Have you been skiing yet?

Have you been skiing yet? I have not! After weeks of anticipation. After a summer of waiting. After hundreds of customers talking about opening day. I think everyone has been skiing except me! We got the killer storm we needed for the shop to go nuts with rabid customers, and I could not take advantage. We had made plans to go to Oregon for Thanksgiving instead!

Actually the plans were made weeks ago. Elizabeth and I had "sponsored" our first Thanksgiving dinner while we were in college at Chico State. It was time to pass the torch. Since Jennifer didn't get much time off for the break, so Elizabeth, Rebecca and I drove up for a few days. It made sense when we planned it a few months ago. We would also be able to take in the Ducks football game against Arizona which looked to be a good game to go to. As it turns out, the Ducks are ranked #1 nationally and so it was an even better game to see. ESPN thought so too. Super fun!

We also hiked to the top of Spensers Butte in the snow, had a good Thanksgiving meal, got in some great family time with the girls etc., so no regrets at all. But I want to ski! Looks like this Wednesday should work. I gotta calm down...I will ski on Wednesday at Northstar. My time has come.

Business keeps rolling along. We have topped 100k for November which is a first. I remember when I hoped to do 100k in December one day. Now we should do it four different months this year- maybe five. Thanks for being such great customers. I appreciate it.

As usual I can only thank my staff. We now have 5 Masterfit trained master boot fitters. Gary and Steve were given the Master Boot Fitter aprons they have earned. I handed them over with little ceremony but a good amount of pride on my part and I think theirs too. They are both first rate fitters and the aprons are well deserved.

The rest of the staff is also going gangbusters. We have some new people and they have been "thrown into the fire" due to the early start. We had just wrapped up the reps training clinics and were about to begin the in-house training by category when the weather turned. Customers come first, and so...group training has been put off. Instead we have been trying to work with individuals or small groups of rookies as we can. It works even if it is not ideal.

Luckily the rookies are pretty sharp. A few are still a bit unsure of themselves in some areas but they are picking it up just fine. They remind me of new born horses. On their feet quickly albeit a bit shaky at first. They do not realize it, but they will be off and running on their own in no time.

It is exciting to see their joy at feeling "competent" at anything. Their customer service has been fantastic from the start which is a top priority, but they start out feeling a bit awkward with the products until they have some real knowledge. Success comes quickly however, and it is fun to see them grow. Bekka smiled like she had won the lottery when she fielded her first phone call all by herself. Charles was proud as a rooster when he sold his first pair of goggles without help. Yesterday Emili texted me when she sold her first pair of boots. That's pretty quick progress for the group. Ahh, the joy of learning and succeeding! Their energy and excitement is contagious too. It keeps me smiling and is a shot of youthful energy to all.

OK, so I guess it is time to drive in to Berkeley and see how the grizzled old vets and the bright eyed rookies did on "Black Friday" and then yesterday. Get up there and enjoy the snow. If you are at Northstar on Wednesday maybe I will see you! I will be the one with the big smile!

Gettin' all learned up

Well it is still that special educational time of the year. Clinic time! We have sales reps come in and talk up their products. They use power point presentations, sample cutaways, even some smoke and mirrors. Their goal is to get us psyched on the product they sell. My job is to help them help me to train my staff. So of coarse I end up interjecting at times to keep things in perspective. Overall the sales reps are very knowledgeable. They also know that we are on top of our game too, so they expect the discussions to get very technical. And it does. It is a fun time.

Also taking place in the fall is Masterfit University training. Masterfit does four locations with two days available totaling fifteen hours. The closest location for us is Reno. This year I took seven people. Yikes! That meant four hotel rooms of CalSkiCo employees up in Reno. In addition to the training, there are a lot of industry folk there that we know. Manufacturers boot techs, shop owners and staff from top boot shops. Basically all the boot geeks. It is kid of a boot geek party! In the past it has gotten quite racous at times, and we have typically been front and center. This year we didn't get as rowdy as we usually do, although one night an individual seems to have come home around dawn one night. Sorry no names will be given. What happens in Reno stays in Reno.

