GIVING

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learned how to ski when I was 14 years old. I recall bitterly cold winds and frozen fingers that could barely grip my poles. I remember thinking my skis weren’t “cool” enough and feeling self-conscious of my rented gear. Almost all of my memories from that one winter on the slopes are so powerfully negative that they kept me away from the slopes for 24 years.

But you know how the old song goes: Climb every mountain! So I decided to hit a snowy one in Vermont in an effort to make new snow memories (and for at least five other excellent reasons). I signed myself up for an eight-week women’s snowboarding clinic at Smugglers’ Notch Resort (also known simply as “Smuggs”) in Jeffersonville, Vermont, last January. To say that I was nervous would be an understatement; I couldn’t sleep the night before my first lesson, and I packed and re-packed my gear three times before I felt adequately prepared.

Complicating, yet also complementing, this decision was the fact that my two kids, then ages four and six, were getting their first experience with snowy sports—and I didn’t want them to start out with an avalanche of bad impressions like I did so many years before.

SNOW ANGELS

s it so happens, this reasoning brings lots of women out to the mountain, says Julie Silverman, coordinator of Women’s Programs at Smuggs, which started three years ago when resort officials realized that the moms getting their kids into lessons were left without a program of their own.

“Women’s-only clinics remove the ego-driven, competitive, push beyond the max attitude that can rear its ugly head in co-ed clinics,” Silverman says. “Most women respond better to supportive, collaborative learning environments where they are guided by a trusted female coach—a role model—who helps to build confidence, expand their personal comfort zone, and develop skills to take control of new challenges and fears as they arise.”

You caught that, right? “As” they arise. Not “if.” Because, boy-oh-boy, is it scary to strap your feet onto a snowboard or skis and head down a mountain. It’s scary to actively override your highly developed, though likely hyperactive, danger sensor. And it’s scary to feel vulnerable; to realize how little you know about something, at this age, and to admit that you need help. Doing all of these things, though, will make you a stronger person—emotionally and physically. It’s wonderfully unavoidable.

COLD PLAY

rofessional ski instructor Heidi

Ettlinger is going on her fourteenth year without a summer. During the northern hemisphere’s colder months, she coaches at Heavenly Mountain Resort in Lake Tahoe, California. When the snow melts there, she dashes down under to Australia to coach skiing at Mount Hotham.

That’s because, for Ettlinger, there is nothing more invigorating or life-affirming than plummeting down a powdery slope. And her frosty passion is fueled by the fact that it’s very unlikely she will reach a moment where the excitement of learning— even with experience and accolades—will ever stop. “Because the mountain environment is constantly changing, you’re constantly wanting to get better,” she explains.

Jon Schriner, D.O., a fellow with the American College of Sports Medicine in practice at the Michigan Center for Athletic Medicine, advises that it’s important to “get lessons with a professional ski instructor, preferably an individual lesson versus group,” when you’re starting out. Ettlinger concurs: “Lessons plus fitness equals good technique,” which helps skiers get better, faster, and “ultimately have more fun on the slopes.”

CENTRAL ZONE

ne of the secrets to success with the sport isn’t about fancy footwork, though; it revolves around your core. “In skiing, your upper body twists one way, your lower body twists the other, and that’s how you perform turns,” says Schriner. For stability in these turns, core strength is key.

This, of course, is something you can prepare for far in advance. Jennifer Simpson, who, like Ettlinger, is a member of the Professional Ski Instructors of America Alpine Team, and who coaches at Aspen⁄ Snowmass, says that “for basic skiing, if your workout involves some strength, mobility, and cardio, you’ve got a good foundation.”

POWDER POWER

ut it’s not all about the body; as I learned, your brain is a big part of slope success, too. “One of the