North American Ski Training Center – Tahoe, CA

Author: Ski NASTC

  • Happy 2019!

    We want to wish all of our students a very Happy New Year! May 2019 bring you fulfillment is every way you dream, (including improving your skiing and traveling to new resorts)! We hope we see you at Squaw, Sugar Bowl, Kicking Horse, Big Sky, Portillo, Iceland, Chamonix, St Anton, La Grave, Aspen, Andermatt, or another of our carefully chosen host resorts and mountain ranges. We hope you come to our Avalanche School, an AIARE school since 2008, one of the first in Tahoe. We hope you’ll go on a backcountry ski tour with us even if you’ve never tried it! And we invite you to come rockclimbing with your family and friends next summer!

    All of this we do because we love it, and we could not do it without you, so again, thank you all. Its been a quarter century (!!) since we started NASTC, an idea born of the desire to offer the public more than a “quick-fix” approach to ski improvement, to give skiers the chance to ski with the top instructors in the country, and to choose the best mountain ranges and hotels as base camps for these adventures. We are both proud and humbled by the fact of operating a small family business all these years. The main thing we know, is we love our clients and they make doing what we do really, really fun and satisfying! Cheers NASTC Nation, we hope to see you soon! –Chris and Jenny Fellows 1/1/19

  • This is REALLY cool…physics based animation explains avalanches

    Want to understand better how avalanches work? Check it out folks!

    PHYSICS BASED ANIMATION IS HELPING US UNDERSTAND THEM BETTER (click)

  • Winter Solstice! Avy Savvy Classes!

    NASTC AIARE L1-120918

    Its time to get avy savvy skiers and riders! We have 4 more dates on the calendar, don’t miss it. Here is guide and course leader and super cool guy Clinton Culp out in the field with another group last week. We base our classes in Truckee at the Cedar House Sport Hotel and do fieldwork on Donner Summit. Its an awesome experience to learn snow science!

    Each year more skiers are venturing into the backcountry lured by the opening up of resort boundary lines and the promise of pristine powder fields and underpopulated terrain.  However, with more access the risk has never been greater, and the need to know basic safety protocols, rescue techniques, avalanche hazard awareness and management are essential to survival and having a great time out there.

    The AIARE curriculum is a 3-day intensive seminar designed to give you an understanding of avalanche formation, “nature’s billboard” observation skills, the ability to use an avalanche transceiver and probe and how to dig a snow study pit.  This is a minimum amount of know-how if you want to travel, ski or ride in the backcountry or sidecountry safely.

  • PRIVATE BACKCOUNTRY GUIDING (TAHOE/TRUCKEE)

    PRIVATE BACKCOUNTRY GUIDING (TAHOE/TRUCKEE)

    $95-$495 full or half/private or group/customized/all levels:

    Design your own day! Our private ski guiding day allows you to design exactly the day you want or your group wants! Want to ski new lines all day? Or gain lots more education about backcountry skiing safety. The backcountry skiing is great this year! Your day can be based at the resort, and we’ll tour into the sidecountry, returning to the chairlifts after skiing long, untracked lines. Or your day can be 100% in the backcountry and we’ll tour up peaks like Castle, Donner, Anderson, or Judah Peaks on Donner Summit. This is a great way to get powder turns in well after the mountain is “skied out,” and to find new terrain if you feel you’ve skied everything at your home resort.

    During a side country or backcountry adventure with NASTC you can improve your turns also while out there. Your NASTC guide is not only a certified guide, but a ski instructor/coach who can give you pointers on your skiing technique as well if you like!

     

    Rent your AT skis/skins/boots at Granite Chief, Tahoe Mountain Sports, The Backcountry, or Sports Hub in Truckee. We recommend you call ahead & make a reso.

    Beacon, shovel and probe rental from us for $25/full or half day/person
    (or each item for $10/full or half day/person)

    You’ll meet your guide either at the NASTC office (10710 Donner Pass Rd), or at the designated trailhead.

    Prices range based on group size. Five person maximum per guide.

    FULL DAY (9am-3pm)                    HALF DAY (9am-1pm)
    1 person-$495                                      $295
    2 pp- $295 per person                      $195 pp
    3 pp- $215 pp                                        $145 pp
    4 pp- $195 pp                                        $115 pp
    5pp- $145 pp                                         $95 pp

    Email for details and bookings: [email protected] or 530-386-2102

  • JUMPSTARTS KICK OFF SEASON AT BIG SKY AND SQUAW

    NASTC SQUAW GROUP SELFIE 2018

    Thank you to our Jumpstart Group this week! Our 23rd annual early season camp! (YES we’ve been around a LONG time!) Coaches Richie Jameson and Tom Murphy led 8 students to better early season skiing on GREAT conditions at Squaw Valley Dec 9-10, 2018.  Thank you to alum student and welcome new ones to the NASTC Family!

  • SNOW & RAIN IN CA!

    NASTC snowy tahoe

    In a word: phew! CA needed rain desperately to end the horrible fires, and we need snow. We are getting it now, on Thanksgiving eve. Thanks for giving us some precip snow gods!

  • NASTC News 10/31/18

     
    HAPPY  HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!
    NOW AT NASTC: PRE SEASON AVY CLASS SALES

    So its HALLOWEEN which is great because there’s adorable & scary costumes and lots of candy, but also because it means the ski season is right around the corner! What’s the story on Halloween? It has roots in age-old European traditions. It originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. Wild! Read more at the end of this missive.

    Anyway back to skiing…we’ve got a great line up of adventure ski camps with the best instructors in the nation, beautiful hotels, delicious meals, and fun people!

