Mark Renson
New member
As I said on my prior day MRG report, I spent Saturday evening on my laptop ?..which is why I was baffled that I felt lousy on Sunday morning, like I had a hangover. Go figure ??maybe I should take up drinking.
Well, I dragged myself up to Glen Ellen for the annual Northern Vermont NSP Toboggan Enhancement Seminar. It was the 4th year in a row for me taking this. It?s a Senior Level program that?s tough, we get hammered, punished, sliced ?n diced, dinged up and I like it. I get a lot out of it.
Some Smuggs patrollers joined 3 of us MRG patrollers as well as Bill, a fellow MRG patroller training to become a Ski & Toboggan Trainer/Evaluator. Teigh and our own Christian joined us for instruction.
I struggled on the first run down Cliffs due to the snowmaking on it which I was unaccustomed to. Afterwards, we worked on snowplowing, transitioning and basic compulsory skills. This was demanding and humbling ? I?m not exactly the most skilled skier you could ever meet, ya? know. It didn?t let up on the chairlift ride, either, as we discussed many technical aspects. I had to suck up a lot of constructive criticism which humbled me as much as it helped me. Fortunately, Christian, Bill Moore and Teigh have worked very hard with my technical skills over the last few years.
Later, we pulled out some sleds which cranked up the difficulty level of the day from demanding to the pushing-the-envelope level. Encore had some edgeable snow and bumps as well as some nasty slick spots. I chose to work on some in-the-handle techniques in the bumps which I had not worked on for a while. At around mid-day, we headed for Cliffs with me manning the tail. After a while, Christian wanted to demonstrate some techniques running the handles with me on the tail. He advised that he was gonna? charge down at a very fast pace. Good thing he warned me as I was pushed over my head and we had an intense run down the bumps with me almost losing it on some ice, recovering and finally crashing after a while. Christian reminded me not too feel bad as he said he was running the sled at a Certified Patroller level. So, perhaps it was a good thing for me to explore new levels. Christian also told us about how years ago on his first round as a Sugarbush patroller, a director had them run sleds down the bumps as fast as humanly possible in order to get good ?n toughened up.
I was getting pretty physically taxed during the day. Young Wesley, one of our teenage patrollers in training, had a nice run with the sled down Bravo with me running the tail and he communicating some icy spots to me ? very professionally done.
My turn to run a sled down Bravo came later in the day. I forgot how steep that second headwall was. Going down the first headwall went very well for me and having Bill running the tail gave me a lotta? confidence. So, I got a huge head of confidence and adrenaline going down the second headwall and went at it very aggressively and everything came together for me. I made sure I let out some happy cheers for Teigh as he stresses the importance of having fun and smiling during evaluations. It was pretty rewarding for me especially given that I had taken my lumps during the day ? kinda? like some quarterback throwing a 75 yard touchdown bomb after taking some nasty sacks. Well, after a while, I did biff on a bump, but Bill?s belay kicked in and I didn?t feel bad about that as I was trying to be very aggressive. The run went so well, that fellow MRG Patroller Scott insisted that he run a sled down it, too.
Later, I rode in the sled with Bill running it down Encore. After a while, I observed his feet and it really blew my mind how much footwork is involved in running a sled through the bumps ? Bill?s feet were moving through the bumps like machine gun fire I mentioned this to the group and since we had a digital movie camera, we thought it would be a cool idea for me to document his run down the next pitch with the focus on his feet. For some added spice, Bill decided to put the chain up and do a chainless run down the bumps to which I was game for. As Bill explained, he had to learn and hone these techniques if he wanted to become an Evaluator.
For my last run, I took on the tail rope through the icy skiers right of Encore and took a nasty spill near the bottom. I was pretty drained at that point.
After we put away our sleds for the day, we did the obvious ? head to the summit for a free ski. At the top of FIS, I blurted out that you can have that. So, I went for the easiest possible way down and apparently, everyone else though that was a good idea.
