Under the guidance of Vice President of Recreational Services, Dan Healy and Snowsports Training Manager, Maggie Loring, Solitude Mountain Resort has renewed plans to provide a more inclusive mountain environment. The upcoming year will include partnerships with the Share Winter Foundation, SheJumps, Natives Outdoors, and Ski Utah’s Discover Winter, all working in collaboration to break down barriers to accessing the mountains.
New this season, Solitude’s Women on Wednesdays clinics have been expanded to include instruction for female skiers and snowboarders of all ability levels. Registration is now open with two different six-week sessions to choose from.
The YMCA’s Youth Instructional Ski & Snowboarding program (formerly Y I Ski) provides children ages 8 through 17 across the Salt Lake Valley with the opportunity to experience winter sports. With generous support from the Share Winter Foundation, funded by Alterra Mountain Company, families can enroll their children in discounted multi-week sessions that include 2-hour lessons, lift tickets, and rental equipment.
“The multi-week aspect of this program has been crucial to its success,” says Dan Healy, Solitude’s VP of recreational services. “A single day on the mountain simply isn’t enough to build the foundation these kids need. Spreading the instruction across four Sundays creates a much more effective learning environment.”
Teens that are close to aging out of the program are encouraged to enroll in the PSIA-AASI Junior Instructor Program. Hosted at Solitude Mountain Resort, this nationally recognized certificate program provides a unique experience allowing young skiers to shadow instructors while developing their own teaching skills.
“Our staff looks forward to hosting the Junior Instructor Program each season. They have a blast showing the next generation of instructors how much fun a career on the mountain can be,” says Snowsports Training Manager, Maggie Loring “These teens may not have seen this industry as a career path for multiple reasons. This program shows them that they do in fact belong here, and we see many of them return to the mountain as employees in the future.” This season, six Junior Instructor Program participants were hired as instructors at Solitude.
Dan Healy and Maggie Loring both hold key positions within the Professional Ski Instructors of America and the American Association of Snowboard Instructors (PSIA-AASI). VP of Recreational Services, Dan Healy serves as the National Chair of the PSIA-AASI Snowsports Advisory Committee where he promotes best practices in snowsports management, steers educational programming, and disseminates ideas to snowsports leaders throughout all 8 regions of PSIA-AASI.
Maggie Loring is a PSIA-I Clinic Leader and Examiner educating and evaluating instructors at resorts across the intermountain region. She is also a member of PSIA’s Alpine Advisory Committee, Women’s Advisory Group, and the Nancy Oakes Hall Scholarship Committee.