. I recommend him to everyone.
Anush	3-5-17	The instructors are really friendly. Cody is exceptional and keeps his class comfortable as we learn.
Kirsten	3-5-17	Our instructor was great!A Sandy totally tailored the lesson to what we needed and wanted to try out that day. Having a small class also helped!
Kelly	3-5-17	Sean was an awesome instructor. He’s very vocal and explains things very well. I highly recommend him and if I had the money would definitely take a private class with him.
Walker	3-5-17	Savannah did a great job, definitely an experienced coach.
Xiaoqing	3-5-17	Cody is great, patience, friendly. He taught a lots of skills… we accomplished a lot. Thank you for all his work!
Lindsay	3-5-17	All 3 of the instructors I’ve had for lessons so far have been good, but Patrick really excelled at finding the balance between pushing me beyond my comfort zone and pushing me too fast and too far beyond my abilities. After my lesson with him, I feel so much more confident in my abilities to control my speed on my board.
Evelyn	3-5-17	Greg is very energetic and gives good tips on techniques. Would love to have another class with him
Fernando	3-5-17	Jake is a great instructor. He was committed and pay attention to all the students. It surprised me how detail he was with everyone despite it being a group class. I learned a lot and had fun, I would definitely recommend him.
Deni	3-3-17	My instructor was Dale Hardisty, and he was FABULOUS! I learned more in one lesson than I had in the previous three, and he really gave me the confidence to do more, and feel comfortable in my skis. It was also a LOT of fun at the same time!
Doris	3-3-17	Sandy is awesome
Colleen	3-3-17	WOW! Dale Hardisty was my instructor and he was AMAZING!!!! I had the BEST lesson and got so much accomplished for my first time skiing!! He was an absolute 15 out of 10! Thank you, Dale!
Tristyn	3-3-17	Sandy was excellent in explaining how to correct mistakes and improve my skiing. She’s the best!!
Matthew	3-3-17	Todd did great! I really appreciate his efforts. He was very knowledgeable, and pushed me to achieve when I was worried I wasn’t good enough!
Rachel	3-3-17	Karl Johnstone was an amazing instructor!
Matthew	3-2-17	Amber was great! She overcame several obstacles to really help me learn
Eileen	3-1-17	John was great. He helped my technique and confidence a lot and since I was his only student today, our conversations about gear were very enlightening and helpful. I very much enjoyed working with him.
Mike	3-1-17	Jake was very patient and helpful. Thank you!
L	3-1-17	Jake was an awesome instructor, paying close attention to each person in the group, giving individual feedback both during the lesson and at the end. He also had patience with a couple of us who needed more practice. His instruction style was very easy to understand and he emphasized safety and being in control.
Vira	3-1-17	Nick was super awesome and really invested in making sure we progressed and worked on what we came to class for. I am super appreciative of his guidance and support. And Abde encouraged from afar; he’s awesome as well.
Matthew	3-1-17	George did great

Fun Score:From our Lesson Survey question, “On a scale of 1-10, how much fun did you have in your lesson today?” our overall average score still remains at an 8.5, however we did hit an 8.9 last week! Keep it up and let’s bring that average up a bit more!

SSS: TRAINERS CORNER

Clinic Advertisement–Saturday, 3/11: De-Mystifying the SB Level 2/3 exam at Stevens Pass

Clinic w/ John G; Level 200 & 300 Riding. Thinking of taking your SB Level 2/3 at Stevens?What is the exam really like? Where may they take you? What is a split 2/3 exam like?

MOUNTAIN WIDE NEWS: Employee Survey- DUE Sunday, 3/12/17

It’s crazy to think, but we’re already looking ahead to next season… Human Resources has sent out two surveys for employees to add some input and feedback into next season. Last chance to complete the surveys will be this Sunday, March 12th.

Our Employee Opinion Survey should only take 10-15 minutes to complete and is completely anonymous. Please find the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/EOS2016-17

We also want to know what you think about how Stevens manages your safety. Please take a moment to complete the 2016/17 Safety Culture Survey (this should only take 3-8 minutes): https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/N5FS2P6

We greatly appreciate your time to give us this useful information. We hope to incorporate this feedback to make next season even better than this one!

Mountain Exchange Day:We are having a mountain exchange day with Mission Ridge next Wednesday, March 16th… no mountain exchange letters needed! Make sure you bring your current Stevens Pass Employee ID to get your lift ticket. In exchange, keep an eye out for fellow Mission Ridge employees here at SP Monday, March 13th!

Early Ups: Don’t forget… employee early ups every Friday from 8-9am on Hogsback. As long as there is no avy control. Employee pass scans count towards our visit count… so no excuses to get out and ride!!

Full Moon Nordic Night

Sunday, March 12^th, from 5-8PM
Transit available to and from Nordic center
Access to all Nordic Center trails
Free Skate Ski/Classic Ski/Snowshoe Rentals
Mini Nordic lessons
Dinner from 6:00 -7:30
Smores and hot cocoa all night long
Scavenger Hunt!!
This event is for all employees/volunteers in good standing. Dependents are welcome!

End of Season Awards Dinner

Friday, March 31^st, 5:30-8:30 Granite Peaks Lodge, 2^nd floor
Awesome Door Prize (employee & volunteers only)
Discounted Drinks in the Bull’s Tooth from 5:30-8:00
Catered Dinner (local favorite!)
Dino Club Recognitions
Spirit of Stevens Awards, Leader of the Year Award, and Department of the Year Award
RAFFLE!! 20+ prizes will be given out
LST will provide transportation down @ 8:45pm on both sides of the hill

25 Feb

The Word – 3/1/17

Hi everyone! Can you believe it’s almost March… where has the season gone?! Spring skiing is in our future… and hopefully some sneaky spring pow days too 😉

ALL EMPLOYEES

Learn-in-3 is no longer on sale. It’s March 1st and so we are no longer offering the Learn-in-3 to new customers. This is so we can focus for the remainder of the season in getting those who have purchased the program through lessons and giving them the best chance to graduate. Please no longer push the upgrade to the Learn-in-3 from the single day package and encourage those within the program to book ahead and take advantage of quieter slopes, longer days, more availability and easier mountain access as we move into the spring.

Employee Events in March! There is a lot going on this month. Early Ups every Friday morning for employees only, the awards dinner on March 31st, some cool rental and lesson deals for employees on Friday afternoons and the Full Moon Night at the Nordic center! Check the flyers posted around the employee areas for more information.

