I was reunited with Ray, my ski instructor from last week. For this lesson, he decided it was a perfect day to head up the Crystal chair. Take advantage of the sunshine and the premium powder, not to mention the stunning scenery up top.

On the ride up, I could tell it was going to be a beautiful ski day. There was blue skies with hardly any cloud for miles and, because it was nearing the end of the season, hardly a soul skiing in sight. While on the Crystal, we were treated to a remarkable panorama of the mountains and valley around Sun Peaks. It was so clear you can see Lake Okanagan in the distance.

I took a quick snapshot at the top to capture the view. Then we headed down Crystal Run to warm up our legs. While the ski conditions down below were great, I can see why Ray wanted to ski higher up—the snow was in excellent condition for spring skiing. We were probably among the first to leave our tracks on the immaculate snow and fresh corduroys that day.

We picked up where we left off last week with the pedaling analogy. I also worked on mastering the correct posture—shins touching the front of the boots to keep the weight forward, knees slight bent, shoulders rounded. Ray said it helps to visualize holding a dime in your belly button.

After completing the warm up, we headed over to the Blue Line to ski along the snow ghosts. It was a remarkable experience. We’re very fortunate to ski such a postcard perfect run. After enjoying the view on the upper half, we worked on turn shapes and gaining more speed on the lower half of the run.

I found that the more confident I became with my skiing, the more I enjoyed the speed. At least now I know that I can slow down and stop when I want to. The ski lessons have given me the skills I need to do just that.

After Blue Line, Ray took me to another run I haven’t been on before. Before going down, he reminded me to make wide, rounded turns to regulate my speed. I looked down and hesitated for a second.

“This looks very steep Ray.”

But before fear could get the better of me, I went for it. The experience was like bungee jumping all over again. I followed Ray’s advice and fought the urge to change directions immediately before the turn was completed. Surprisingly, even though I gained quite a bit of speed while going down, I found myself slowing down at the end of the turn. Ski instructors have told me this before – “You will slow down eventually when you finish your turn”—but I never really listened. Now, I can actually say that they were right!

My head was swirling with adrenaline when I reached the bottom. Looking up at where we launched, I was so exhilarated that I made it down in one piece.

“Congratulations, you’ve just skied your first black run,” Ray said. Wow, my first black run!

This was definitely the icing on the cake and no better way to end the season. After that, we went back up and did Highway 22A (the name of the run) again. Because the snow ghosts were so lovely, we returned to Blue Line. Then we headed down 5 Mile, did a detour through The Other Way, and continued down 5 Mile to the village.

I promptly changed my Facebook status that evening to celebrate my achievement. A friend commented “I can’t believe it. You’ve surpassed me!” I thought to myself, “Neither could I.”

Honestly, I don’t think too much about the mechanics of skiing anymore while going down 5 Mile. And I don’t think mine is an unusual case. After you’ve done it for what seems like a million times, it’s not unusual for people to just glide down 5 Mile without even thinking about what they’re doing.
But put me on top of an intermediate run, like Cruiser, and my answer will be a resounding “Yes”.

It turns out that not thinking about what I’m doing, even on a green run, isn’t a good habit when skiing.

“We become lazy,” said Ray, pointing out that even good skiers do fall on 5 Mile simply because they become careless. Not only that, skiers could be missing out on a perfect place to master a technique by taking green runs for granted. Green runs are great for practising new skills because one doesn’t have to worry about steep terrain and can just concentrate on nailing the technique first before heading out to more advanced runs.

So Ray used this opportunity for me to revisit the technique I’d call “pedal and waltz”.

“Skiing is like riding a bicycle,” he explained. “When you want to turn, you push down on one pedal and slowly ease off on the other. This also means that the leg doing the pushing will extend slightly as the other bends a bit.”
The waltz part becomes handy in keeping a consistent rhythm going. By playing an internal metronome similar to the three-quarters beat of a waltz, you can easily keep track of your speed and frequency of turns while skiing.

With these techniques down pat, we detoured through Burfield Outrun to avoid the slushy snow at the bottom of the 5 Mile, and then proceeded down the lower part of Broadway. On a regular ski day, I would’ve made it down that run in a cinch, but this wasn’t a regular ski day. Spring always brings with it irregular weather, and today, that meant skiing through variable ski conditions. As a result, this particular bit of Broadway may look pristine on the surface, but had the consistency of wet sand when I tried to ski on it.

