Canyons ski school terms

It’s come to my attention that some readers might not be familiar with the grading system we use in The Canyons Ski School, though I try to clarify it in the relevant posts. I hope this entry will help you understand what I’m talking about. Please comment or email me to let me know if something is still confusing.

Our ski school is divided into sections by age level. Each section has a supervisor and at least one “assistant” that’s really a second-in-command able to replace the supervisor as needed. Each has their own staff, but active instructors are shifted between programs on an as-needed basis, depending on the demand on any given day. Each section uses roughly the same color system. However, a 7-year-old that moves up from Cats to Carvers might be placed one level lower, as the expectations of them increase.

Cubs are children in the day-care center: 2 & 3 years old (maybe 1 year olds, I don’t know!) Ski instructors from the Cats program take them out individually for an hour of playing in the snow, and they get paid heaps for that.

Cats are children aged 4, 5, and 6. Their groups are limited to 3 kids because they are harder to handle. They get paid small bonuses for “head count.” There are restrictions on where Cats can be taken, for example, instructors are not allowed to take them into the natural half-pipes at any level. Kathy is the supervisor on Cats, but she is on maternity leave so Chris is currently taking her place.

Carvers are children aged 7-14. Occasionally we mistakenly get a kid who is “6 almost 7” and we can keep them if they’re not a big problem, but if they start crying we move them back to Cats. I’ve only ever had one child aged 14 in Carvers: the other I met went to the Adults program. We make no guarantees at all for group sizes, or that they’ll get the instructors they want or one who even speaks their language. However, we do try to accommodate them, for example people can request a female instructor. We also try to keep students with the same instructor on consecutive days, when possible. We get paid very small bonuses for “head count” on the beginner levels: red and yellow, and we get paid pathetically miniscule head count bonuses at other levels. Tameca is the supervisor on Carvers, and Alicia and Jim are her assistants. Carvers is the biggest program in terms of client numbers, and in the low parts of the season we also do other programs like Ski Utah (a program of free lessons for Utah schoolchildren) to keep the instructors working.

Adults are everyone 14 and over. They get poles at every level, though children do not. I suspect they try to place higher certified instructors on the Adults ski school program. Adults instructors get small bonuses for head count and returning clients. There are special programs they run in the low season similar to Ski Utah. Franklin is the supervisor on Adults. I’m not sure who his normal assistant is.

Privates are a separate program. Private lessons are very expensive. There are walk-in private lessons for 1 or 2 hours, and half-day or full-day privates. Ordering at least a half-day private lesson is the only way to request a specific instructor, and the instructor gets a substantial bonus for being requested by name. It’s possible to commission an instructor for up to 5 people as a “private” lesson. Melissa is the supervisor of Privates and Torben is her assistant. Torben recently won “Employee of the Month.”

The levels are color-based. Colors only loosely correspond to the colors of the trails, which confuses some people. For example, parents may think their child is blue because they have once slipped down a blue slope on their bum, when in fact that child would be yellow or green. Colors are fairly fluid and an actual class can have a wide range of skills, so we often talk about a “yellow-green” class, a “high green” class or a “dark blue” class to express where the class stands within that level.

Reds are first-timers only. They learn about how to move around in the gear and the bare basics like a balanced stance and stopping in a wedge. Occasionally we may put a child who has serious emotional problems back in a red class, especially if there’s no yellow class of an appropriate level. Ideally, a child should only spend one day in a red class. The instructor is expected to remain on the beginner zones like the magic carpet until he feels his students meet the requirements of a yellow or green class (which often happens by lunchtime with a decent class.)

Yellows have usually one or two days on snow but have not advanced enough to get to the green level. They refine the wedge and learn safety-vital skills like how to link turns in a wedge, and turn to a stop. At this level they learn to use the lifts, and a yellow instructor will take his class up the chairlift when he believes they can all link wedge turns in control. These are the kids you usually see plummeting down High Meadow unable to turn or stop. Ideally, a child should only spend one day in a yellow class.

Greens can safely get down a green circle run (like The Meadows) in a controlled wedge. Their wedge is refined until the instructor is satisfied with their stance and balance. They are taught to control speed by changing their turn shape, and then they are taught wedge Christies: turns where the skis are in a wedge down the hill, but brought together to parallel across the hill. A child can spend several days (sometimes a whole vacation) in a green class, depending on their ability level and quickness of learning. The instructor will take a green class up to an easy blue run (like Snowdancer) if they easily ski the green terrain and he feels they can handle more challenging slopes. I first use Alley Cat (“Spongebob’s Forest”) as a proving ground because it is slightly steeper and requires more controlled turns than anything else accessible from High Meadow chairlift.

Blues can ski an easy blue run like Snowdancer in wedge Christie. Note that if a child can only ski a blue run in a confident wedge, or if they can do wedge Christies but have only been tested on a green run, they are not blue. However, they are not required to ski full parallel. They begin learning basic parallel turns and might explore more blue trails. A child that is blue can expect to spend a long time at that level until they learn a decent parallel turn incorporating a range of skills. Therefore, many of our clients arrive at this level.

Double Blues can ski most or all blue runs confidently in a basic parallel. At this level they finally get poles and are taught how to use them. Jo (the head of the education department) thinks they should get poles at Blue level, which makes sense to me, but we don’t do that for some reason. At this level students have skied for several years, and are usually excited to ski so there are far fewer emotional issues (at anything lower, you will still encounter children who are scared.) Uncertified instructors are normally not allowed to teach this level. The parallel is refined, and they are taught advanced concepts like rhythm and timing, and how to deal with different kinds of terrain like powder and moguls. At higher levels, the instructor will consider taking them on easy black diamond runs. Currently, only double-blue Carvers and above can ski in the natural half-pipes, although they are fun runs for everyone green and above.

Purples have a very good parallel using pole plants and can ski black diamond runs in a rough parallel or wedge Christie. They have usually been skiing for many years. They will learn more advanced skills and learn techniques to ski in a variety of challenging terrain, including black diamond runs. High level instructors (certified level 2 and 3) are usually placed on these classes.

Silvers are the highest level we teach. They have been skiing for many years and can handle most black runs confidently with a good set of skills. Jim’s daughter who skis all the time is an example of a silver student. Only high-level instructors are allowed to teach these classes. If they try to teach anything it’s often the same sort of high-level technique that instructors learn.

Confusingly, there are two Shuttle Stops. The one at the bottom is for parents who check in their children at the bottom and don’t want to (or can’t) take them up the gondola. Instructors will pass through there to escort children, or may be assigned to wait there for kids to take up.

The Shuttle Stop on the hill is a fenced-off area adjacent to High Meadow chairlift. It’s the place where latecomers will wait to join their groups on the hill, and where children can be swapped between groups of different levels. Instructors are expected to check that shuttle stop on every run until 11:00AM, and may leave kids behind there if they want to move them to other levels, so other instructors can pick them up. Preferably, we would do these swaps together on the hill rather than make kids wait. Often we have water and sunscreen available there.

I hope this helped to explain some of the terms I use! Thank you for reading.