    DON’T MISS SALES & LIMITED SPOTS IN SOME CAMPS!

    BOOK YOUR *ON SALE* AVALANCHE CLASS
    DEC 9-10 JUMPSTART YOUR SEASON – SQUAW 
    DEC 10-12 JUMPSTART YOUR SEASON – BIG SKY 
    DEC 14-16, JAN 19-21, FEB 1-3, FEB 16-18 AIARE REC 1
    DEC 9-11, MAR 10-12 AIARE REC 2
    DEC 8, MAR 9 AIARE RESCUE DAY
    FEB 3-9 POWDER SKIING AT KICKING HORSE
    FEB 23-MAR 3 EVEN MORE POW AT NISEKO, JAPAN
    MARCH 4-6 ALL CONDITIONS AT SQUAW VALLEY
    BACKCOUNTRY SKIING WITH A PRIVATE GUIDE
    AUG 9-18 PORTILLO, CHILE
    Wonder how SNOWMAKING works?

    Snowmaking Basics by Sugar Bowl (where storms also dump tons of natural snow)!

    There are four vital ingredients needed for machine-made snow: water, compressed air, cold temperatures and low humidity. Snowmaking can begin at remarkably high temperatures if the humidity is low enough. In order to evaluate the combination of temperature and humidity, snowmakers refer to the wet-bulb temperature.

    When the temperature drops below freezing the watch begins to determine if the snowmaking system should be fired up. In this region, snowmaking can begin around 28 degrees F (26 wet-bulb), but the quantity of snow produced at this temperature level is usually minimal. At just a few degrees colder and percent humidity drier (26 degrees F/22 wet-bulb), the quantity and quality of machine-made snow really starts to improve. The colder and drier the conditions get, the more snow the guns can turn out. The outside air temperature is a rough guide for determining when snowmaking can begin, but it is the relative humidity that will determine the quantity and quality of the snow that can be produced. The magic number is 20 degrees wet-bulb. As temperatures drop the snowmaking team will start using electronic telemetry from monitoring sites across the mountain to assess the conditions. When the team determines that the time is right, they will start up the equipment and begin making snow. Interesting, huh? Thanks for the explanation Sugar Bowl!

    If you missed this super cool event at the beautiful Cedar House Sport Hotel, come this Thursday to Alpenglow Sports store in Tahoe City to hear Adventure Risk Challenge (ARC)’s 2nd annual “Voices of Youth, Now and Beyond”. Attendees will be inspired by ARC youth participants and alumni reading metaphorical poems, sharing stories from their lives, and providing insights from ARC’s wilderness programs (incl rock climbing with NASTC).Last year at this event, students shared stories about battling depression and anxiety, overcoming family challenges, and dreaming about life after high school. As one student wrote after performing her poem, “the poem allowed me to learn about embracing and accepting my feelings as I learn to love and accept myself.”

    This event is a fundraiser, and community members will be asked to financially contribute to ARC’s mission to empower underserved youth through integrated literacy and wilderness experiences. Donations of gently-used outdoor gear are also needed and welcome. Tickets/other events at Alpenglow Sports

     
    We had a great time last week at the Cedar House Sport Hotel with SAC (Sierra Avalanche Center), Chris, Patty, and Randall Osterhuber (above) of Donner Summit Avalanche Seminars. “Being Avy Savvy” was the topic. Keep an eye out for our next Winter Speaker Series event at the Cedar House Sport Hotel! 
    For a bit of armchair ed, check out these great videos by BCA about avalanche avoidance:
    BACKCOUNTRY BASICS VIDEO SERIES
    Enjoy your autumn!
    Thank you to our Sponsors:
    Rossignol, Patagonia, Hestra, Clif Bar, LEKI,
    Black Diamond, Smith Optics, BCA!
    We love to hear from you!
    [email protected] & 530-386-2102
    IF YOU READ THIS FAR….
    A little more history of Halloween to close out! The evening before was known as All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween. The commercialization of Halloween started in the 1900s, when postcards and die-cut paper decorations were produced. As for the trick or treating, or “guising” (from “disguising”) traditions, beginning in the Middle-Ages, children and sometimes poor adults would dress up in the aforementioned costumes and go around door to door during Hallowmas begging for food or money in exchange for songs and prayers, often said on behalf of the dead. This was called “souling,” and the children were called “soulers.”Now go get “dressed up” in your ski clothes, see if they fit, and sign up for some NASTC camps

  • HAPPY HALLOWEEN

    NASTC pumpkin

    Happy  Halloween NASTC Nation, we hope it’s crazy and fun! Open for great pumpkin art!

  • Get tickets here for Oct 24 Winter Speaker Series at Cedar House

    https://t3-adventures.com/product/winter-speaker-series/

  • YOUR SEASON FOR ADVENTURE SKIING WITH THE BEST INSTRUCTORS

    What sets our ski clinics apart isn’t just that we offer advanced ski clinics at some of the world’s best resorts, or that we hire great instructors with the highest PSIA credentials, nor that we’ve been doing this since 1994, or that our fantastic clients return year after year for more fun. Its that our clients share a passion for the sport of skiing, they want to improve, they want to finally make a change to their skiing skills and their life, and get off that plateau they’re on! They’re taking the time and resources to focus on themselves with like-minded skiers and to travel with us to the best resorts anywhere. We take great pride in the fact that you’ve trusted us for 25 years to plan your adventure skiing vacations around the world from Tahoe to Colorado to British Columbia to Chile to France to Austria to Iceland and Japan! Thank you NASTC Nation. See you this season for some more great ski clinics!