Company Store Hours: As we begin to ramp down for the season, HR will be reducing the company store hours during the weekdays. On Mondays-Thursdays the store will open from 7:45-9am and then reopen for lunch from 11:30-1:00pm. HR will still provide uniforms throughout the day on Mon-Thurs; just head to the HR window if you have uniform needs when the store is closed. The store will remain open from 7:45-4pm Fridays – Sundays.

SSS: INSTRUCTORS + STAFF

PSIA/AASI Ed Credit Clinics are coming: Every certified member of the NW Division is required to attend at least one educational event each season to stay up-to-date. Typically a one (1) day educational event provides one (1) season educational credit. Two (2) and three (3) day events provide educational credit for two (2) seasons.

In addition to the events on the PSIA-NW events calendar

Stevens Pass Ski and Snowboard School is sponsoring an event the first weekend of April. (Also Retro Fools day)

Be sure you have the day off and Sign up by emailing snowsports@stevenspass.com to secure your spot, no more than 10 people per group.

Alpiners with Sean Bold Saturday April 1^st or Sunday April 2^nd

Snowboarders with Wil Kirkland Sunday April 2^nd

There is a $30 fee to get your Ed credit for the season. Bring cash or a check the day of the clinic.

KUDOS BOARD:Here are the most recent Kudos from last week

Private Lesson

Denis	2-27-17	My skiing improved notably after that lesson. Heather asks the right questions and listens, then comes up with a gem of advice that makes all the difference.
Kris	2-27-17	Our instructor was excellent. Ben did a fantastic job demonstrating and explaining what Carly needed to do. She came away from the lesson very excited about the sport and confident in what she learned
Jessie	2-27-17	I thought Alicia was professional and encouraging. The group was of such varying skill levels that she wasn’t able to focus on the more advanced skiers but she was a good instructor.
Kyndal	2-27-17	Wendell was fantastic.
Mohammed	2-27-17	My kids love Josh! He offers the perfect balance of learning + fun. They really appreciated him showing them some new territory to ski in. We will be back!
May	2-27-17	Tiana is INCREDIBLE! Amazing instructor, would love to see her again.
Natalie	2-26-17	Don was wonderful with my two beginner kids. We felt so lucky to be paired with Don. He was kind and was able to connect with my 9 year old son and my 5 year old daughter. He was everything that we could have hoped for as an instructor. Thank you!
Marie	2-25-17	Josh did an incredible job with our son’s anxiety, helping him relax and have fun, while still developing his ski abilities. He was braver and more focused after his lesson and woke up the next day asking to go skiing again!
Katya	2-25-17	My girls are looking forward to having the lesson with Josh. He is a lot of fun for them! Thank you, Josh!
Lindsey	2-25-17	T.J. was amazing! My daughter did more learning in 2.plus hours than in a month of group lessons. My boys also learned and improved technique with Dan. Very happy with the quality of instructors and the energy they put into a good day skiing.
Kabir	2-24-17	Ann Marie is amazing! She is so intuitive and has the best attitude! My cautious son , loves her and agrees to do the most challenging tracks with her
Riley	2-24-17	Kelsey made it super fun for my daughter and enhanced her love for snowboarding.

Youth Programs

Garvit	2-27-17	My child instructor was Harry. He was very much attentive and spending time with almost all the kids. He was friendly, and helpful too. I would like to have him for my child’s next lesson too.
Isabelle	2-27-17	nothing, I think the instructors do a great job and my kids always have fun and are looking forward to next weekend.
Livia	2-27-17	Super kudos to the whole gang they do wonderful and amazing things. Shout out to Dagny Signorelli, she really shines with the little ones. Week after week my daughter can’t wait to see her to say hello. Even though she’s not her instructor that week Dagny is always lovingly involved with the kids at the kids level.
Reilly	2-27-17	Instructor’s are really great with children
Luca	2-27-17	Rusty did keep Luca engaged – he recognized Luca was very advanced and that he enjoyed the D-Team so he gave Luca exercises out on the Brooks terrain park to practice air. Rusty may have tried to communicate in spite of the beginner/intermediate feel of the lesson, that it was a good chance for Luca to work on specific skills. He is easily frustrated when he is not challenged. Steve Mac and the other D-Team coaches have been very good at working with Luca and advancing his skill level.
Morrigan	2-27-17	Morrigan liked Ellen and had a solid afternoon of fun and learning. Thanks!
Lincoln	2-27-17	Instructor Sam was great with my son and my son really enjoy him and his instruction. Sam provided me with some great feedback and I could really see the progress my son made.
Carson	2-25-17	Sam was the kids instructor and he was great and gave good feedback. Would definitely have him again.
Abe	2-25-17	Ben was great. He provided clear feedback and explained what they did and focused on. He gave clear instructions on what our options were for the rest of the day and where things needed to be returned. He by far explained things the best out of the 5 lessons we had our kids in this past week.
Elizabeth	2-25-17	Excellent class. Elizabeth is excited to take lessons and learn more.
Ryan	2-24-17	Instructor took the time to provide good feedback and notes. Super nice too!
Kelsey	2-24-17	Thought the whole thing was great! and would highly recommend it – THANKS!!

Adult Programs

Jennifer	2-28-17	My instructor was awesome, she actually stopped and provided us with helpful tips. I really appreciated Grey’s work with us!
Toni	2-27-17	Julie was great! I’m a visual learner so she took the time to show me what she wanted me to do and how to do it. Also she was very positive.
Jenny	2-27-17	Erica was great!!! she was one of the most helpful snowboard instructors by far. had feedback for every student and answered all questions (including helpful ones on equipment)
Benjamin	2-27-17	Our instructor was great. I believe his name was Grayson. Very patient and instructive.
Michael	2-27-17	Megan did well in providing progress recommendations and it helped me along in learning snowboarding basics.
Robert	2-27-17	Ellen was great. She was great at explaining the techniques, and encouraging us, as well as explaining where things went wrong and how to fix them.
Amy	2-27-17	Instructor Dave Erickson was great. He was clear on how to improve and point out what we were doing incorrectly while still being supportive and constructive.
Christina	2-27-17	Austin was a great instructor. He watched us each step of the way and provided individual feedback
Max	2-27-17	I really wanted to thank Kirk for an amazing lesson. He really provided me with a lot of useful mechanics and was a ton of fun. He is a great instructor and please pass my comments along to him.
David	2-27-17	Instructor was awesome! A++! He really helped my girlfriend finally snowboard! Woot!
Berty	2-27-17	Dave was great!
Mariana	2-27-17	Grayson was awesome!
Rachel	2-27-17	Dave was a fantastic teacher!
Andrew	2-27-17	Super impressed with all the staff! *****
Xiujian	2-27-17	Among all instructors I have in Stevens Pass, there are two instructors of whom I’d like to speak highly. One is Alex Zolotovski and the other one is Kirk(don’t know his last name). Alex is passionate about teaching and he even provided us with videos after the class. Kirk has a sense of responsibility and he exams carefully whether one could graduate from the class. He does concern about students’ safety.
Sarah	2-27-17	Alicia, thank you!! You were instrumental in giving me confidence and input. A++ would have you as my instructor again.
Kate	2-26-17	Instructor Mike was great, asked for our feedback to pace the learning and seemed to enjoy us as much as we did him.
Linh	2-25-17	Rowan always does a great job teaching me. I like his positive attitude. His exercises are really effective at helping me understand how to control my board. It is instructors like him that make Stevens Pass my preferred resort.
Ty	2-25-17	Thank you Todd for your great energy. I was pushed to try hard beyond my normal comfort level.
Michelle	2-24-17	Garret was an awesome instructor. Appreciated his enthusiasm and ability to keep the group moving.

