Ski Swap 2023

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November 8, 2023

Sky Tavern would not be what it is today without the help of our member veterans. There are a bunch of them that do much more than what is asked around here. They run the lifts, teach classes, and volunteer for special tasks and duties. They get some of the worst jobs handed to them since I know it will get done and well. Remember to thank them for their service every day yet especially on Veterans Day, Saturday, November 11th. We would not be able to do what we do if not for them. Fly the flag! Show vets they matter.

Sorry, rather long-winded today. The next dozen days are jam-packed with Sky Tavern. The list is from November 11 to November 19. Additional information can be found below.

Saturday, Nov.11: Ski Tuning and Certification Class at Sky Tavern 9 am to noon.

Saturday, Nov. 11, and Sunday, Nov 12: Returning Instructors Orientation at Sky Tavern from 9 am to noon

Tuesday, Nov. 14: Private party gear drop-off to sell at the Ski Swap. UNR Campus in Incline Village. 4 to 7 pm. Trying to get the North Shore to come to our ski swap.

Wednesday, Nov. 15: Ski Swap set up and the first day of private party gear drop off at the Ski Swap location. noon to 7pm

Wednesday, Nov. 15: Race Teams orientation night at the Ski Swap location. 6 pm to not that late.

Thursday, Nov. 16: Ski Swap set up and the second day of gear drop off. 10 am to 7 pm

Thursday, Nov. 16: Instructor Orientation night at the Ski Swap Building

Friday, Nov. 17: Ski Swap set up with vendors and private party gear. 10 am to 4 pm

Friday, November 17: Ski Swap doors open at 5 pm for sales. Close at 9 pm. Here we go!

Saturday, November 18: Ski Swap doors open at 9 am to 3 pm.The end of sales

Sunday, November 19^: Ski Swap gear return 10-2 pm and clean up the building.

* SkyKids, 4 and 5-year-old skiers, orientation has been moved to Nov 30.

Ski Swap 2023

I don't know any other way to put this but that Ski Swap is a big deal for Sky Tavern. What the Moms and Dads pay for the Muchkins to ski is maybe about half of what it costs to produce the program. The rest is fundraised throughout the year and Ski Swap is the largest event to help close that gap. The shopping you do helps kids not sit at home on screens all winter, yours, mine, the neighbor's. This matters.

Sky needs you to be part of this, come help, come shop, come sell still usable gear the kids outgrew. Print out the flier and hang it up at work. We need next Friday and Saturday to be big and fun. We have a bounce house, food trucks, and a couple of other things that make this the best start of the snow season event.

Ski Swap is about raising some money but equally important is the start of "getting the band back together" and making good stuff happen. New members get to meet the returning, hear the stories, work side by side, and become friends. Sky is a barn raising and it is time to do some lifting. A group of us will be locked in that building for a week, but no way to do this alone.

Or just show up to pitch in. The tagging of private party gear can feel a bit like swimming upstream with a grizzly sitting on the bank without enough hands. Wednesday afternoon, Thursday all day and evening, and Friday until we open at 5 PM. I buy lunch for the helpers. You get to see what's for sale first. Just saying helping has benefits.

Click for more on how Ski Swap works.

The other things in the schedule.

Saturday Ski Tuning Clinic. 9 to noon

There was a lot in the last email about this class on how to adjust bindings and run the green machine so we can have some help in the Tune Room. Click to read and register for this free class. (About halfway down the page)

All Returning Instructor's Clinic on Saturday and Sunday

(SkyKids Parents do all this at a later date)

The goal is to get instructors as much knowledge, skills, and tools as possible to change a kid's life through snowsports.

The CSIs got together a few weeks ago. Now it is time for the rest of the instructors to shake out some cobwebs and remember what a feeling it is when the child gets it because of you.

The word from Eric Ruud, your fearless leader in snowsports:

A training day at Sky Tavern for all returning member instructors, skiing and snowboarding, is both days, 11/11 & 11/12, from 9 am to noon. Sunday is a repeat of Saturday so you don't lose your whole weekend. We will be outside so dress accordingly, please. There are other classes going on in the lodge and this is an outdoor sport. Find that coat in the back of your closet.

Skiers, please review the attached manual that has been revised by the ski school staff. Please look at the sketches to have an idea of the weight transfer and edge release. This will also be demonstrated at the training. You can download this manual to your cell phone for reference. Please bring your ski poles.

Find the ski manual here.

You do not have to be a returning instructor to come up to the hill and learn the way of instructing. You can be brand new to Sky but there is a night for the new instructors.

Thursday, November 16th, 7 p.m. at the Ski Swap location.

New instructors getting together with the Certified and returning instructors. Both Skiing and Snowboarding.

(SkyKid parents' orientation is Nov 30th so you can pass on this)

Here comes the sales pitch.

“Skiing is a gift given by friends and family”

Michael Berry, National Ski Areas Association former CEO

(His wife learned to ski at Sky Tavern)

Instructors are the heart of Sky Tavern. Not to take anything away from other departments, we are closed without most of them, but what Sky Tavern does is teach. At some time in your past, someone shared this winter sport with you. I ask you to do the same.

If you are signed up as an instructor for the first time, please show up. If you are signed up as a support member, please consider coming by so we can convince you that instructing is much more fun than making sandwiches! If you are a returning instructor show up and do some convincing that this matters. If you haven’t signed up yet, still show up. We are really good at creating great instructors from parents who never thought of doing it before. Come listen, participate, learn, laugh, and if not for you, no harm done. 

New instructors start with teaching kids the basics in the base area. We have been doing this for a long time and there is a process that works. We keep it simple and fun because without fun there is no Sky Tavern.

I cannot stress or plead hard enough for all parents to try instructing. What it does for kids lasts a lifetime. Teaching a simple hockey stop can change a kid forever. Come by Thursday night, please.

"Teaching is the highest form of understanding"

Aristotle

One last item

Race Teams Orientation

6 pm Wednesday night Ski Swap Location

If you are signed up as a racing family you should have received a separate email about this meeting. If you are still thinking about getting a kid on the race team come meet the coaches at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, November 15 in the back corner of the Ski Swap Location. They will tell you why being a kid or teenage ski racer makes a great young adult later. It is not all about gates, sometimes it is about growing. My son raced for Coach Bender for years. He hiked the hill more than any other kid in the program for forgetting gear, being late, whatever. Now he is closing in on 30 faster than his Mom wants to admit, but I still see in him the lessons he learned running gates and chasing medals.

Both of the Sky Tavern Race Programs will be represented although Mike Savage is planning on being down at Mammoth for our first camp.

Directions to the Ski Swap Building here

Directions to the Old Plumas Gym(orientation nights) here

How the Sky Tavern gear rental program works here

Even if you rent skis or boards you need new socks and a helmet. Ski Swap.

Still not registered for 2024? Get it done here.

Have a question or two?

Visit our FAQ page here!