By Peter Kray

In recognition of the association’s annual “anniversary season,” in which instructors receive an honorary pin celebrating a specific decade of membership – whether 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, or even 60 years – PSIA-AASI is asking some of the country’s most dedicated snow pros what their teaching career means to them. In part two of this story, we meet members who have been with PSIA-AASI for 10, 20, and 30 years.

Their replies provide a level of joy, insight, and reflection that can only come from a career based on sharing a sport that often becomes one of the most defining recreational and social aspects of each student’s lifetime.

Time Flies When You’re Sharing Fun

“There’s no way I’m old enough to have been an instructor for that long,” joked Mark Aiken (Eastern, A3, CS2, FS1, TM1, XC1) about receiving his 30-year pin, adding, “I certainly remember my first day as an instructor, and it has only become more fun and more rewarding the more I’ve done it.”

From his first job at the Arizona Snowbowl in Flagstaff, to stints instructing in Utah and Germany, seven years as director at Bolton Valley, Vermont, and 14 leading the Stowebusters season-long program, Aiken said, “I have probably most enjoyed moving from management back to instructing – I’m so much better at teaching snowsports now than I was in my earlier years.”

For those who’ve lived it, a 30-year anniversary can provide as much a sense of accomplishment as it does an opportunity to imagine what’s still left to be done.

“It means I’ve been teaching, learning, coaching, and growing in the snowsports world for more than half my life,” said Marc Schanfarber (Northwest, A3, CS2, SR1, TM3). “It means I went and did something my dad thought I should not and stuck with it for a long time.”

Marc said highlights Include, “Progressing to examiner for both alpine and telemark and taking part in a National Team tryout in 2024, gaining incredibly valuable life skills I’ve applied to multiple aspects of my life, and continuing to improve, doing things on snow I had no idea would be possible when I started out.”

“We all still have so much to learn,” agreed Erika Meier (Central, A3, CS2, SR1). “I do not want the learning to stop; this is what keeps skiing fun, the constant learning.”

“I did not choose skiing as a career, it chose me. As my grandson pointed out when he was asked if I was in the medical field, an EMT, health care, or education, he said, ‘Yes, she is an educator of skiing.’ That day changed how I looked and felt about my career as a ski instructor.” – Erika Meier

How Opportunities Happen

Twenty-year anniversary pin recipient Jacob Levy (Intermountain, CS2, FS2, S3) will celebrate his 40th birthday this fall. He started out teaching at a little hill in Upstate New York before moving to Colorado, then his family moved to Utah last year where he is the snowsports director for Solitude Mountain Resort. 

From chasing winters in New Zealand, to co-founding Phunkshun Wear face masks with a friend and fellow instructor, Levy’s greatest highlight, “Was meeting my wife when we were working at the same ski and ride school. We now have two awesome little boys who I get to teach to snowboard!”

Katie Zinn’s (Rocky Mountain, A3, CS3, FS1, H3) definition of teaching opportunities are as much about the experiences she has created for herself as those she can provide for others.

“I have 20 years of meeting incredible people from around the world, getting to see adaptive snowsports continue to grow from being a place where we provided ‘rides and experiences,’” she said, “To one where we teach people how to participate in snowsports to their highest abilities independently.”

Chris Rogers (Rocky Mountain, A2, CS2, FS1, S3, X1, PSIA-AASI National Team) was only planning to enjoy, “a year off before stepping into the “’real world’” when he started teaching. Then, in September 2004, PSIA-AASI Team alumni Scott Anfang made a casual suggestion: “You should come work at the ski and snowboard school for the next season.”

“Teaching wasn’t the goal; it was just a way to keep riding. But that winter, something unexpected happened,” Rogers said, “I realized I didn’t just love snowboarding – I loved teaching it, too.”

“With Scott as a mentor, I earned my Level I and II certifications that first season, followed by Children’s and Freestyle Specialist credentials the next year,” he said. “By my third season, I was working toward Level III certification. That was the turning point – I wasn’t just working a winter job anymore. This was a career.”

Setting and Meeting Your Snowsports Goals

Of course, not everyone suddenly finds themselves making a profession out of teaching. For others, it was the only thing they ever wanted to do.

“This anniversary means I am able to reflect on my childhood dream of becoming not only a ski instructor but achieving and maintaining certifications at a high level,” said Erika Friedman (Eastern, A3, CS2, FS1, S1). “This achievement represents a long period of dedication, growth, and contribution to youths, adults, and families across three divisions of PSIA.”

At 15, Friedman called Boyne Highlands Ski School Director Tony Sendlhofer to let him know she wanted to teach kids. She grew up taking lessons at Boyne Mountain in Michigan in 1:1 lessons with an Austrian instructor and told her she would be an instructor one day as well.

At 16, she began a certification journey that presently includes a hard-earned Alpine Level III, as well as a CS2, Snowboard I, and Freestyle 1.

Upon passing her Level III, “with flying colors,” she said, “I was ecstatic and knew I was born to teach skiing.”

Ten-year anniversary pin recipient Travis Arnoult (Intermountain, CS1, S2, X1) got his start in snowsports 15 years ago as part of the lift operations crew at Idaho’s Bogus Basin. Self-described as “one of the fun lifties with good tunes playing, I came to have many interactions with the adaptive ski school.”

Travis said, “I knew they were an all-volunteer workforce and watching them work with the adaptive students and seeing the results was a very inspirational part of the workday.”

Fast forward to this spring, and his education certifications sit at Snowboard Level II, Children’s Specialist 1, and Adaptive Snowboard Level I. He said, “Earning the Level II felt like such an accomplishment after the amount of focused riding, bookwork, and preparation necessary to attain it.”

Ten years from now? “I want to be teaching adaptive lessons when time and opportunities allow and serving veterans through the snowsports school I helped in founding,” he said. “Western Adaptive Veteran Education Snowsports.” (aka WAVES).