Our next run was Cruiser. Ray said I’d be skiing from one extreme to another today and he was right. At the top of Cruiser, we enjoyed plenty of fresh dry powder with groomed but compacted snow underneath. Closer to the bottom of the run, the snow started to feel progressively sticky. In some ways, it felt like learning how to ski again because I really had to concentrate on controlling both skis and keeping them from sliding in opposite directions.

Surprisingly, being able to ski in unusual conditions relies in the same mechanics that different ski instructors have taught me all along. The trick is simply to keep the legs active, adjust the turn shapes to maintain speed and keep the skis together especially in powder or sticky snow.

What this experience taught me is the importance of knowing how to adapt to changing ski conditions. Skiing at Sun Peaks where the snow is usually pristine and powder days are more the norm than the exception, I think I’ve been spoiled. But to be a really good skier means learning to ski in any type of snow, so I worked on achieving that today. Who knows, soon I’ll be able to compete in the Top to Bottom’s race? For now, I’m glad that with my ski instructor’s help, I managed to ski well in more challenging conditions.

To book your ski lesson, contact Sport School at 250-578-5505.

But recently, more and more people are discovering B.C.’s best kept secret. Usually, when I go for a stroll around the village in the early evening, there’s very few people outside. This past week, there were many young people and families browsing through the shops, walking their dogs in the snow, or people watching while eating pizza on the patio. For somebody like myself who likes people watching, it’s a nice change.

The best thing about it is that there are still plenty of secluded runs with pockets of powder if you know where to go. If you don’t, well, that’s when the Sun Guides come to the rescue.

It’s spring break, and people from the Lower Mainland are flocking to the resort to spend quality time on the slopes with their family. I met two of them at my ski lesson today – Marcia from New Westminster and Giselle from Vancouver. Our ski instructor was Meg who I skied with last winter.

Meg’s philosophy in skiing was “Maximum control with minimum effort”. I thought it’s a very good philosophy. Who wants to turn skiing into a boot camp when it can be an effortless experience? Not me, but I find that I do this unwittingly when I’m not practising proper technique.

First off, we learned to relax the body by letting the skis drag while going down 5 Mile. Then, Meg showed us how to make an effortless turn. The technique is to distribute the weight equally on both skis at the beginning of the turn and to transfer the weight on the correct foot to make the skis turn.

After mastering this skill, Meg then taught us how to use the skis’ edges to maximize control in skiing. With edging, it is important to have the upper body leaning forward and moving independently from the lower body. Edging is a step up from merely sliding on your skis because there’s more control and you’re no longer at the mercy of the terrain, said Meg.

To solidify our grasp of edging, we headed down Blazer where Meg had us touching our knees while making the turns. It was a very helpful exercise for me, not only to master edging, but also to improve steering with my left leg, which is my weaker ski leg.

After a great run on an intermediate blue run, we headed down Exhibition. Crunchy is a good adjective for many things, but not for snow you ski on. I discovered this the hard way when I lost my balance skiing over crunchy bits of fist-sized snow. I wasn’t hurt, but discovered that putting skis back on when on a steep slope is very tricky. Fortunately, a kind gentleman and his female friend who works for ski patrol lent me a helping hand (I was skiing behind the people in my group so they couldn’t hike back up to where I was). Pretty soon, I was back on track and reclaiming Exhibition. I wasn’t discouraged that easily!

After the lesson, Meg was off to Ladies’ Ski Day. Ladies’ Ski Day occurs every Thursday at 11 a.m. For $60, you get a two-hour ski lesson and lunch at Mantles Restaurant. You can just show up at the meeting place in front of Sport School or sign up in advance by calling 250-578-5505.

Tomorrow, Giselle and her family will be cheering for her younger sister at the Rio Tinto Alcan Nancy Greene Husky Snow Star Festival (March 25 and 26). Over 400 members of the Nancy Greene Ski Leagues nationwide are competing right here at the resort with Nancy Greene herself attending the event. Sounds like an excellent way to end spring break!

I found out that not only do resort employees get free lift passes in Sun Peaks, they also get free lessons depending on availability of instructors. Talk about having perks on the job. It was Allison and Katie’s day off and following our ski lesson, they had the entire day just to practice what they’ve learned on the slopes. Everyone should be as lucky!

