In the Grand Ski of Things
How teaching kids to ski transformed a hobby into a passion.
A sunny day on the West summit of Snoqualmie pass // Photo courtesy of Bob Pederson
by Rowan Westwood
When I first learned to ski, heading up to the mountains every Saturday felt like Sunday service. At first, I wasn’t much of a believer.
When I was asked to join a team of ski instructors at Cascade Ski School in Snoqualmie Pass, I only had two seasons of experience under my bibs. I knew I had my work cut out for me.
At the beginning of my instructing journey I was just shy of 16. When the season began, I ended up with my own class of eight rambunctious kids.
I had so many questions bubbling inside me. How was I going to make skiers of all these kids? Would I be good enough? All I had to prompt their passion was a bag of sour gummy worms, which I didn’t know at the time would save my life.
The technical director of Cascade Ski School, Patrick McDonald or “Mac” as they called him, changed the way I skied. Not only did he teach me how to be a better skier, he guided me through the process of teaching kids.
Though I was intimidated, I always looked forward to the instructional clinics because Mac and the other instructors believed in me. In order to embrace the tools necessary for teaching students, we endured weekly training sessions. These took place months prior to the first day of classes. I took the belief that Mac had in me and invested that in my skiers.
I remember my first day of teaching as clearly as the sky that day. I clicked into my purple black-diamonds before the sun kissed the mountain peak. My shins were a greenish-gray from yesterday, but the sky was an encouraging blue this morning. This was it, I was ready.
The Pacific Northwest is an incredible place to learn skiing. According to the Pacific Northwest Ski Areas Association out of the 43 resorts across the region, 14 of them are located in Washington. I lived just over an hour away from two of them, one of which I learned to ski at.
In the beginning of my ski journey, my brothers and I had been in the same shoes my students were in. Leaving the comforts of a well-heated Ford and stumbling into the harsh mountain weather for a six-hour day was rough.
The memories I have of my first lessons are of me falling down, not falling in love. It was the rush of freedom and excitement I felt while teaching my class, skiing with my family, and exploring the backcountry that snowballed into love.
Besides safety, I knew that first I had to prioritize teaching my kids to love the sport. Then we could get to the technical side of things. I didn’t want them to give up because of being bored or unmotivated. Being deemed as a dull teacher would be the death of my ego and something I could never live down.
You don’t need to be good at something to love it, and you shouldn’t do things you don’t love. Kids really embody this mindset. They’re enthusiastic and fearless when it comes to doing what they love. Mostly because if they don’t want to do something, like be on a mountain, they won’t.
According to the National Ski Area Association, there are three motivations for attempting snowsports: intrinsic, tag-along and social motivation. Out of the three, intrinsic is the most likely to build a core skier/snowboarder.
The National Ski Areas Association defines Intrinsic motivation as a small percent of individuals who try skiing/boarding because of a general enthusiasm for it, and the experiences it provides. They say this group is most likely to become avid skiers or snowboarders.
Intrinsic motivation is something that teachers should bring out in aspiring skiers. I know, ironic coming from someone who was technically forced to do the sport. But I was able to find my own intrinsic motivation through teaching.
A study conducted by the University of California, Berkeley about learning and motivation in kids discovered that children are more exploratory than adults. This means they’re generally more motivated, giving them a better mindset to learn. One could relate this to a nostalgic, child-like sense of wonder that embraces curiosity.
I remember a student in my first class being a total daredevil. He was always looking for the steepest hill and the little jumps hidden on the sides of the lift posts. Sometimes he wasn’t a big fan of my safety rules, but he also helped encourage other kids to have fun.
Ryan Devane is the operations manager at North Cascades Heli-Skiing in Mazama. He recalled a specific moment in ski school where he spotted a cliff, and wanted to jump off of it. With his instructor’s encouragement, he was coached off of the cliff. After that jump, Devane said, “I want to do that all the time… I was hooked from there.”
Devane expressed gratitude for his fun job, saying “every day I’m here, I’m fully involved in the ski world, which is a dream come true.” An example of someone whose job incorporates a passion for skiing and the unmatched importance of instructors encouraging their students to believe in themselves.
I love skiing because once I get on the lift, I forget about the typical anxieties and everyday stressors we’re faced with. When I get off the lift, it’s just me and my skis. Nothing else in the world matters.
The kids weren’t the only ones learning on the mountain. We were all discovering new ways to have fun and learn. I loved each day more when the kids learned how to pizza (stop), parallel turn or even hit a few small jumps. Walking them through their first green run, to their first black diamond run was fulfilling for us all.
With games, tumbles down the mountain and lots of those sour gummy worms to motivate them, we were invincible. It was the glimmer in their goggled eyes and the excitement they brought that inspired me. In these little moments I grew more confident in my abilities as a skier and a teacher.
My students and I made time for adventure and room for appreciation of the beautiful environment we had the opportunity to be in. Getting up every Saturday at the crack of dawn had never been so worth it. When I look back, I will always cherish when I went from not only loving to ski, but loving to teach it as well.
Five years later, I still crave being on the mountain every day. Each time I click into my purple skis I am reminded of Cascade Ski School, where a mediocre hobby blossomed into one of the things I love most.
I wanted to teach these kids that if they were willing to have fun, the skill would then follow. By the end of the season, they were calling me the GOAT (Greatest of AllTime). Since then, I haven’t received a higher title of honor.