Over the last several years, we have examined every part of our school and program through the lens of equity and inclusion. These steps have led to some tangible changes that we’ve already implemented on campus: expanding the comprehensiveness of our financial aid packages, issuing Chromebooks to all students, and adding a Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. This semester, we are adjusting our ski programming to ensure that students who have never skied before, or who did not grow up in winter environments, are prepared for the rigors of winter expedition.
Ski Week, the week leading up to our spring winter expedition, has been a true highlight of the spring semester for both HMI students and staff since it began in Semester 14. Most years, we spend four or five days skiing at our local ski hill, Ski Cooper. New skiers learn to ski for the first time, and even the most experienced skiers are challenged with the new skill of telemark skiing—like downhill skiing but without your heels locked down. Telemark skiing makes winter travel easier than downhill skiing because you are able to ski both up and down, but is also a bit more challenging to master
In the past, Ski Week was great for helping expert alpine skiers master the telemark turn, and for our brand-new skiers to make it down a groomed beginner slope. Our days at Ski Cooper, however, did not do enough to help prepare students to ski in variable snow conditions, on ungroomed tracks, and up steep hills. These are the conditions all students encounter on our winter expedition, so we set out to redesign Ski Week to be a more authentic preparation for the experience.
This year, in order to better support students of all ability levels, we made several changes to our Ski Week curriculum. In the weeks leading up to the winter expedition, we switched from our standard running morning exercise to nordic skiing so that students got a lot of experience sliding on snow before Ski Week. Ski Week itself also looked a little different than in past years. We started by taking our telemark skis to nearby groomed nordic trails to learn the basics of how to go up and down gentle hills before moving on to steeper terrain at the ski area. In subsequent days at Ski Cooper, we focused on small group coaching, particularly for newer skiers. We wrapped up the week with a fun day of backcountry skiing in our expedition groups, before leaving for the winter trip. We are confident that more ski practice and support will lead to a more fun winter expedition!