A sign at the entrance to the Mary Jane ski area reads “Extremely Colorado.” Mary Jane, Winter Park’s sister mountain, boasts some of the best, and perhaps the most, mogul fields in the world.
“Most ski areas have a few bump runs, but we have 20 to 30. And I’d say there are more mogul-specific skis used here than anywhere else in the world,” said Mark Kahre, a former Pro Mogul Tour skier now acting as head coach of Winter Park Freestyle Masters.
Freestyle Masters is a group of 30 to 40 high-performance athletes ranging in age from late 20s to mid-60s. The Masters pay an annual membership fee and make it their business to best the bumps.
“Mary Jane attracts really good skiers. We’ve found that with some basic skills, anyone can feel good about skiing moguls,” said Julie Ray, another Masters coach and a veteran of the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team.
Freestyle Masters formed in autumn 1989, when founding member Steve Johnson suggested the idea: “There was no program like this for adults,” said Johnson, a retired engineer. “I like to challenge myself, but if you’re over 40 and skiing difficult terrain, it’s hard to find people to ski with.”
Greg Carroll, 32, has a similar problem: “I had a hard time finding people as committed to skiing as I am.” An engineer from Fort Collins, Carroll joined the group at age 21. His mother, Mary Jane Carroll, 56, also belongs to Freestyle Masters.
“This program means that you always have somebody to ski with, and ski hard,” said Ray.
One member of Freestyle Masters skied in the Winter Olympics, representing Puerto Rico. (It’s a long story akin to the Jamaican Bobsled Team.) The Masters take their skiing seriously, but themselves, not so much. Kahre summed up the spirit of the group: “We’re not fashion-focused . . . We bring our own lunch. We keep our equipment a long time. Nobody has been arrested; and we’ve never had a death,” he said, seemingly only half jokingly. “In skiing, you want to stay alive, unbroken and current.”
To keep current, the Masters’ four top-certified coaches — including Mark Burg and Kahre’s brother Erik Kahre — attend United States Ski and Snowboard Association training clinics and study World Cup skiing techniques.
“The Masters are focused on becoming the best skiers they can be,” Mark Kahre said. “The passion we share for the sport has created a very close-knit unit. We combine the social aspect with expert instruction. I’m not aware of any other group like this.”
Skiers from afar
Freestyle Masters Cathy and Bob Guzzi travel from their home in Scranton, Pa., to ski Colorado. “Bob spotted a group of Masters and stalked them to find out how to join,” said Cathy, a triathlete who holds a doctorate in physical therapy.
“I do a lot of strength training and Pilates to get ready for the Masters. We want to come out in good condition. You need cardiovascular fitness or it’ll be hard to learn new skills because you’ll be constantly worn out,” she said. “The coaches know the human body, how it works. I’m impressed with the way they’re able to break it down in drills and movement terms.”
Guzzi said her mogul skiing as well as her overall alpine proficiency improved since joining the group.
“The Masters definitely changed the way I ski. I’m a visual learner, so it’s helpful just to be around good skiers. Women, in general, might be apprehensive about skiing at this level. It can be intimidating, but there’s support. The coaches encourage, but I’ve never been asked to do too much,” she said. “The confidence is there.”
And the confidence, Guzzi said, carries over: “After these breakthroughs, I’ve noticed I’m more willing to try other new things. If I’m always in the comfort zone, I’m not growing; but as we get older, we don’t try as much. There’s a fear of failure, of looking stupid. Skiing with the Masters has made me more adventurous on other levels — even if it’s just going to a cocktail party by myself.”
Though Freestyle Masters tends to attract Type A personalities, there’s no stopwatch. The group focuses on competency, not competition.
Cathey McClain Finlon, president of Denver Art Museum, described herself as a Level III skier, but stuck when she joined the Masters. “I couldn’t find a way to get better,” she said. “Skiing is like chess: You have to make a plan.”
Finlon’s plan paid off. She particularly appreciates benefits from Freestyle Masters’ practice of videotaping skiers to analyze technique.
Finlon described the ideal candidate for Freestyle Masters: “If you’re over 30, fit, want to have a good time and challenge yourself; if you have strong intermediate skiing skills or better; if you love the outdoors; if you like a group and like playing, join us,” she said.
“The camaraderie keeps us all coming back for more. And we don’t just ski moguls. We ski powder. We ski trees,” she said.