22 Feb

The Word – 2/22/17

Hello! Thank you all for a great holiday weekend and week, let’s carry our enthusiasm into the spring. As the madness of the busy holiday period dies down, don’t forget how great our “office” can be!!

SSS: INSTRUCTORS + STAFF

Locker Room Chore Chart: As some of you may have noticed, we have a new Full Time Employee Chore Chart posted in the locker room! I know, I know, we thought we were done with chores after age 10, BUT let’s face it, some of us spend more time here on mountain and in the locker room than we do at home… so treat it like your 2nd home! The weekly tasks are randomized each week, with a mix of locker room chores, bye weeks, and fun “support” tasks. Let’s all remember to do our own part in cleaning up after ourselves to not make more work for others!

Multi-Week’s Last Week: This upcoming weekend marks the last day for your Basecamp and Highcamp classes. We will have progress reports for you to fill out and give to each student by the end of day. Don’t forget…we will have a shorter, Spring Multi-Week session ramping up March 11th and 12th!

BASECAMP/HIGHCAMP COACHES: Capture the Coach Rules-- please read before the weekend!

Capture the Coach LB Overview

KUDOS BOARD:Here are the most recent Kudos from last week

So many wonderful comments... KEEP IT UP!!

Todd was great with our kids!

Loved Drew…He was the best

Nick noticed that my friend and I were struggling and getting frustrated with the level that the group was at so he pulled us aside and worked with us individually at a more suitable pace, giving us lots of helpful pointers while the rest of the group went with a different instructor.

Ben was very helpful and encouraging when I was learning how to ski. I would definitely recommend him for a beginner in the future!

Abde was our instructor today and he was so helpful and patient every step of the way. He made it very enjoyable and even followed up with us after the lesson. Such a great first experience and I can’t wait to come back!!

Just wanted to give both Sean Cooper and Grayson a ton of kudos. Not only were they both extremely helpful, but they were also extremely engaging. I honestly felt like they cared about our progress and wanted to do their best to help us get better. I think they’re a perfect example for how all of your instructors should interact with students.

Drew is the best snowboard instructor!

My instructor names Clark. He explained and showed all techniques very well.

Payton was awesome instructor – please keep pairing her up w/ Anora!

Payton was an amazing instructor and Anora Loves her — please keep matching them up!

Dennis! So patient and encouraging, deeply appreciate how you honed in on my kid and enjoyed her swagger.

My instructor (Gregg Williams) was extremely helpful and provided lot of useful tips to adjust my technique

Dave was great! He really cared about us getting better. I would highly recommend Dave to any of my friends

I was fortunate enough to have two instructors this lesson (large class). At first I was a little weary of having such a big class but when all said and done I was able to learn much more efficiently. The instructors I had (Abde and Nick) had different feedback and tips to give that were so beneficial when I was able to combine them! I feel I was really lucky to have 2 teachers.

Austin was a fantastic instructor for my First Timer class. He did a really good job connecting and relating to everyone in the class, and gave just the right amount of feedback to help us improve. I was able to successfully ski the Daisy run all afternoon after just one lesson with him. And I had so much fun!

Grey is an excellent instructor. We all have different reasons for learning to ski, and she understands that. She fit the lesson exactly to my needs.

Brandon was fantastic, very helpful and very patient!

Bob was great and very knowledgeable.

Erica was a great instructor! She was friendly and super helpful in her feedback. She wanted everyone in the class to succeed and tried to help us all improve.

Erika was great, yet again. She gives constructive feedback and is so nice! 🙂 YAY

Ben was very involved and a lot of fun to learn from.

Solid advice and was a valuable use of an hour to brush up on skills. I’ll probably request Patrick on future lessons.

Dennis was awesome! My daughter had a ton of fun and wants to go back as soon as she can. I can imagine it’s not super fun or easy to teach three year olds, but Dennis seemed like he enjoyed it and it definitely helped Delilah be enthusiastic.

Martin was great! He was patient, very observant and made me feel very confidant.

Heather was amazing and so patient with me. She noted each of my mistake and corrected them. I was able to learn how to come down the perfect slope. Thank you Heather for all the training. Loved learning with you!

Andre was such a great instructor. I really liked her teaching technique and she was very knowledgeable

Matt was super helpful, such a stud

Wendell was so great with our young kids! He was fun and kind and the kids loved the lesson and want to do another one! Thank you!

John was awesome. He really wanted us to have fun and constantly provided useful feedback and tips to improve. This was the best lesson I’ve taken here so far.

Great class! Angie was such a great instructor. She was really invested in teaching us how to ski and very friendly and supportive.

Anthony was a fantastic instructor who could tell me exactly what I was doing wrong and gave me pointers to remember the right technique. He’s been the best I’ve had. Thank you, Anthony.

Gregg was amazing!!!!!

Gregg was great and very helpful without being pushy.

Andrew was awesome. He met us with enthusiasm and lots of energy, just what my son needed. He gave good instruction, and kept him safe, and handled all the kids really well. If we would do this again, I would want Andrew! He’s rad! That’s what my son said…!

Chris did an awesome job!

Ed was amazing. Of all of my instructors he was the best prepared to explain to the group what to feel for, tricks to fix bad habits and pushed us to progress. I was appreciative of his confidence and leadership in moving through new skill sets. Overall, a great experience. I would be happy to have him again as a group or private instructor. I could see him being an asset to Stevens if he was interested in teaching or leading other instructors. Stevens and the ski school is lucky to have him.

Sandy was great, I really enjoyed her style of teaching.

Our instructor, Matt, was great. He did a great job instructing the group, and spent a little one-on-one time coaching us individually. He was really a great instructor.

