10,000 Hours on Powder

Let go of everything you think you know

BY HALEY LITTLETON

“We need alpine instructors. Do you want to work for us?”

Kate Howe assumed the Snow Sports Supervisor at Bridger Bowl, near Bozeman, MT, was joking. “I was much heavier than I am now and a terrible skier,” Howe reminisces. She had brought her three-year-old son for lessons and only intended to watch from the sidelines. But Howe was also a local teacher with a particular zeal for educating—so she agreed.

“When you’re 35 and the mother of two toddlers and declare: ‘I’m going to become a professional skier,’ you get incredulous looks, at best,” Howe recalls. More often: “You can’t possibly be serious.” At worst: “You’ll never be good enough.”

None of that deterred Kate Howe. Ten years later, she is a member of the Professional Ski Instructors of America - Rocky Mountain (PSIA-RM) Education Staff and an instructor based out of Aspen, known for introducing clients to big mountain skiing and globetrotting for powder.

The desire to credit Howe and her accomplishments with superhuman powers of focus and ability is quickly shot down by Howe herself. She has a fervent belief in training and discipline; in younger years, she was a competitive figure skater. When she began her new career in skiing, she wanted to be a great skier as well as a great teacher. The higher-level instructors raced over icy moguls with ease and grace, and Howe wondered what that capability would feel like. “I decided I wanted that.”

Transitioning from Bridger Bowl to Aspen Mountain, Howe quickly passed all three levels of PSIA. “I don’t think you need 20 years on skis to be great,” she says. “Don’t mistake that for me saying there is a fast track. There isn’t. But you can realize where you are trying to go, and focus all your energy on getting there. You can condense the amount of time it takes for you to put your 10,000 hours in if you are always practicing. You need dedicated time on skis, and a lot of it. Access to good coaching, and a willingness to let go of everything you think you know.”

When you’re 35, the mother of two toddlers, and declare: ‘I’m going to become a professional skier,’ you get incredulous looks.

Transitioning from Bridger Bowl to Aspen Mountain, Howe quickly passed all three levels of PSIA. For Howe, anyone willing to take on this perspective and do the hard work, at any age, can achieve similar success in a new sport. She embodies a unique approach to outdoor skill acquisition, one that preaches a complete release of personal ego.

“Learning and perfecting new skills comes from the mental battle of letting go of your ego and the thoughts that tell you that you should have done better,” Howe explains.

“It’s binary, like a math test. You can tell what you need to study harder simply because you don’t get the answers right. It’s not offensive. You don’t get mad at the paper or the book. It just is.”

But none of this dedication is done in a vacuum. Howe has intimately learned the value of community, and describes her family’s support through financial issues, the demands of parenting, difficulty understanding her choices, and a decade of gear investments. Her mother devoted extensive time to watching Howe’s children, and her partner moved to Aspen to help her achieve her dream. Howe jokes that the motto was often, “We’re here for you. And just so you know… This sucks.”

Now the mother of teenage sons, Howe cherishes their part in the journey. Often, you could find her two sons doing homework in the conference rooms where Kate gave ski lectures or studied manuals. Now, her sons travel all over the world by her side. “They’re kind and adventurous and well-adjusted and we get to spend a lot of time together.”

Howe doesn’t believe age, finances, toddlers, or a lack of experience should disqualify women from achieving high levels of success in a new sport. What matters instead is a woman’s—any woman’s—willingness to ask for help and invest the time.