Yeah, I?ll be taking this seminar again next year ??.. even though for the last 24 hours or so, people have been telling me that I look like I?ve been hit by a truck.
Well, I dragged myself up to Glen Ellen for the annual Northern Vermont NSP Toboggan Enhancement Seminar. It was the 4th year in a row for me taking this. It?s a Senior Level program that?s tough, we get hammered, punished, sliced ?n diced, dinged up and I like it. I get a lot out of it.
Some Smuggs patrollers joined 3 of us MRG patrollers as well as Bill, a fellow MRG patroller training to become a Ski & Toboggan Trainer/Evaluator. Teigh and our own Christian joined us for instruction.
I struggled on the first run down Cliffs due to the snowmaking on it which I was unaccustomed to. Afterwards, we worked on snowplowing, transitioning and basic compulsory skills. This was demanding and humbling ? I?m not exactly the most skilled skier you could ever meet, ya? know. It didn?t let up on the chairlift ride, either, as we discussed many technical aspects. I had to suck up a lot of constructive criticism which humbled me as much as it helped me. Fortunately, Christian, Bill Moore and Teigh have worked very hard with my technical skills over the last few years.
Later, we pulled out some sleds which cranked up the difficulty level of the day from demanding to the pushing-the-envelope level. Encore had some edgeable snow and bumps as well as some nasty slick spots. I chose to work on some in-the-handle techniques in the bumps which I had not worked on for a while. At around mid-day, we headed for Cliffs with me manning the tail. After a while, Christian wanted to demonstrate some techniques running the handles with me on the tail. He advised that he was gonna? charge down at a very fast pace. Good thing he warned me as I was pushed over my head and we had an intense run down the bumps with me almost losing it on some ice, recovering and finally crashing after a while. Christian reminded me not too feel bad as he said he was running the sled at a Certified Patroller level. So, perhaps it was a good thing for me to explore new levels. Christian also told us about how years ago on his first round as a Sugarbush patroller, a director had them run sleds down the bumps as fast as humanly possible in order to get good ?n toughened up.
I was getting pretty physically taxed during the day. Young Wesley, one of our teenage patrollers in training, had a nice run with the sled down Bravo with me running the tail and he communicating some icy spots to me ? very professionally done.
My turn to run a sled down Bravo came later in the day. I forgot how steep that second headwall was. Going down the first headwall went very well for me and having Bill running the tail gave me a lotta? confidence. So, I got a huge head of confidence and adrenaline going down the second headwall and went at it very aggressively and everything came together for me. I made sure I let out some happy cheers for Teigh as he stresses the importance of having fun and smiling during evaluations. It was pretty rewarding for me especially given that I had taken my lumps during the day ? kinda? like some quarterback throwing a 75 yard touchdown bomb after taking some nasty sacks. Well, after a while, I did biff on a bump, but Bill?s belay kicked in and I didn?t feel bad about that as I was trying to be very aggressive. The run went so well, that fellow MRG Patroller Scott insisted that he run a sled down it, too.
Later, I rode in the sled with Bill running it down Encore. After a while, I observed his feet and it really blew my mind how much footwork is involved in running a sled through the bumps ? Bill?s feet were moving through the bumps like machine gun fire I mentioned this to the group and since we had a digital movie camera, we thought it would be a cool idea for me to document his run down the next pitch with the focus on his feet. For some added spice, Bill decided to put the chain up and do a chainless run down the bumps to which I was game for. As Bill explained, he had to learn and hone these techniques if he wanted to become an Evaluator.
For my last run, I took on the tail rope through the icy skiers right of Encore and took a nasty spill near the bottom. I was pretty drained at that point.
After we put away our sleds for the day, we did the obvious ? head to the summit for a free ski. At the top of FIS, I blurted out that you can have that. So, I went for the easiest possible way down and apparently, everyone else though that was a good idea.
Yeah, I?ll be taking this seminar again next year ??.. even though for the last 24 hours or so, people have been telling me that I look like I?ve been hit by a truck.