While writing this, I realize that it’s been a year almost to the day when I first skied Cruiser, and what a difference a year makes. It’s funny how I read back on my old blog post and revisit the circumstances attached to writing it—the frustration and impatience to improve in skiing, the excitement of moving up to Level 4, the terrified thoughts that cycled in my head as I looked down Cruiser, and the painful tumbles that ensued which were probably more blows to the ego than to the body.

Back then, I thought, I’d never go down that hated run again. But that’s exactly what I did during my last ski lesson, and I did it twice minus the falls. I felt almost as proud as I did when I was promoted to Level 4.

While I did like skiing last winter, I found that I felt more dread than fun when skiing down runs that weren’t in my comfort zone. In comparison, there’s more enthusiasm, motivation and anticipation in general for skiing this time around. And I found out that the secret formula has to be a combination of expert coaching and mileage on your skis to get to that point.

I’m happy that I kept a blog about my skiing exploits. It makes it much easier to track progress and also helps me appreciate how much I’ve learned.

Speaking of learning, the three of us had different skills we needed to hone during the lesson. Andrew worked with Allison in improving her stance (i.e. leaning forward while skiing), with Katie in upper body and lower body separation, and with me in improving my turns (i.e. standing tall in the middle of the turn and bending from the waist). We got quite a bit of skiing done, starting with 5 Mile, and on to Cruiser, Exhibition, OSV and another run on Cruiser to cement what we’ve learned.

“That was the fastest you’ve skied today,” said Andrew as I reached the bottom of Cruiser. Indeed it was, and I didn’t fall either. That, for me, was my reward.

As the days get longer and we transition into warmer weather, I am going to cram in as much skiing as I can before winter bids adieu.

To book your ski lesson, contact Sports School at 250-578-5505.

Truth be told, as much as I looked forward to skiing, I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the cold either. But I had a ski lesson booked so off to the slopes I went. As one commercial puts it, “No self-respecting Canadian says ‘Let’s wait for a warmer day’”. If there was ever a more fitting situation to embrace that philosophy, this was it.

Even so, I got my consolation once I walked out the door and headed to the Sports School meeting place—sunshine all around and blue skies as far as the eye can see.

I was assigned to Level 4 with another student, Lenka from Seattle who’s vacationing with her family in Sun Peaks. Our instructor David was very easy-going yet was a no-nonsense kind of guy when it came to maximizing our ski time. As a result, we got a lot of practice skiing done, which suited me very well.

For our warm up run, we went down Sundance. It really dawned on me that I was on a Level 4 lesson when I saw David and Lenka speeding down the run as soon as we got off the chairlift—they were fast skiers! I was so used to lessons where our warm up was much slower. But though I had to work hard to keep up, I kind of liked this pace better.

For some variety in terrain, we went glade skiing down Grannie Greene as David explained the main goals for our ski lesson. He said skiers need to work on three crucial skills to move up in skiing. First is the stance and balance. Body weight always needs to be centred between the skis and must be distributed towards the front of the skis for steering.

Second, at any point during skiing, our skis need to be parallel to each other. He says it’s easier to do if we can envision fitting both skis in an imaginary box. Doing so improves the skier’s agility and control when skiing steeper and variable terrain.

Third is perfecting the mechanics of turns. Turns must be rounded, S-shaped and evenly distanced. To maintain speed, turn shapes should be adjusted according to terrain—larger, wider turns for flatter terrain and frequent shorter turns for steeper pistes. A turn must also be finished completely before starting another to regulate speed.

To up the difficulty, David took us to OSV as Lenka and I worked on our day’s goals. I’ve managed to avoid the OSV run until now. As it’s always used by ski racers for training, I thought it would be way beyond my ability, but I was wrong. I found that by using David’s pointers, I can be in control while skiing down OSV even in the steeper parts.

To wrap up our lesson, David summarized the things we needed to work on for future lessons. For me, it was learning to finish my turns completely, and remembering to do a quick uptake to position my skis better before starting another turn.

Yes, it took a while for my face and toes to thaw out after the lesson, but considering the tips I learned and the interesting chitchat with David and Lenka, I’m glad I didn’t wait for a warmer day.

To book a ski lesson, contact the Sports School at 250-578-5505.

Today was one of those rare times when we talked about something unrelated to a story I’m writing. For me, it was pretty cool to get to know one of the locals in a more laidback setting. And he’s got some exciting news to share.

“Anne was on CBC’s Daybreak this morning,” he said.