Thank you very much Trent!

I really like Ed, because he has lots of personal instruction for everybody.

Britt was awesome!

Aran & Erica were great instructors! Highly recommended!

Austin was great! Want to schedule another lesson soon.

Karl did a great job with Julianna. She was really psyched after her lesson. She seemed to learn more and was more tired after the hour with Karl than after a two hour group lesson.

My instructor DAVE on 02/07 2PM class was great and the best guy from the last two instructors. He told many thing which I supposed to know from my first class. He concentrated on each person in the class personally and corrected their mistakes. I would say Dave from Index is the best 🙂

My girls are very happy with Josh! He is fun, caring and easy-going! Thank you for your hard work, Josh!

Kevin B was an amazing instructor. He listened and understood what it was I wanted to work on. He pushed me to get beyond some fear (which I had mentioned I wanted to work on). He helped my skiing confidence. I will take another lesson with him to work on a few more skills.

We had Trent again, and we really enjoy having him as our instructor. He explains things well, is patient with us, and we feel like he’s really interested in our success.

Greg was great! He had a good sense of humor and allowed us to experiment with hockey stops and some backwards skiing. He catered the class to our interests! Also his main goal was to have us stay in control which I appreciated especially as we went down steeper terrain.

Austin did a great job. There were four of us in the first timer lesson and one person was clearly behind the rest of the three of us. Austin was able to give that one person help, yet not having the rest of the three of us feel like we were on our own. Nice job Austin!

My instructor was Grey, and she was awesome. Very positive and encouraging. I think I was the least experienced in our group, but she took the time to talk to me about what I can do to improve, and I think my skiing was much better by the end of the lesson.

Grey Tyson was a wonderful teacher. I am an older adult beginner and she helped me learn how to remain more in control on turns and stops. She was encouraging, very patient and offered suggestions for improvement.

Austin was amazing! Friendly and fun. He paid attention and really seemed to care.

Cody was great! Very passionate about skiing and that really made us all excited to continue. He was patient and very thorough in explaining skills. Would definitely come back to take a lesson with Cody again!

Megan was awesome.

To both my first instructor Kurt and my second instructor Ed, I’d like to say thank you for such dedication and wonderful experience at Stevens. I’ve never felt so confident in the snow and it is in great extent because of you both. THANKS!!!

Sean was awesome and helped me increase my confidence with the new challenge of trying to learn to snowboard. I’m older, and my knee started hurting, and he was great about saying “Just take this at your own pace.”I wouldn’t say that I’m an expert at this point or anything, but I’d love to come back and learn more!

Tiana was great. I enjoyed her instruction, but also felt like I was skiing with a friend.

My kids were with two different instructors. Dan and Dennis. They were both amazing instructors. Both kids had so much fun and learned a lot. They catered to my kids needs and actually cared about their progress. They are the best instructors my kids have EVER had and they have done lessons in numerous mountains. Thank you!

Greg was so awesome! You can tell he’s super-passionate about skiing and that passion is infectious. He did a wonderful job at providing feedback and great tips on how to improve our technique. I really learned a lot in his lesson.

Our Instructor Wendell was really great! The kids really liked him and he focused on basics walking the kids through fun exercises that helped them do moguls.

Drew was very helpful! Provided good instruction, gave us examples of how to properly do it, and then told us when we were using incorrect stances so we could improve and stop from forming bad habits. Extremely helpful!

Rebecca was awesome. She watched each one of us and provided us helpful tips to improve our skiing.

Our instructor (Gregg) was great, he adapted his lesson to the group size and skill level on the fly. Would be happy to take lessons with him again.

Greg is a great teacher all my group was happy with him, his tips were really helpfull

Ed was AWESOME! He lead the best lesson I’ve had and made me feel comfortable and confident enough to graduate. Even with 7 students the lesson felt tailored to each of our needs. Give this guy a raise! Seriously, it was awesome.

Hannah was amazing! So passionate, with loads of feedback. We will ask for her next time

Grey was confident, informative and fun.

Octavia loved her instructor yesterday. She didn’t want to leave–AWESOME!

Always stoked to get David as an instructor!! I like how each day he has an area to work on, and reviews it at the end of the day with Oliver. I feel he’s super professional, patient, and gives Oliver a positive day.

Kelsey was great!

Abdi was a great instructor. He really focused on providing me great, specific feedback for how I could improve my technique and confidence.

Jason is a fantastic teacher. He is patient and his verbal instruction is clear and demonstrated. Also, his very positive feedback creates a culture of “can-do”!

I really loved Abde! He was patient, caring, and made sure ti challenge us! I highly recommend him as an instructor.

Steven’s has definitely done well to create an infrastructure where newbies can learn. We had a great experience with your instructor first time around (Jake).

Gregg was a great instructor – we had seven people in our group and I feel like he was able to give everyone adequate personalized attention.

Ben Zweber was a great instructor

Gregg was awesome! He really helped me to gain skill and feel comfortable in the snow!

My instructor, Kirk, was the best I’ve had so far! We had so much fun and he was really invested in how we did.

We loved his instructor….I think her name with Emily. Thumbs up.

Rebecca Navlet was an awesome ski instructor. She was patient, nice and extremely knowledgeable. I would highly recommend her to anyone!

Will was great, his tips helped us a lot and he spent time with each of us.

Dale was awesome! Answered all my questions well, and really cared about my progress.

Oxana was Sasha’s instructor. Sasha was really happy that she was able to split off with the two more advanced students and take her on Hogsback for the first time, while a second instructor worked with the other beginners. Sasha asked if Oxana could teach her again.

My children do not listen to me on the mountain or get frustrated very quickly. The instructor was able to progress her very quickly in one day and she had a blast! Harry was great!

Mark was “awesome” in the words of my son

thanks, Matt

My daughter, Sophia, loved Oxana! We will definitely ask for her next time. 🙂

Tiana was personable and did a great job getting my verbal analysis of my ability, goals and challenges while on the chair lift. She then did an excellent job analyzing my first run. She focused on areas she determined I needed help and challenged me in a positive and encouraging way. Excellent experience, great instructor.

patrick he is a very cool instructor and next time i do the private lesson i will request him also

Drew was really attentive as an instructor and helped me to improve. Thanks Drew!

Bob Jaap was awesome; very patient and figured out what each individual person needed to work on and helped us focus on it. And he was just a lot of fun!

Joe was great’ very funny and experienced

Mike S was very good and I noticed he had 3 kids which I think was a good size. Not sure if this is normal. He seemed to connect well with my kids and they liked their experience. My son was discouraged in the beginning, but Mike helped him get there with his learning.

