The weekend of March 5th, roughly twenty chix with sticks (skis) descended on Aspen for former World Champion Extreme skier Alison Gannett's latest Rippin Chix Steep Camp. Gannet together with a few of Aspen Ski School's finest, Didi Lawrence, Kate Howe, Robynne Ross and myself, worked together to teach steeps, bumps, powder and beginning air techniques.
Participants included women from all over Colorado, with some even traveling from the East Coast to better their expert skiing skills. The seminar included two days of instruction on the famous Aspen Highlands and a wine and cheese party Saturday evening complete with raffle featuring prizes from Smartwool and Patagonia.
Each morning the day started with introductions and a short warm-up before hitting the slopes. The girls were separated into three sections depending upon ability and assigned an instructor with Gannett spending the day rotating between groups offering specific expertise. A photographer was on hand and skiers were able to review the film at the end of the day gathering additional coaching on technique.
Alison has a fun and unique way of teaching air and skiing technique with cues that are easily related to - for example learning to ski with hands out front on the steeps can be referred to as "carrying the martini tray," and catagorizing different kinds of air (straight air, flag air, stomp air to name a few) to separate specific technique necessary for each air. "They are not all the same." she explains, "I just named them to make it easier."
The culimnation of the clinic lead participants up the Aspen Highlands Bowl, a 45 minute hike up to 12,300 feet and a 2000 foot descent down the steep G8 run where the girls could incorporate all they had learned. Gannett offeres clinics throughout the year and also is the founder of the Save our Snow foundations. For more information on that and other clinicks, click here.
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