Just Another Work Day At Go Daddy
Yesterday 13 of us from GoDaddy went up to Arizona Snowbowl, north of Flagstaff, for a day of skiing.
This is called an EAI - Employee Appreciation Initiative. Basically, it's team-building and bonding. It was also a lot of fun.
However, as it happens, I think I may have lost one of the team member's trust during the event. My friend Guy Ellis was skiing backwards, videoing me coming down an easy blue, and told me to look behind him to make sure that he didn't run into anybody.
There was nobody behind him at all! I couldn't see anything at all, really - when this happened:
It's a good thing (for me) that Guy is a good sport. And that he has a sense of humor. And that he's smaller than I am : )
We could not have picked a better day, and it was picked six weeks ago - for the last week, it's been snowing in Flagstaff. Then, yesterday was just gorgeous - blue skies, sunshine, warm enough to be comfortable but not warm enough to hurt the snow. Conditions were just wonderful.
I had a lot of fun skiing, although I am now very aware that I'm not the skiier that I was four years ago - my form is just plain ugly:
...but if this snow keeps up like it has been, I'm going to get some more days in this season (and I'm taking whatsername and that kid who lives here with me).
It was great being up there with Team Echo - thirteen software types actually out of doors, in full sunshine, and interacting with regular people. Not a cross word or complaint, and a whole lot of laughs, all day long. I'm grateful to have the kind of job that actually supports this sort of thing - it beat the heck out of digging ditches for a living. Our founder says that one of his 16 rules to live by is to be aware that "...we're here for a good time, not a long time!" Yesterday was definitely a good time.
To paraphrase Bob,
"Doesn't matter how you ski or if there's snow -
When you're on the chairlift, it's 'Go Daddy Go!'"
NOTE: The views expressed on this website/weblog are mine alone
and do not necessarily reflect the views of Go Daddy Software, Inc.]
Jim,
I know you didn't ask for any comments/rebuttals related to your skiing form and self-assessment, but it doesn't look that bad to me. You look like someone who clearly knows how to move on the slopes, but perhaps you're just a bit rusty.
If I had you in a lesson, I'd probably focus on two things from the little bit of video that I saw:
1) Quiet the upper body/shoulders a little bit, but not to the point of losing the relaxed movements that you show. Your pole swings are putting some rotation into your upper body and the plants are then enhancing that rotation a bit.
2) Focus more on moving your center of mass across the skis in a horizontal plane and letting skis naturally roll edge to edge as you do this. You seem to be "popping" up a bit to unweight the skis and make it easier to change edges. That is something that I fight in my own skiing at times and it reduces the effectiveness of your edges for controlling turn shape and your speed.
I know you're rusty and you didn't ask for any feeback, but the second clip clearly shows someone who knows how to handle himself in advanced terrain.
It would be much more fun if we actually skied together some time rather than just talking about it from time to time over the net.
I could act like an instructor and critique your skiing. Then, after you beat me senseless with your poles for being annoying, you could act like a patroller and get me to the clinic safely.
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Damon -
No, no - bring on the comments. I can use all the help that I can get : )
Yes, my pole swing does get a bit noisy, but this was in the groove of "let's dance around and have a nice time" (although I suspect that a bad habit is a bad habit, so it's probably always there).
>> You seem to be "popping" up a bit to unweight the skis and make it easier to change edges.
Yep - I tend to do that in the bumps, or when things get REALLY steep. I'll work on that.
....I'll work on it just as soon as Ethel takes me skiing again
Yes, it would be a blast to be able to ski with you. And I wouldn't beat you senseless - I'd listen closely.
thanks!
jim p.
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