Anne is George’s wife and a TRU instructor. She’s doing research with the University of Canberra on whether people who volunteered during the Olympics were inspired to do more volunteer work—catching the “volunteer bug” as CBC put it.

In addition, I also heard that the entire family got to ski together recently, as their daughter Elli, a member of the national alpine ski team, is back home for a few weeks before going back to Europe to continue competing—a hectic itinerary that includes a World Cup race (her second this season). George said she’s really looking forward to it.

I can’t imagine how lucky Elli is, travelling all over in her prime and competing with the world’s best while doing the thing she loves. The rest of us could only wonder what that feels like.

But enough daydreaming. Today was a day for skiing and improvement. We started off with a warm up on 5 Mile, then a training run on Suncatcher and Sundowner. Just like last week, the focus was on separation of the upper and lower body. The more I learned to keep my upper body quiet and the lower body active, the easier and more enjoyable it felt to ski even the steeper terrain. Gone were the worries of sliding and falling. In their place were confidence, better control and exhilaration. The entire time, I kept thinking “This is awesome!”

After the Sun runs was the Crystals. We rode the Crystal Chair to go on the Crystal Run. Weather can change very quickly as many skiers know, so sun changed to fog as we skied down to Crystal Run. Fortunately, visibility improved once we reached the run. And because it had been snowing the entire time, we had a good layer of soft snow underneath our skis.

George gave some pointers on steering and allowed me plenty of time to practice. In addition to keeping a good stance and a quiet upper body, it was important to know how to steer properly. On steep terrain, he said it’s important to finish the turns to keep the speed consistent. I also learned to let go at the beginning of the turn and to really put some weight on the downhill ski while waiting for the next turn. The tendency for beginner skiers is to let the lower body go idle, but to progress, I needed to keep my legs active. George also showed me how to carve, something I got to try on the flatter slopes.

With all the tips given out, it was time again to gain some mileage. To wrap up the lesson, we went down 5 Mile and did a mini detour through The Other Way before returning on 5 Mile.

“Bye Lailani. I’m sure I’ll see you around,” said George as he skied off to his next lesson. Waving back, I thought it’s great that, in addition to a fun, informative lesson, I got the chance to know a fellow local.

To book a lesson, contact the Sport School at 250-578-5505.

“If the groundhog sees his shadow and runs back into his burrow, that means there’s going to be six more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t, it means spring is near.”

The skeptical side of me wondered how accurate the groundhog’s prediction really is, but another side of me thought it’s great that traditions like these exist, at least for the entertainment value.

Well, on Groundhog Day two of Canada’s most well known groundhogs, Shubenacadie Sam and Wiarton Willie, both predicted an early spring. After going through -20 C and -17 C weather this week, I certainly hoped those predictions were right.

While I won’t be trading Mark Madryga’s weather reports for Wiarton Willie’s just yet, it seems like the groundhog’s prediction might be accurate this time. It was a gusty day as I went on my ski lesson with Sports School this morning but nevertheless, it was only -4 C.

It’s great to be back on snow. After my recent Ski Sisters experience, I felt I was ready to conquer the mountain. And who to greet me with a smile and a hug but Wulf, a friendly German ski instructor with whom I’ve done a lesson last year and Francesca, a British lady who has an equally delightful demeanour.

Because of the fog, our instructor decided we needed to go down a run with some trees.

“The contrast from the trees will make it easier to see and hopefully there’s better visibility,” Wulf said. Wise advice, I soon found out, as we had excellent visibility while going down Rambler.

The lesson for today was focused on perfecting our turns. Later in the lesson, we worked on upper body and lower body separation.

In creating round turns, Wulf simplified the process by breaking it down into three parts: pressure on the downhill ski at the beginning of the turn, a neutral phase in the middle of the turn and the transfer of pressure back onto the downhill ski to complete the turn.

With the upper body and lower body separation, the goal was to keep the upper body quiet and let the legs do the steering. It took Francesca and I a few tries to keep our upper body relatively stationary and facing downhill. For me, it was akin to learning to play the piano with both hands—sometimes your hands feel like they have a life of their own and can be a bit difficult to control. However, after a few more turns and practice, we heard our instructor saying “Super!” and we knew we did it.

“You can feel it if you did it right,” said Wulf. He was right. Once it clicks, the skiing becomes effortless.

Two trips up the Sundance chair, two runs down Rambler, countless turns and two hours later, our lesson was up.