Jacque was super nice, and extremely helpful. I appreciate that she learned everyone’s name, which really made it feel like she cared about our success.

Drew is a great instructor. I enjoyed my first snowboarding lesson!

My instructor was Bob. He was amazing! It was my fourth time skiing (all at Stevens Pass, this winter) and I feel my skills and confidence doubled thanks to his helpful feedback and tips. I will be coming back.

Todd taught us many new technique which are very interesting.

Ben was really motivating and never gave up with me. There was a point when I was ready to quit and he encourage me to never give up. He is an awesome instructor! Kudos to Ben!

SSS: TRAINERS CORNER

What’s in your pocket?? As we round out another busy weekend, make sure your pockets are stocked and ready for whatever comes your way!

Items you should have in your pocket...

Flow Zone Maps
Wax
Scraper or Tool
Pencil
Incident Forms
Cell Phone- Patrol’s #

RENTALS:Kudos Board

Keep rockin’ Rentals Team! Way to work together as a team and keep the shop in positive spirits, it makes a HUGE impact on our guest’s experience right from the start of their day on mountain! Check out this message passed along from a guest:

From: Kevin, 2/19/17

“We went skiing yesterday for the first time in Steven’s pass, there was a very long line when we were trying to rent our equipment, and then we just heard that there was no ski available. It was very frustrating because we drove 3 hours just to experience Steven’s pass, but our frustration turned into a happy experience because the staff were great, they were very accommodating and friendly, especially Joe. Joe was awesome in reassuring us about the ski’s and explaining to us whats going on. I would definitely go back to Steven’s pass and also recommend it to my friends.

See you again Steven’s pass!”

14 Feb

The Word – 2/14/17

Happy Valentines Day, my fellow snow lovers! Sounds like we’ve got some more snow in the future this upcoming weekend just in time for the last big holiday weekend of the season!

SSS: INSTRUCTORS + STAFF

KUDOS BOARD:Here are the most recent Kudos from last week

Private Book Kudos

Charles (2/2/17) “Thanks for the tips! The practices you gave me should help, especially on a slow day or day with poor snow. Thanks Dan!”
Annica (2/4/17) “Bob is great! He handled the very challenging task of customizing the lesson for three students working on three different things. We are looking forward to booking another lesson with him soon. “
Christa (2/1/17) “thank you Dan for helping me get back on the lift! it was so helpful to build my confidence, and the information on how skis have changed since i skied regularly was great. i caught up with my friends, and skied off of the hogsback and skyline lifts in the afternoon and kept up with them. it was a very empowering day, and i can not wait to ski again. thanks for helping to make it possible! cheers!”
David (2/2/17) “Kevin was a great ski instructor that listened to what we wanted to practice and tailored the lesson to us in addition to throwing in some fundamentals that we had never practiced. We had a lot of fun and learned a good deal. We will definitely come back and take another lesson from him.”
Elsa (2/2/17) “thanks! Jill was great for my daughter”
Rebecca (2/4/17) “Abde was very very patient and encouraging. Didn’t push me beyond my comfort level at all and didn’t make me feel self-conscious right down to not knowing how to put my helmet/goggles together”

Youth Programs Kudos

Cooper (2/1/17) “Beth was really great with Cooper”
Mason (2/2/17) “Kai was awesome!”
Ryan (2/2/17) “Kai Laszlo had Ben as an instructor
Ryan Laszlo had Britt as an instructor
Both instructors gave feedback to parents after the lessons. They both seemed nice, positive, and invested in the kids learning and/or having fun. We will be back.”

Adult Programs Kudos

Amanda (2/3/17) “Drew was an amazing instructor. He gave constructive criticism while maintaining a light and fun demeanor. It was nice to have fun but also get some real tips from a long time snowboarder. He really was able to spot weak areas and helped my sister and me feel more comfort on a snowboard. Would definitely recommend Drew to anyone who is interested in learning how to snowboard!”
Jarrett (2/3/17) “Sarah was amazing. She taught me years worth of information in a mere 90 minutes.
1. How to turn
2. How to stop
3. Pure enjoyment of snowboarding
She was awesome
I’d take another lesson from her AND recommend her highly!”
Kyrie (2/5/17) “Amber was an amazing instructor. She worked with me one on one. Was very patient. Allowed everyone to ask questions at the end.”
Linh (2/2/17) “Rowen was very professional. His advice helped me improve and get closer to my goals. Thank you!”
Thomas (2/2/17) “Rowan was a positive and attentive instructor.”
Varsha (2/1/17) “He is awesome. I have now had David for beginner and first time classes. He is so awesome. “
Vira (2/1/17) “Abde was really awesome and super supportive. Thanks, again!”
Xiaokai (2/1/17) “One of my instructor Sarah was very good, she also spent additional time to take me and another student to Daisy to provide additional feedbacks.”
Zachary (2/4/17) “Drew was great and I would love to take more snowboarding lessons with him!”
Zorana (2/4/17) “My instructor Matt was great! He helped me learn to traverse and we worked on my turns. He taught me how to get on and off a ski lift. It was a great experience and day! Thank you!”

Fundraising for CHILL: Below is a message from the CHILL Foundation for those of you that are coaches as well as any who are interested in this awesome organization we work with!

CHILL

I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with some of your instructors about all our programs at Chill Seattle (snow, skate, and SUP). Some have expressed interest in helping us raise funds for Chill Seattle. I wanted to pass along our CrowdRise page should anyone at Stevens care to join in on our fundraising efforts. We have an overall goal to raise $10,000 to help us expand our programs and we have already reached 40% of our goal! We would LOVE to have any of your staff join us. Every little bit counts in the fundraising world. Feel free to share this link with those that seem interested:

https://www.crowdrise.com/seattlechill2017

You can set up your own personalized team page and talk about why Chill is important to you. From there, I encourage you to share your personalized link with friends and family, their social media pages, etc. to help boost their overall fundraising efforts. I’m also happy to have a one-on-one with anyone on fundraising tips and tricks as well, No pressure to sign up… Just heard some interest from some staff members and wanted to make sure I sent this along!

Jessica Alvarado-Lepine, Seattle Manager for The Chill Foundation

jessicaa@chill.org

Holiday Coupons: … Are still here! We’ve had another round printed so all employees should have them ready to be picked up from either Sydney or Lauren’s office– stop by and sign yours out- Don’t let free tickets and coupons go to waste!!

Boot Dryer Upgrade:We have more than doubled the airflow going through the boot dryer! In celebration…we will be extending International Wash Your Boots Week. See last week’s Word for details.

