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Show Page 8 Wednesday, December 14, 1977 X-C Tips By Bob Kassow White Pine Ski Touring Center Past. Present Future Ski Mchom: X-C TIP 1. At the start of the season, ski without your poles for better balance. Six months off the skis is quite a while and even if you've been diligent in your fall con- : ditioning. Balance is liable to be rusty when you begin sliding down the trail. Ski your first miles slowly, thinking about efficiency and smooth technique. Your goal is to commit all of your , weight to that forward gliding ski. Combine that with a smooth pendulum-like full swing of the ; arms and you're on your way to good technique. To develop the sense of balance you'll need for total weight transfer and a free arm swing, spend the time on the flats and slight uphills without your poles. Yes, just grip them gently in the middle (at their balance point), one in each hand. As you ski, focus on a smooth, effortless, , pendulum-like arm swing. Soft Snow Hurts U.S. Soft snow in the women's downhill and stolen skis for Vicki Fleckenstein in the giant slalom marred the U.S. Ski Team's opening World Cup races at Val d'Isere, France last week. Cindy Nelson, 22, Lutsen, Mn., fully recovered from last spring's injury and racing in the top six during pre-race time trials, finished a disappointing twenty-second twenty-second in women's downhill at Val d'Isere on November 7. Marie-Theres Nadig of Switzerland Swit-zerland led the field of more ' than 70 women with a time of 1:24.18 in a foot of fresh snow. Top U.S. finisher was Jamie Kurlander, 19, McAfee, N.J., in 1:27.24. Teammate Nelson was three one hundredths of a second , behind and said of her finish, "I made two bad mistakes and I don't like soft snow anyway." Said U.S. Alpine Director Hank Tauber of the U.S. women racers, "It was a disappointing finish for us, especially with Cindy's doing INTERMEDIATE PROGRAM (C - D) Featuring the American Teaching Method Basic Christy through beginning Parallel You will receive personal attention and assistance even while in class You may enroll on a daily basis or sign up 1 for the five day package ADVANCED PROGRAM (E - F) Adventure Class - learn to ski all types of terrain in all snow and weather conditions Ski with Excellence - a class designed to assist you in further development of your technical skills Adult Racing Camp - this program will run from December 19 through the 23rd These advanced classes are more oriented towards the technical needs of the individual skier. The instructor assists the skier in setting personal goals for skiing achievement. so well in all four trials. But we have had several good races so far this season, so I guess we can have a bad one on occasion, too." Tabuer referred to the U.S. Team's third place finish with 45 points in the Nations' World Series of Skiing, the Team's highest finish ever in that group of races. The U.S. women fared better in the opening World Cup Giant Slalom at Val d'Isere . with first season A-teamer Becky Dor-sey, Dor-sey, 21, Wenham, Ma., notching a seventh with a combined time of 2 : 25. 12, the only U.S. top ten placing. Vicki Fleckenstein, 22 Syracuse, Syra-cuse, N.Y. who has been a consistent con-sistent high finisher in the giant slalom event for the United States had; to.race on her training skis, quickly waxed by hand at the start of the race, when her racing skis were stolen minutes before she stepped into the gate. PARK SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE!! Park City Resort Ski School Director Rene Farwig talked with The Newspaper on Monday about his colorful past, his skiing experiences and his views of the Park City ski school, past and future. Being new in town and talking to instructors on an individual basis is different from being in clinics on the slopes, declared Farwig. The casual atmosphere of a cigarette and a cup of coffee is gone and the situation becomes more delicate. One is confronted with different personalities and people who have been around the resort "for a long, long time." The first task Farwig tackled tack-led upon his arrival at the resort in May was a study of the Park city Ski School, both financially and philosophically, philoso-phically, over the past five years: "What kind of a school am I ' handling? What's been taught and how have regular and private lessons been handled in the past?" Farwig describes himself as a very "systematic" person. He is a 1963 graduate of Denver University, an electronic technician and an ex-employe of a computer company in Denver where he spent four years working with data processing. "I was involved in skiing all along, however," Farwig added. Farwig, 42, has traveled far in his life. He was born in Valencia, spain of a Bolivian mother and an East German father. Farwig speaks six languages but says modestly, modest-ly, "It's like a carpenter with, different nails; it's not unusual to speak so many languages when you live like this." Farwig remembers ski touring tou-ring to and from school on the hills of northeastern Germany at about the age of six or seven. He was 11 when he, his mother and older brother were housed in a displaced persons camp in Munich with Russians, English Engl-ish and Americans-aliens seeking transportation home CITY PARK CITY ti - J i Rene Farwig after the war. There was no schooling available and at this time a favorite sport was removing the heels from shoes, attaching ropes to the backs of military vehicles and sliding down the streets of Germany. According, to Farwig, this may have enhanced his sense of bal-, bal-, ance. Farwig and family moved b Switzerland and then France in the mid-40's and were finally able to reach their "homeland," Bolivia. Thirty miles from his home in La Pas is Mt. Chacltaya, a peak that soars to 18,2000 feet. Farwig explained that the ski season in Bolivia is the same as North America's while the , seasons in Argentina and CLle are reversed, enabling him to ski year-round, "Bolivia, Argentina, Argen-tina, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, Argenti-na, Chile !" SKI SCHOOL PRESENTS We've got a mountain with some of the finest teaching terrain in the country, and now we have the system to go with it at reasonable prices. BEGINNER'S CIRCLE (A - B) Featuring the Graduated Length Method You are free