“This lesson was beautiful!” exclaimed our energetic instructor. Francesca and I agreed; we had fun and we learned something new.

To book a lesson, contact the Sports School at 250-578-5505.

Your Turn:
Scientific studies say groundhog predictions are only accurate 39 per cent of the time. While we have yet to confirm whether Wiarton Willie’s prediction is correct, do you want to see an early spring this year? Why or why not?

“That’s our official Ski Sisters greeting,” Wolfe explained the first time they did it and she caught me with a confused look on my face.

The Ski Sisters are two former ski instructors who go with female skiers wanting to improve their skiing or want to have a skiing companion. Having worked as ski guides before, these ladies realized there was a niche to be filled and they decided to fill it.

“We tell the husbands, it’s better for them if we take their wives to ski with us,” said White, half-jokingly. “Because when the wives stop skiing, they go out shopping. It’s cheaper if they go out with us!”

This was my first time trying the Ski Sister experience. After spending time with the sisters on the slopes, I could see why anyone who goes out skiing with them ends up having a great time. They chat nonstop, they have a great sense of humour, and their energy is so palpable it just rubs off on you.
With this positive vibe in every session, they get women to let loose and actually ski better.

White shares their experience skiing with a mother and daughter.
“At the beginning, they were different levels of skiers. April (the daughter) was very gung-ho and Belinda (the mom) was very reserved. She was reserved coming down 5 Mile. I could see that the mother had ‘the goods’. It only took me less than half a day and I had them skiing basically equal.”
“And then the giggling started,” Wolfe chimed in.

“By the end of it, I had them going on black runs,” White said. “They did black, ungroomed and powder glades. They were in powder at a few places up to their knees and having just so much fun.”

“The biggest thing is they trusted us. They knew I wasn’t gonna get them into any trouble.”

“We noticed that if we’re not careful, we can get into people’s heads too much and then they’re thinking, thinking, thinking,” said Wolfe. “What we noticed in teaching kids and people who were having fun is you give them the idea but then you go get them trained. It will get into their legs faster than when you think about it too much.”

Overthinking is something that I’m guilty of. The Ski Sisters cured me of that. At one point, they told me to simply follow where they’re going and to relax my ankles. Only when I was close did I realize that there were mini bumps and a short drop ahead. There was no turning back, so I just took a deep breath and went for it. Same thing with the steeper terrain. And boy, was it exhilarating! With their help I conquered Exhibition, one of the steeper runs I’ve been on.

Being with them is like trying a roller coaster ride with friends that you normally wouldn’t try on your own. When it’s over, instead of being scared, you go “Let’s do that again!”

So if you see me making antennas out of my poles and giving three hoots, you’ll know why. I’ve been Ski Sistered.

If you do ski with the Sisters, ask about the $5 Ski Sisters bracelet. Proceeds go to the Discovery Centre.

Contact them at the Sports School: 250-578-5505.

While La Nina’s promise left many a skier tingling with excitement, few anticipated the significant drop in temperatures. Let’s just say I was glad I didn’t ski when it was -20 C.
But this day was just right—it was -5 C, the sun was out and I had clear visibility for miles. Still, I had mixed feelings. Would I remember what to do, how to turn? Will I now pay for not exercising last spring?

My ski instructor must’ve noticed my slight trepidation. She said after months of not skiing, everyone goes through an initial phase of getting back into the groove.

“More people are falling on the slopes. You look down at your skis and wonder ‘What are these long things on my feet?,’” she said.

Indeed, even as my muscles tried to remember the manoeuvres, I saw at least one overenthusiastic snowboarder crash and fall. As quickly as the snowboarder brushed himself off and continued down the slope, my confidence returned as the instructor gave me pointers to improve my balance and regulate my speed.

One great thing about Sun Peaks is that there’s a wide variety of terrain even for beginners like me to practise on. We went down 5 Mile, Rambler and Homesteader as I worked on my turn shape, balance and stopping.

Two hours went by in a flash. After a quick lunch of a breakfast wrap and chai tea latte at Vertical Juice, I was back on the chairlift. I did one more run for good measure and snapped some photos to commemorate my first day back on the slopes. It was a good day, and I know there’ll be more of it.

Sign up for ski lessons at the Sports School: 250-578-5505. To follow Lailani’s progress as she blogs her regular ski lessons, visit: www.sunpeaksnews.com.