Nasty boots will be tagged and cannot be returned to the dryer until they have been cleaned. When boots or gloves get saturated with salt (sweat) they draw moisture from the air and never really dry out, resulting in the Boot Funk that greats you every morning upon walking into our locker room!

RENTALS: Boot Olympics Results

Congratulations to the champion of the first annual international Stevens Pass Tech Olympics boot fitting event: Nelson Cowden held the fastest average time (74.41 sec) to boot fit while maintaining exceptional levels of customer service.

In second place, and qualifying for a prize of a $10 coupon, an international competitor Ana Vega Meyer! Thank you Ana for all your hard work.

The top five times in the event were as follows:

Nelson Cowden
Ana Vega Meyer
Luiz Pereira-De-Souza
Hailey Musall
Julieta Llamazares

Thank you to everyone who has been working upfront this year. It has been going awesome!

MOUNTAIN WIDE NEWS: Shred For Stevens Day

This Sunday, Feb 19th is the 5 year anniversary of an avalanche accident here at Tunnel Creek that deeply affected the SP community. The incident was beautifully covered in this interactive NY Times article, which is well worth a read, or indeed a re-read.It serves as a great reminder to stay safe out there and as an appreciation of the AWESOME community and family we are all a part of!

07 Feb

The Word – 2/7/17

Happy Pow Day everyone! Thanks for a great weekend, we hope you were all able to get some pow turns in… 44″ of freshies for the first week of #FreeRefillFebruary and sounds like more to come!

Stevens Pass Mountain Resort's portrait.

Yes there’s cars somewhere in there

SSS: INSTRUCTORS + STAFF

KUDOS BOARD: We survey all our Private, Youth and Adult lesson guests. We have just now got access to the survey data. These comments are from early December through last weekend and come from a question that says: Please use this space if you would like to provide positive or constructive feedback for your instructor.

We don’t currently have a way to link the responses directly to the instructor that taught the student. Many comments name a particular instructor but we cannot control the guests memory or spelling 😉 it’s fun to read so many awesome comments about you all! Keep it up!

President’s Week: Another holiday week is upon us (last one of the season!); just a reminder that this is another 6 day work week for our full time employees and an opportunity for part time employees to pick up additional hours!

Weekly Lesson Survey Data:Still at 8.5 for this week! Youth showed the biggest improvement for 2 weeks in a row… keep it up down there kitten herders!

Unofficial Holiday called… International wash your boots week!

Feel free to pull out those liners and wash them real good in the sink. Use detergent and keep doing it until you can stick your nose in them We will all be glad you did.

You can throw your liners in the washing machine but beware they may get eaten; take the safe route and hand wash.

Cashier Olympics: The results are in! Thank you to all the cashiers for your hard work– it has been a crazy season so far with lots of changes and you have embraced it all with style!

RENTALS RESULTS

Gold-Jasmine Neubauer with 13.5 points. Did survey in under 1 minutes, 1.27.11 to be exact!

Silver-Alex Dodge with 12.5 points. Did survey in 2.31.48 minutes.

Bronze-Liz Moran with 12.5 points. Did survey in 4.09.13 minutes.

SSS RESULTS

Gold-JulyAnn Burga with 21 points. Did survey in 2.03.54 minutes.

Silver -Jessica Stern with 20.5 points. Did survey in 1.34.25 minutes.

Bronze-Bethany Pratt with 19 points. Did survey in 1.47.19 minutes.

(I also wanted to call out Joe Robins, Snow Operating came to audit the SSS and Rental Shop and said he was a rockstar! Heck yeah Joe!!)

CONGRATS! Winners your prizes can be picked up from your supervisors!

SSS: TRAINERS CORNER

Wrap it up! What are some key items you should include in your conclusion

- Where you were when you started
- What we worked on
- What to keep practicing
- What class to take next
- Describe their future in the sport

When you get to the blue runs you can ride 65% of the mountain.

From the top of Tye Mill the view is incredible

As you start to use turn shape to control speed you will work less and ski longer!

Let steve.frink@stevenspass.com know your best conclusion tips and/or write them on the training board in the locker room!

31 Jan

The Word – 1/31/17

Hello! Thank you all for another busy, yet successful weekend; we had some fun events and it looks like our fun reflected directly onto the guests with our updated “fun score” data! Let’s bring that energy into another strong week and weekend…

SSS: INSTRUCTORS + STAFF

Crazy Helmet Winner: ***Drumroll please…..

dale

Congrats Dale!! Your years of work into this helmet takes the cake… come see Lauren on Thursday to receive your prize!

Upcoming Holiday Weekend: President’s weekend and week is coming soon! Please let us know if you have any additional availability over this holiday weekend, especially the holiday Monday (Feb 18 -Feb 20th).

Another busy day will be: Wed, Feb 15th when Facebook is here! This will be a unique and fun format for teaching vs our typical lesson format. Think station coaching + guided mountain tours for intermediate/advance riders. Please email snowsports@stevenspass.com if you are interested in any of these days! Thanks in advance!

Weekly Lesson Survey Data: Check out our locker room posters to see updates on this data. Each individual that takes a lesson with us receives an email survey and an area for comments and feedback; one of the questions asked is On a scale from 1-10, how much fun did you have in your lesson today?

In the beginning of the season we set a goal, as a school to average a score of 9.0 currently, our score is up from last week to 8.5 average! Once we hit our goal, we all celebrate with a party! Updates to come weekly + check the locker room ski racer tracker.

Lesson Survey Data Breakdown

Privates: 8.8

Youth: 8.7

Adults 8.3

Youth Programs seeing the biggest increase this week– Keep it up team!

SSS: TRAINERS CORNER

In Last weeks Trainers Corner we explored the following important questions supporting 2 universal student goals. Here are some of the answers that we have heard back!

Our students all share two common goals or outcomes; to have fun, and to ski/ride!

How can we maximize the amount our students are moving, skiing or riding during the short time we have with them?

Answer: Get students doing more, standing less!

What is an appropriate ratio between talking about skiing/riding and practicing skiing/riding?

Answers: 30/70, 20/80, 10/90, 5/95. We have not heard anyone say that we should spend more time talking about skiing with our students. The consensus is students should be doing ski/ride activities much more that standing and listening to us give instructions.

How much information does someone need before practicing a task?

Answers: Very little let them try first then give help if and when they need help. Let them try and then ask them questions such as: what worked? How did you do that? What did not work well? How will you do it different on your next try, to be more successful? You can share information as they are doing the activity that way they get real time information and can try your suggestion.

How can we set up our classes so multiple students can move and practice at the same time?