to progress at your own rate You may ride the beginner's lift the first day and only pay for the lesson You may join the beginner's circle anytime between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. For further information write: SKI SCHOOL BOX 39, After two years, Farwig. captured the Bolivian National Nat-ional Championships and went on to become the one-man Bolivian Naitonal Ski Team. For the next seven years he was the sole member of the team, training train-ing alternately with the American, Japanese, French, Fren-ch, Austrian and German teams. In 1956, he represented Bolivia in the Winter Olympic Olymp-ic Games in Cortina D.Am-pezzio, D.Am-pezzio, Italy. At the University Univers-ity Games in Poland that year he won a gold medal in the slalom. In 1956 he competed in the World Championships in Baga-stein, Baga-stein, Austria. , ,, , Farwig started his first ski school in Farellones, Chile in 1956 and that summer won every major race in Chile. In 1961, while in Denver, Farwig worked on a volun i ! jQ)H 1 . - - :- - - -. - m NASTAR RACING PROGRAM Open to all ages and abilities of skiers Beat The Head Man Race - Wednesday, December 21, 1977 Any racer recording a faster time than the "Head Man" will receive Head ski gear as prizes. Nastar races are held every Wednesday and Sunday during the ski season On selected dates there will be Dual Nastar Rales Nastar clinics will be held every Wednesday and Sunday for those who want to learn to race or improve their racing skills. PARK CITY, UTAH 84060 teer basis to organize coaches coach-es of the Professional Ski Instructors' Association and served as president of the U.S. Coaches Association. Farwig has been a ski school director at three areas: Farellones, Mt. Hood Meadows, Washington and Bogus Basin in Boise, Idaho. At Mt. Hood he began the climb up the "vertical" line and moved from instructing into the field of management. manage-ment. Looking for an area similar to "Sun Valley in 1948," he moved to Grand Targhee Resort in Wyoming to become be-come general manager for the 1975-76 ski season. Farwig Far-wig found himself unhappy and decided to return to the ski school scene where he describes the atmosphere as more "personal." "I already had 20 years ski schools, so I decided 'why change to management?' " Farwig knew Stein Eriksen and was one of the first to become aware of the Park City opening. Farwig feels his success in dealing with ski schools lies in his ability to "take emotions out of the ski business." "Anyone who loves skiing is emotional about it," he proclaims, "and you can't run a business emotionally. This is an easy thing to say but a very hard thing to do. You must be objective and business-minded." In the service business, the first job of the instructor is to serve the needs of the people, explained the director. The new ski school director feels his instructors may think him "hard." Lengthy clinicing is a must and instructors are required to ski, at times, on rental boots and blind-folded. They are required to run 2,000 gates over the course of the season, complete 400 miles of free skiing and attend 175 hours of clinics. -, Author .of ; the last P.SXA.. manual published before - the American teaching method ; and writer of the "Advanced Skiing" section of the American Amer-ican technique book, Farwig is a technique fanatic. "Instructors have a hard time coming back to earth," he commented, "They must be able to understand and bring themselves down to the level of the beginner." After skiing for twenty years, this is often difficult to achieve, Farwig feels. The new ski school prog-grams prog-grams include a formal pre school under the direction direc-tion of Debbie Tatora and instruction for "E and F" ability levels. The E class is an "adventure "adven-ture class" where students follow t an instructor who serves as a mountain terrain guide. The F class is for racers or other town races scheduled for this season. Classes will be called "clinics" "clin-ics" in an effort to psychologically psycholo-gically "soothe" the customers. custom-ers. Farwig strives to have specialized instructors, but wants each of the 100 Just Dial For Snow Conditions Powder buffs and fair weather skiers may now dial a ski telephone line for information in-formation on snow and weather conditions at all of Utah's 14 resorts. Snow conditions (packed or powder), total snow depth, new snow, lifts in operation, road conditions and weather forecasts for all Utah ski areas are reported in a recorded message compiled com-piled daily at 7 a.m. by the Utah Travel Council. The report is updated during the day if there is a significant change in ski conditions- The show report number is (801) 521-8102. Seven Utah ski areas are now open, all reporting good to excellent conditions on members of the Park City to have a general understanding understand-ing of how to teach all levels. The director admits he faces the obstacle of confronting confron-ting a ski school largely muddled by credibility gaps which have grown over the past ten years under three different directors. "And I need a year to make my mistakes," he added. Farwig hopes to gain more local business from the Salt Lake area as well as from Heber and the surrounding county. Now, according to his studies, 90 percent of the students in ski school are tourists. He would like to raise the number of local students to 20-25 percent to' achieve a better balance. . Park City, he feels, has the rare advantage of being both a local and a national ski area. His ultimate goal is to have "the best ski school in the country with good clinics, clin-ics, good skiers and a good cause." snow depths of up to five feet. Skiers are reminded that snow tires or chains in . possession are required in . Big and Little Cottonwood canyons until March 31, 1978. Four-wheel drive and front-wheel front-wheel drive vehicles are not exempt from this regulation. . Current highway information infor-mation is available from the Utah Department of Transportation, Tran-sportation, (801) 532-6000. Information In-formation on ski touring is 'available from the;, Utah Department of Transportation, Transpor-tation, (801) 532-6000. Information Infor-mation on ski touring conditions con-ditions is also available through the U.S. Forest Service, Ser-vice, (801) 486-6333. PH. (801-649-8111) |