As our epic season comes to a close, I’ve found myself reflecting on what has been an interesting season for me.

For the first time in many years, I switched to “the dark side” as Sasha calls it and became a coach for a K1 team out of the Alpine ski club in Collingwood, Ontario. 

Having been on the instructing side for the better part of the last 15 seasons, I was looking forward to coaching kids who were inherently more focused on ski improvement and going fast.

I was also looking forward to refining and in some cases acquiring some new skills – like setting a GS and Slalom course for different training outcomes.

Overall the season was a success – but a few things surprised me about the coaching culture that I wasn’t aware of before…

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Welcome to our ski and travel blog. 

Skiing to us is not just a weekend passion, but a lifetime obsession. When we say skiing – we really mean anything outdoors in the winter that involves navigating some vertical with a sliding device - usually with two planks we call skis… although we subscribe to anything that allows us to carve, float, or rip down a knoll, hill, or mountain. We also both snowboard and will venture on snow blades a few times a year.

We live in Ontario but travel often to either extend or enhance our experience on snow.

We are decidely new-school in our approach and appreciation to the sport - which usually means we’d rather do than tell.

We’ll use this forum to share and recount stories of our travels to near and far away places while also providing insight, perspective and point of view on ski and coaching trends and techniques. We are also big fans of ski racing and free skiing and will be following our national teams throughout the season.

Our blog will be part commentary, part news and part photos and video. Please also be part of the conversation – comment on our articles or email us directly with your point of view, stories, pictures, and video.

The 2007 / 2008 season is off to a great start in Canada - so if the time between posts goes beyond the norm, it’s probably because we are too busy stuffing our faces with powder, steeps, or vertical.

See you on the steep side….

Phil & Sasha