So john and I did the Masters Plus "Dark Arts" course as we typically do. Erle, Gary, Steve, and Daniel were moved up into the Masters level and Benelia took the Associates Plus offering. As usual the Masterfit crew were outstanding. Given that they really don't make much money doing their training classes, their spirit of doing this for the good of the sport and to fill an obvious need to create more good boot fitters is to be commended.

The Dark Arts class had I think ten students? This included Mike from Dale boot and Paul from Full Tilt. We know Mike quite well and have fully checked out his operation. I had only recently spoken to Paul on the phone looking for some technical information about his boots. He is the engineer in charge of design and manufacturing the boots and added a lot to the class. It was great to have someone on hand to speak up for the 3 piece shell designs out there. The group used a more open discussion instead of a conventional syllabus. The assumption is that we have all been around the block a few times and so it turns into more of a networking situation. "What have you guys been doing when you run into...." sort of a thing. It is a room full of tremendous talent and knowledge. It reminds me of how much I still have to learn.

I think everyone at the shop is energized about fitting now, so I will be spending time each day with the fitters to try to take the skills they have learned and ingrain it into their boot protocol. It gets me excited about boots too, so I spent more time boot fitting this weekend than I have been doing since we opened for the season. What fun!

Another boot note that happened this week was that I obtained a copy of the legendary "Red Book". At least it has become legendary to me. Sort of a grail hunting expedition actually. One of the really great fitters I have run across is Amy. Amy works for Superfeet. She was a head fitter at Any Mountain back in the day and went on to work for Superfeet. Over the past number of years she has read any and all books on the subject of feet, boots, and fitting ski boots that she could find. I asked her once what her recommended reading list was for me. Many of the books I was already familiar with. Her highest recommendation was "the Red Book". She couldn't remember exactly how to spell the Authors name but figured I could find it using the internet. She warned me that it was out of print, obscure, and probably hard to find. "but it will be worth it if you do" she said.

Well I looked and looked. Nothing coming up at all for "the Red Book''. I got a few footnotes citing "the foot book" by an author who's name was close to her guess on spelling. I called Amy's boss at Superfeet and got the authors properly spelled name. It was the one I had seen. It was called The Foot Book- Advice for Athletes by Harry Hlavac. But trying to find a copy? Nada. Zilch. Nothing. Boo!

So since then I have gone on line and searched for it used every few months. Probably 8 or 9 times in the last few years. Nada. Zilch. Nothing. But I was determined not to give up. Some of the guys at the shop heard me speak of my frustration over not being able to track a copy down. I was about ready this fall to call Amy and ask if I could borrow it. She had not been really keen on the idea when we first talked of it. She didn't want to let it out of her sight. I thought my sob story might soften her up. I mentioned I might call her last week in front of Steve. "Oh", he said "I bought a foot book". He knew I was on the hunt for the elusive "Red Book" and had seen a book on feet in front of the sweets shop near his house. They have a used book rack where you can drop off books or buy used books in front of the store. One of those neighborhood honor system deals. He figured it wasn't what I was looking for, but it could be, and another foot book is never a bad thing. He has purchased it. "Is it red?" I asked. "No, not really". "Oh well," I said" bring it in and we can check it out..."

Well ring up another one for karma or persistence or whatever. I don't care. All I know is that I finally have a copy of The Red Book! It simply said The Foot Book on the front cover. I knew that there were literally dozens of "Foot Books" with various sub titles from my research. It was a brownish red. "Maybe..." I thought to myself. I opened it up. It was unread. The spine crackled as I leafed through the first few pages looking for the author..and there it was- The Foot Book- Advice for Athletes by Harry Hlavac. "Wow, you got one" I said. "No," said Steve, "it's for you". So how do you like that? What a guy!

Well, I am off to bed now. It is a bit early for me, but you know what? I have some reading to do! Thanks Amy! Thanks Stevo! If I am running a bit late tomorrow, you'll know why!

Oh yeah- Fresh snow in the mountains! Keep doing Ulers snow dance and let's get this season rolling!