Answers: Get them lapping, sessioning, share information as they are doing the activity.

When are the best times to present information?

Answers: In the lift line, while they are doing the task, on the lift.

Can you reflect back on your teaching and find opportunities to do more of the above? Will you challenge yourself to try to do more of the above in your future teaching?

RENTALS:TECH OLYMPICS RESULTS

Thank you for everyones participation… the results are in! Here are the Top 5 Finishers:

83.15 seconds – Matthew Boulden

90.90 seconds – Hayden Aigner

96.51 seconds – Tia Gleason

97.16 seconds – Carlos Enciso

98.30 seconds – Jackson Haney

Congratulations to Matt Boulden and Hayden Aigner! Come see Cameron next weekend to receive your prizes.

Honorable mentions: Kasey Randell – 53.94 seconds; Andrew Purdey – 64.32 seconds (disqualified due to a mistech of skis– take the time to double check!)

The Booting event will take place next weekend. Good luck to everyone in that!

24 Jan

The Word – 1/24/17

Hello everyone!! Thanks for all your hard work and help over another big weekend! We’re extending our Employee Appreciation Week into the weekend, today was Crazy Hat Day… keep reading for our version of this over the weekend 😉

SSS: INSTRUCTORS + STAFF

Friday Morning Meeting: Just a reminder, if you see an 8:30am Line Up Meeting on your schedule this will take place in the Cascadian Kitchen at 8:30am sharp…get your breakfast burritos before the meeting begins! Do keep in mind you may still be scheduled for support at 8am. Please take note of your schedule for the upcoming weekend!

Employee Appreciation Weekend: We’re extending Employee Appreciation Week through Saturday & Sunday! We will have bagels, doughnuts, and coffee in the locker room on Saturday morning.

AND… In sticking with the themes of each day… we’re having CRAZY HELMET WEEKEND!! Decorate, bedazzle, sparkle, your helmet the craziest and we’ll have a winner announced next week in The Word. Don’t worry if you don’t have an arsenal of craft supplies at home, we’ll have some on hand for you to work on your decorations throughout the day 🙂

Weekly Lesson Survey Data: Check out our locker room posters to see updates on this data. Each individual that takes a lesson with us receives an email survey and an area for comments and feedback; one of the questions asked is “On a scale from 1-10, how much fun did you have in your lesson today?”

In the beginning of the season we set a goal, as a school to average a score of 9.0… currently, we are sitting at an 8.4 average!!! Once we hit our goal, we’ll celebrate with a party! Updates to come weekly + check the locker room ski racer tracker. (Thanks Nikole, Ellen, and Lauren Wooster for your wonderful craft skills!)

Lesson Survey Data Breakdown

OVERALL AVERAGE: 8.4

Private Book Average: 8.8

Youth Programs Average: 8.6

Adult Programs Average: 8.3

From a total of over 1,200 surveys since opening day.

Extra Days?: If you have any availability during President’s weekend or week (Feb 18th – Feb 24th) please let us know!

Another busy day will be: Wed, Feb 15th when Facebook is here! This will be a unique and fun format for teaching vs our typical lesson format. Please email snowsports@stevenspass.com if you are interested in either of these days! Thanks in advance!

SSS: TRAINERS CORNER

Our students all share two common goals or outcomes; to have fun, and to ski/ride!

How can we maximize the amount our students are moving, skiing or riding during the short time we have with them? Some questions to start the discussion

What is an appropriate ratio between talking about skiing/riding and practicing skiing/riding?
How much information does someone need before practicing a task?
How can we set up our classes so multiple students can move and practice at the same time?
When are the best times to present information?

RENTALS:Tech Olympics!!!!

This weekend we will be hosting TECH OLYMPICS!!! Winners will be judged on time, efficiency, and hitting key points during your transactions. More details to come over the weekend… good luck to all the contestants interested in participating! Results will be listed in next week’s post of The Word.

MOUNTAIN WIDE NEWS: W2’s are Here

W2s from the 2016 fiscal year are HERE. Please pick yours up from Human Resources before January 28^th,2017. Any W2 not claimed before January 28^th, will be sent out to the mailing address listed in ADP. If this address is not correct you must:

Update this address in ADP using the link provided above
Email humanresources@stevenspass.com and provide your current mailing address

17 Jan

The Word – 1/17/17

Hello everyone! Thank you all so much for your hard work over this crazy holiday weekend– we appreciate everyone that gave us extra availability- whether it was a full day or an extra 30 min at the end of your shift, to everyone that was flexible getting bounced around all day, and to everyone that helped keep the locker room a positive environment! This weekend was a great representation of a strong team effort within our school and rental shop, therefore…

SSS: INSTRUCTORS + STAFF

LAST Business Card Order: If you’d like to order business cards, now is your last chance for the season! If so, please let either Sydney or Lauren know or send us an email to snowsports@stevenspass.com with your first and last name, contact info (phone number, email, etc), and any PSIA/AASI certifications. This order is DUE: Thurs 1/19!

Facebook is HERE: Wed, Feb 15th we will have Facebook here to take lessons with us! This will be one of our largest groups this season– please let us know if you would like to add this day to your schedule by emailing snowsports@stevenspass.com. Thanks in advance!

Locker Room Reminders: It has come to our attention that the locker room door has been propped open while folks are out night riding, just a firm reminder that we can NOT have the door (even the back door) propped open late at night. We have way too much $$ in gear in our locker room to leave that exposed– no one wants their gear stolen or misplaced. Please check out a key card with Sydney or another supervisor or buddy up and ride with a friend– there are plenty of folks out there with access to the locker room!

The Waxing station has been reopened!!!!

By using the waxing station you are agreeing to the fact that you understand and will follow the waxing rules that have been set forth here at the bottom of the Policies and Expectations page under the Resources tab of our school website.

If you have any doubts ask one of the official wax trainers TJ Burch, Ryan Downey, John Buck, David O’Donnell, Steve Frink don’t just wing it!!! Happy sliding!

Flow Zone Report: Wrap it up, include the Flow Zone map in your conclusion

Don’t let people walk away from your lesson thinking they just slid around and had fun. During your conclusion, remind them of the skills they learned at each of the features, and how those skills built upon each other to teach them to ski/ride. You can also use the Flow Zone map to point out what they should work on next and what to tell their next coach.

The conclusion is a critical part of the Teaching Cycle learn more about the Teaching Cycle (and more) in the New Instructor Guide, free from PSIA/AASI!

SSS: TRAINERS CORNER

Remember to check and sign up for free clinics on the RTP Clinic Schedule.