Some of the Masters were planning a snowcat-skiing trip on nearby Jones Pass.
“When new people come into the group, we embrace them as people who want to learn. Our coaches are smart, skilled. And when you learn to ski bumps, it opens a lot of terrain.”
The skiing cadre opens social connections, as well. The Winter Park Freestyle Masters frequently carpool to the resort. They conclude the season with a party. The Masters convene in summer to bike or hike. They’re a convivial and conversant bunch.
“We have a lot of fun,” Johnson said. “This group is a treasure.”
Colleen Smith is finishing a nonfiction book about alpine skiing. Her first novel, “Glass Halo,” was a finalist for the 2010 Santa Fe Literary Prize.
Mogul minders
The Freestyle Masters’ emphasis is working on just one or two dynamics rather than trying to focus on too much. Some tips:
• Make sure your ski poles are not too long.
• Relax and breathe.• Hold your hands in front as if driving your car or carrying the Thanksgiving turkey.
• Keep your weight on the balls of your feet.
• Concentrate on keeping skis in contact with the snow.
• Maintain shin pressure against front of ski boots.
• Crouch down, knees bent, at top of mogul.
• To control speed, stand up straight in trenches, and pressure skis straight down. (Think of pressing the brakes in a car.)
Colleen Smith
Freestyle Masters
Freestyle Masters program’s season continues through April. Coaching is available every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. This season (which started in November), unlimited coaching with a Winter Park/Mary Jane pass and a ski locker costs $1,475. For more information, contact Jerady Zunno in the Winter Park Competition Center: 303-316-1590 or 970-726-1590.
Drills and tips to master moguls
The Winter Park Freestyle Masters distinguish themselves by their ability to ski moguls safely and with style points. The Masters’ four coaches use World Cup freestyle skiing techniques and training drills that increase proficiency and decrease impact on the body’s joints.
The coaches initially took cues from the Finnish freestyle team training at Winter Park. The Finns negotiated moguls quietly, without snow flying or skis crashing against the bumps.
“And the Finnish team was winning on the World Cup level,” said Julie Ray, a former member of the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team.
Ray credits shorter skis and evolving technique with revitalizing mogul skiing and making it available to even senior skiers.
“We’re all at an age when we need to be conscious of preserving the body,” said Ray. “When you have solid technique, you have fewer injuries.”
A founding Freestyle Master, Steve Johnson, said, “I’m 65, and this is fairly gentle on the body. You don’t get beaten up and end up black and blue.”
Freestyle Masters do not have lift-line- skipping privileges afforded to ski-school students, but they do have their own mogul courses closed off to others. To prepare for Mary Jane runs such as Cannonball, Long Haul, Needle’s Eye, Phantom Bridge, Railbender and Drunken Frenchman, the Freestyle Masters practice on private bump runs. To set freestyle courses, the coaches undertake a labor-intensive process involving bamboo poles, ropes, flags, cones, skis and lots of time to shape the mounds.
“With moguls, you have to think of the 3-D aspect like a topographical map,” said Erik Kahre, a Freestyle Masters coach. “There’s more discipline to mogul skiing. Our lines are more defined.”
So are their mechanics. With balance, control and sass, the Freestyle Masters turned down their tight training courses, making the difficult appear easy.
“It’s still technical skiing, but you have to stay relaxed. The knees stay soft. Skis stay in contact with snow. And to gain control, you let go,” said Mark Burg, another coach. “Mogul skiing is an art form.”
Johnson emphasized the enduring practice moguls demand: “Everybody has improved markedly by skiing with good skiers, doing the drills, but it doesn’t happen overnight.”
Once mastered, mogul skiing translates to relative ease on the rest of the mountain’s terrain. After the rapid-fire responses in the constantly changing terrain of bump fields that throw off balance, deep powder, steeps, even chutes can seem a cinch.
Head coach Mark Kahre emphasized the value of ongoing instruction with Freestyle Masters. “It’s different from a lesson where you have it all thrown at you at once, but you can’t absorb it all. We’re able to go more in-depth so people can grasp even one concept per day.”
The prevailing attitude is supportive and positive: “We like to emphasize what people are doing right,” said Ray.
Some skiers join Freestyle Masters for a season, improve their mogul skiing and move on. And perhaps the most sincere compliment to the program is when instructors from other ski areas join Freestyle Masters for coaching on the moguls.
Colleen Smith
