With the ski season upon us, I've been getting l questions from clients and friends referred to me about booking ski lessons, sharing private lessons, gratuity etiquette, etc. So, here's a helpful overview that attempts to answer many of the most frequently asked questions. When are you available? To help people with booking private lessons, I keep a calendar updated and online at skiwithjay.com, where you’ll also find blog postings geared toward making skiing low-stress for your family. Where do we meet? Lessons can start in the Northstar Village, at the mid-mountain ski school or at the ..read more

Nancy Huang, a friend and parent of three great kids, let me know last year that many folks would appreciate knowing etiquette around tipping the coaches who guide and shape mountain experiences. Like a few other guests, Nancy didn't know until several days into her vacation that it was OK to tip one's instructor. I've had multiple guests ask me about gratuity practices for group lessons for kids or adults as well as private lessons, so here's this instructor's take on the subject. Q - Should you tip a children's group lesson instructor?  If so, what's the right thank you? A - Gratuit ..read more

With the ski season starting this weekend, here's a tip and a link for folks heading to Northstar or any other California destinations. During the winter months, the weather in the mountains can be unpredictable and the roads occasionally shut down due to accidents, slippery roads and low visibility. When it's snowing, chain control stations are staffed with friendly agents making sure your vehicle is either a 4 by 4 or has chains on its tires. So before driving in the Sierras or the Lake Tahoe Basin, check the weather and the road conditions. Make sure you have your chains handy, and if y ..read more

Have you ever googled yourself?  Admit it... you've done it.... Well, last night, while waiting 4 hours for Time Machine to restore my recently deceased macbook, I did a quick google search for my name, plus "skiing." What did I find? Look off to the right side of this posting, and you'll see a shiny new badge, courtesy of the nice folks at  DenverAndBoulderRealEstate.com. It seems that they've ranked and compiled a list of the top 50 blogs related to living in the mountains..... and we made it...  In fact.... we're quite near the top of the list. Well, that brought enough o ..read more

March 5th:  Happy day, happy Jay. The snow is on it's way back to North Lake Tahoe with one to two feet possible tonight. The full weather report I rely on is from the Tahoe Weather Geek Here's an excerpt from his full posting today: "At least two waves of moisture driven by a cold low pressure system will cross the Sierra Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing at least a foot of now and possibly two feet to the higher elevations around Tahoe. Snow levels should begin around 5000 feet Tuesday afternoon and fall from there to below 3000 feet by Wednesday." So... if you haven't put your ski ..read more

It's President's Week, 2013, and the mountain is busy!  For me, this is the best week of the year at Northstar California, primarily due to The Fantastic Four, a group of sisters I've had the pleasure of skiing with every year for the past 5 seasons. As you might imagine, the girls are very good skiers, and enjoy skiing all sorts of terrain.  This year, the older three (13, 11 and 10) are extremely focused on mastering all of the level 7 and level 8 skills, and exploring the final challenges of level 9 skiing.  The youngest skis with a fellow instructor, and she's mastering sim ..read more

Today's post may be most interesting to other ski instructors, but I think anyone who meets lots of people and needs help remembering them, and more importantly, the context, will love this new application I've begun using recently. Ski instructors meet lots of people, and we may see our students several times a year or far less frequently, like once a year during a family's annual ski trip. Remembering your student's name and his or her face is important, but its even better to remember how they turned, what you worked on, and what you encouraged them to practice during your lesson wr ..read more

It was snowing today at Northstar, and tomorrow is my first day teaching.  I'll be with two great kids I've known for the past two seasons, and I know we'll be having fun while we're getting the rust off of our turns.  Tonight it's about making a good healthy dinner, loosening up with some yoga and getting a good night's sleep.  I'll be up at 6, stretching again for 30 minutes, than out on the hill and skiing at 8:30 sharp.  With the lesson starting at 9:30, I'll have one hour to get a bit more rust off of my turns before the kids arrive. The forecast is looking pretty go ..read more

Don't you love Northstar's countdown to opening day?  I love that it includes minutes and seconds.... We can be skiing on what promises to be a good base in 6 days, 14 hours, 25 minutes and 40 seconds.... And KRON 4 is reporting about Tahoe as I type. While the snow has stopped falling, chain control is still in effect on Route 80 in Truckee.  And the reporter can see that Northstar's snow-guns are going full blast.  Those guns are why Northstar had the most coverage of any Tahoe resort last season! So two quick reminders: First, Ask an Instructor Day is this Saturday ..read more

This week, we've got a great blog post from Tom Sherry, a great instructor who also happens to be a ski patroller. Before you here all about keeping your family safe on the slopes, here's more about Tom from a recent bio. Tom has been teaching children and adults alike for almost 20 years. He started instructing tennis after playing on his division III college team. He's been a medical and sled instructor with the National Ski Patrol for almost a decade. He's been teaching skiing since 2008 and is certified professional. Before living the dream in the land of fruit and nuts, he attained his ..read more