Whether you are, or are not, intending to pursue a certification level, these clinics will help you to learn and grow your knowledge, teaching and riding skills as a professional snowsports instructor regardless of your interest in certification exams. Please do not sign up for clinics if you are on the schedule to work at that time- check with your supervisor first, then come out and play! Learn, engage and have fun with your peers!

Level 1 Certification Info

For any instructors that are interested in becoming members of PSIA/AASI and becoming part of our Professional Snowsports Instructor Association:

Please check out how to join online. Here is the “How to Join” page:http://www.psia-nw.org/membership/how-to-join/

For Alpine staff interested in Level 1 certification please review and get familiar with the PSIA concepts covered in the attached 2016 level 1 indoor Guide-Alpine

Download Alpine Level I Indoor Guide 2016-17 (PDF)

For Snowboard staff interested in Level 1 certification please review and get familiar with the AASI concepts covered in the attached 2016 level 1 indoor Guide-Snowboard

Download Snowboard Level I Indoor Guide 2016-17 (PDF)

Weekly Learning Topics

Every week your Training Team leads will be asking you, our staff, to engage in being a learner yourself, and to help share you knowledge with others. We plan to do this by presenting a learning topic or question(s) of the week under this new section. Your mission is to look through PSIA/ASSI professional and educational resources, manuals etc. to improve whatever your current level of understanding is on the subject for the week, and then discuss your thoughts questions and takeaways with your fellow staff at the mountain. The goal is to engage all of us in continuous learning and improvement, and we thought this would be a fun way to engage with each other and to learn more together.

This week’s Learning topic is: What do the following mean to you, and how or why is it of importance in snowsports instruction?

The American Teaching Systems philosophy of Student Centered teaching?

The Learning Partnership?

How are the above different and/or similar?

If you are brand new to instruction have fun learning about something new, If you are a seasoned instructor explore your own depth of knowledge on this. Most importantly engage with each other share what you learned, ask questions, and challenge yourself to be continuously learning and improving your skills and knowledge. Thanks for Playing! 🙂

Questions? Use your trainers as a resource for anything training, tips and tricks, feedback, and advice!

RENTALS: WEEKEND UPDATE

Thank you to all the rentals staff and instructors who helped out in rentals for making this an outstanding weekend! We put 200 guests an hour through the shop on our best hour, which is really amazing.

Even though we still built a large line because of the massive amounts of people coming to rent, we got them through the line relativity quickly and were able to keep everything well organized.

Coming up is the largest rental group of the year: Facebook. On Wed, February 15^th the might bring as many as 350 renters to the shop, so we will need as much help as we can possibly get. If you can be available, even for just a couple hours in the morning please let Brian know.

MOUNTAIN WIDE NEWS: Employee Appreciation!

Employee Appreciation Week will be Monday, Jan 23rd – Friday, Jan 27th!

More Details for the Upcoming Week!

employee-appreciation-week-2

POW: Performer Of the Week

Can you think of an employee who goes above and beyond or witnessed a random act of kindness?! You can nominate this person!

Here is how it works:

Fill out POW nomination slip– available at HR or next to the Shift Change Forms in the locker room
Completed nominations will be returned to HR

HR will hang up completed forms on our POW sign outside the Company Store
Every Friday, HR will randomly choose a POW employee from the board for weekly prizes
Every month, HR will do another drawing from the 4 weekly POW winners for a grand monthly prize
Winners will be notified and can come by HR to pick up their prize and have their photo taken
All winners & nominees will be featured in our weekly newsletter

Employee Parking Reminder

Employees carpooling with 4 or more folks can park for free in our newest G Lot. If you have 4 or more people in your car, please drive on up there.

10 Jan

The Word – 1/10/17

Hello! First weekend of Multi-Week Madness… CHECK! Thank you all for being flexible and helpful team players, we appreciate it tremendously! Now that we’ve smoothed out the bumps we should find a nice rhythm to our weekends.

SSS: INSTRUCTORS + STAFF

MLK MONDAY – HELP NEEDED! Monday 16th is a holiday Monday and we are in real need of some additional instructor help if anyone is available. Please let us know ASAP if you are not scheduled but would be happy to help out. Full time instructors and leads be sure to check your schedule as days off have shifted for some of you.

If any full timers would like to add Monday as a 6th day this week please let us know. As a holiday day we guarantee 8 hours for full timers that are scheduled, and following this week, mid-week work will slow down until the next holiday period (Presidents and Mid-winter break) towards the end of February. Thanks!

FULL TIME INSTRUCTORS: Keep an eye out for a scheduled meeting starting THIS FRIDAY at 8:30am-9:00am. The idea behind this weekly Friday meeting is so you will not need to attend lineup meetings on the weekend- Sat/Sun. Keep in mind you may still be scheduled for support at 8am. The meeting will take place indoors, in the West Wing of the Cascadian Kitchen each week. The CK starts serving breakfast from 8am, so feel free to be early if you plan on grabbing something to eat.

TRAINING: Clinics are scheduled for the month, Fri-Sun! Friday afternoon clinics are created with our full time crew in mind to allow for you guys to maximize your weekend working hours Sat/Sun… But of course anyone is welcome to participate! Ski & Snowboard Level 1, 2, 3 exam prep, Park SMART clinics, Freestyle, cross-over clinics, and more!

Clock-Rider Inspection Program is BACK ON! If you are an employee that skis or snowboards for work, your gear must be inspected...

Check-in your gear and bring correctly filled-out paperwork.
All equipment being left needs to be labeled with full name and department
Remember this are legal documents so please write legibly
Equipment can be dropped off between opening and 3:00pm depending on business levels
There is a 48-hour minimum turnaround period
When picking up, please check-in at the repair counter
Do not take equipment from the testing area
Please plan ahead and be polite!
Repair staff works long hours, too… Respect gets respect!

FLOW ZONE UPDATE: Thank you all for keeping the flow during our busiest time. A lot of those Multi-Week students will be up Daisy by next weekend and they will all be gone in another week so things will be back to normal.

This weekends addition was the left banked turn in Zone 3 on the lower carpet. It is a gentler way down than the straight run above the baby carpet. Skiers have had a lot of success in Zone 3 while a lot of snowboarders head to Zone 4 the mini pipe sooner.

Please send all Flow Zone tips, requests, etc. to steve.frink@stevenspass.com

MOUNTAIN WIDE NEWS: Early Ups!

Join us— Employee Early Ups!

When: Wed, Jan 11th from 8-9am

Where: Hogsback (before the public tears it up!)

PS- Breakfast burritos will be for first come first serve at the top of the lift…NOM!