Cross Country Academy

The National Cross Country Academy will be held December 1-3 in West Yellowstone, MT. It will feature three days of early season skiing on West Yellowstone’s famous Rendezvous trail system. Join PSIA’s Cross Country Team Members David Lawrence, Emily Lovett, Greg Rhodes, and special guests for on snow clinics and evening presentations. Share the best of ideas, topics and technique with nordic skiers from around the country.

For more information, or to register, head over to the event page on National's website.

Ramblings, from President Stu Hoyt

We're through September, that time of year when I’m not ready to hang up the summer toys but I am stoked knowing that I’ll be on snow in just a short time. The stoke is out there with all my winter friends too. Meeting them on the street, the question invariably goes from “How was your summer?” to “Ready for snow?” And I bet if I saw you, it would be the same.

Getting ready for the season, we are starting out with a new website launch. It’s much easier to navigate and it has a whole lot of excellent content. Check it out and let Herb know your thoughts. The season is shaping up with a full schedule of events across the division. Education staff representatives from each discipline will be heading to Colorado at the beginning of November to attend Fall Conference. Here they will be meeting with members of the National Team and their counterparts from the rest of the nation. This year they will be spending time on the third part of the Learning Connection, “People Skills”. I look forward to hearing and learning from them at Fall Festival (Dec 6 – 8), where the focus will be on Teaching and People Skills. Hope to see you there.

The Board of Directors has been busy through the summer. Last fall about this time, we started on a new direction of how the board works with our CEO. We have been working towards shifting how we govern from a very hands on, operational board to a Policy/Governance model where the board focuses on looking into the future to grow our division, meeting your needs, and allowing our CEO to manage the business end of our division. In May, we had a two-day retreat learning about Policy/Governance from Sherry Jennings, a consultant specializing in working with non-profit boards. We developed our “Ends,” or goals, that direct Herb Davis, our CEO, on what he needs to provide you our members to help you become the best snow sports instructor possible. Through the summer we have been meeting to finish editing our Policy Manual that provides us with direction on what the roles of the board and CEO are in how we govern and manage the division. At our last board meeting, we did the unthinkable; we created several committees that will be working on means of keeping our division growing.

Wow, I never thought while teaching skiing as a part time instructor 20 years ago that I’d be getting into running a board and delving into the inner workings of a non-profit organization. Who’d a thunk. But in reality, it is a very exciting responsibility and honor to be able to help guide the Northern Rockies Division of PSIA-AASI. I’m looking forward to seeing you out there on the snow this winter and making turns.