Lane Change For Friday; Missing Poles; And a broken heart.

Good Evening MAST Skiers:

1.    MAST is assigned lanes 3 and 4 tomorrow (Friday during the 3-5:15 and 5:15-7:00 lane assignment times.)  Wayzata is switching lane assignments with MAST tomorrow during the 5:15-7:00 time slot.  So, from 3-5, MAST skiers should ski on lanes 3 and 4.   From 5-7, ski on lanes 1 and 2.   

2.  Tonight, Mr. Beckett Wedren was faithfully and intensely executing drills that required him to leave his poles on the top of the lane.  Unfortunately, his poles went missing and a shorter pair of poles remained.  His missing poles are Leki brand, 115cm, green tape around the bottom of the handle, name and phone number are printed on the poles.   PLEASE CHECK YOUR POLES TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR POLES.  If you might have inadvertently taken the wrong poles, aka, Beckett's poles, please let him know immediately so he can sleep restfully tonight.  Here is Beckett's contact information: 612-275-0589.    

3. Please continue using the drill progressions on Instagram to self direct your technical skills development.

Now this may not be the place or time to do this, but I do need to express a bit of frustration?   Hurt maybe?   Confusion perhaps?   
Everyday I post 8-10 brilliant short video clips to Instagram.  Each clip features a perfectly demonstrated drill, beautiful cinematography, brilliantly timed editing, eloquent descriptive narrative--- all meant to enhance your skills, broaden your experience, deepen your well of wisdom, enlighten your heart, and fill you with the joy of making a perfectly carved turn by the time you are 18 years old.  Being new to Instagram, I have become--admittedly-- a bit obsessed by one of its tantalizing features: THE LIKE BUTTON.   With each post, I wait--paralyzed--in hope that this is the day we break .... out of the low teens.  To pour salt into this wound of neglect, my dear son Luke posts a selfie of his smiling face from a chairlift at Bridger Bowl today AND HE RACKS UP 298 LIKES IN ABOUT 5 MINUTES.   And to give the arrow one more twist into my already aching heart, many of those likes came from MAST skiers.    WHHHAAAATTTT?!?!   Don't you know that some of those teeth he is showing off aren't even real. I should know. His mother and  I paid for them.  Come on Folks!    These progressions could change your life?  Where is the love I ask?   

And yet... we carry on.  Continuing to give one life-altering drill at a time.  Putting it out there for you with selfless love. Everyday.   Receiving nothing in return EXCEPT the hope that someday, you too, will be riding a chair at age 18, at an elevation of 8000 feet at Bridger Bowl or Big Sky or Grand Targhee or maybe, like Elsa at 3000 feet at Stratton Mt in Vermont, with a foot of fresh powder awaiting your perfectly carved turns.   Maybe you'll send a selfie and you'll get 298 likes, and then... finally then...you will remember who liked you first.  So, no likes needed.  Just get good enough so you can't not smile on a chairlift in the mountains on a powder day.   

See you Monday.  Can't wait.

Mark.  

PS. Make sure you are following MAST on Instagram.  @mplsalpineski   Your smile will get brighter.