Divine Arcs Motivation for Skiers

In this episode, the Ski Moms welcome Kristin Hurd and Karen Musgrave, Canadian ski instructors and co-creators of the Divine ARCS Affirmation Cards, a 31-card deck designed to help skiers connect with the mental and emotional side of the sport. Based at Silver Star Mountain Resort in Vernon, B.C., Kristin (originally from Australia, CSIA Level 4) and Karen (from Southern California, who became an instructor at 40 and earned her Level 3) met during their certification journey and have been collaborating ever since.

The conversation covers their CSIA certification paths, their new "Divine Arc Ski Experience" camps for women, their Kids Mountain Magic book, and practical mindful skiing tips, including Karen's "Superman pose" for overcoming fear. They also share a full destination guide to Silver Star, from travel logistics and lodging to dining, kids' programming, and après ski in the Okanagan Valley.

Resources:

Divine ARCS Affirmation Cards: https://divinearcs.com

Silver Star Mountain Resort: https://www.skisilverstar.com

Book Lessons at Silver Star: Visit the Silver Star website lessons page or email the ski school to request Kristin Hurd or Karen Musgrave (specify last name "M" for Karen)

Key Quotes:

"Breathe in my strength, breathe out the fear. Just coming back into my breath. When I get out of my own way and come into the present moment, my skiing gets way better." — Karen Musgrave

"The snow is your canvas — paint your picture." — Karen Musgrave

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Transcript

Nicole: Welcome back to the Ski Moms Podcast. It's season five, and we're hitting the slopes. We're sharing real, unfiltered stories of motherhood on the snow. From conquering the bunny hill with toddlers to squeezing in your own powder days, this season celebrates every type of ski mom.

Thanks for joining us. We've got a great season lined up, and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Today, the ski moms are joined by two Canadian ski instructors who are bringing intention,

mindfulness, and joy to every turn. And we could all use more of that. Kristin Hurd and Karen Musgrave are both passionate skiers and instructors and now co creators of the Divine ARCS Affirmation Cards.

It's a unique deck designed to help skiers and snowboarders connect with the mental, emotional, and even spiritual side of the sport.

This product is born out of their shared love for the mountains and a desire to support others, especially women, in navigating fear, self doubt, and performance pressure. These cards offer gentle encouragement.

We absolutely love this whole perspective. Whether you're a seasoned skier or stepping into boots for the first time, Kristin and Karen's work reminds us that skiing is not just about speed or skill.

It's about presence,

self belief, and having fun.

Welcome, Kristin and Karen.

Karen: Thank you. Happy to be here.

Nicole: Yeah,

we usually start with a little bit of your origin story. Kristen, maybe why don't you start and tell us about where you learned how old you were and kind of your first impressions of skiing.

Kristen: Okay.

So originally I'm from Australia,

so I moved here like over 10 years ago,

so I'm now a citizen of Canada. But I learned to ski in Australia when I was around three.

And I don't really remember learning to ski at all.

So I know that I loved it. Pictures. I look very happy.

And my family was in the industry, so it's kind of something I've always known.

Nicole: And how about you, Karen?

Karen: Yeah, I actually grew up in Southern California, but my dad was a skier, got my mom skiing, and then when us kids came along, we started skiing. So I think I was around five.

I don't remember learning to ski either. So it was just something we went and did.

It was fun,

but from a young age, I always knew I wanted to be a ski instructor.

And it just, it didn't happen till I was 40. And so it was just something that I started to say, hey, you know what? It's, my kids are old enough,

I'm going for it. And now it's like what I do.

Speaker D: And Tell us about how the two

Kristen: of you connected through actually courses in the ski school. So I was already in the ski school here at Silver Star.

Karen was obviously here. Like, you used to just come on, like, vacation, didn't you?

Karen: We've been skiing Silver star for about 20 years, but when we got into the. Into the course side of it, that's where I went to take my courses, because I was out on the prairies where it was flat, and it was just better to have it in the mountains.

Kristen: We met on our level three course, like, I don't know how many years ago.

Karen: Yeah, probably 12 years ago.

Nicole: And tell us, for the people who don't know, tell us what level three means in skiing. You know, are there 10 levels?

Are there just three?

How does that work?

Kristen: So there's four levels of instruction. We met obviously in our level three. So that's like,

going to be like teaching advanced skiers and becoming an advanced skier yourself. Took me a few. Goes to get my level three. Took Karen a few more.

Karen: Seven years. Took me seven years, but I got there.

Kristen: Yeah, it is quite hard.

Karen: Yeah. The leap from 2 to 3 is a big, big leap. And so it's really understanding the mechanics of skiing, how to teach those each parts of the turn,

you know, all the skills and body movements that are. And how to say that to people.

Nicole: So getting a PhD in ski instruction. So we'll say, like, level two is like your master's. Level one is basically just your. Your. Your college degree.

Karen: Actually, level three is. Is like your master's. Level four is your PhD.

Nicole: Okay, and what is level four? I mean, do you have to be able to jump out of airplanes? What. What.

Karen: What could.

Kristen: It feels like it.

Karen: I've done that. That's easier.

Kristen: It's just. It's. It's teaching and skiing at an expert level.

So myself, like, I got my level for, what, two seasons ago, and Karen has got her teach. So she still has one more half to get, which this winter we harp.

Nicole: And by getting these,

does it help you make more money? Does it help you? It does.

So I see some heads nodding. So every accreditation you have, it helps in your.

In how you get paid and viewed.

Kristen: Yeah. And then we are like, I can work for the Canadian Ski Instructors alliance now so I can earn money through them. Teaching level one and two courses is what I can teach right now.

And then hopefully after this winter, I can start progressing into teaching level three.

Nicole: So you're now teaching the teachers when you progress through the levels. Got it. So it sounds like both of you have invested a lot of time and energy into becoming teachers.

Tell us about that. I mean, Karen, it sounds like you spent seven years trying to pass level three.

I mean, this must be a real passion project for you. Did you take, did you have just rotten instructions, Some instructions, some point in your life and you're like, I'm going to be able to do this better.

What was the motivator?

Karen: No, I, I just had 40 years of bad habits. When my oldest was old enough to start getting levels,

I said to him, I said, hey, I'm going to go get my level one instructor. Do you want to come with me? And he's like, yeah, both my kids race, so they're very good skiers.

And so him and I went off and we did our level one together. We got it. And I was like, well, that was fun. Like,

hey, this could be a mom son thing. There's a level two course which was at that time a week long course. You could go out, take the beginning and, or the, the course part and then the exam.

And I said, do you want to spend a week at Silver Star? And he's like, sure.

So I think he was in grade 10 at the time, or 11.

And we went and we passed the level two. So I was like, hey, you want to go do the level three? And he's like, yeah. And the little ******,

he passed the ski on the first try. He was like 16 or 17 years old.

And I was like, okay, I've got time here. And then we ended up building out here.

We figured that Silver Star was going to be our kind of retirement place. So we built and then I actually applied for a job at the ski school once my kids had graduated.

I didn't tell my husband.

I was like, oh, by the way, I, I applied for a job out in B.C. because we were living in Alberta.

And he's like,

oh. And I said, it'll just be for the winter. And then like, yeah, I was like, well, you know, that's a pretty good lifestyle. I kind of like it there.

And so yeah, we're out here now.

Speaker D: And are these, is this specific to Canada? The, the, the levels and the, this like particular certification process.

Karen: The level, the CSIA has four levels. The psia,

which is the US has three.

And I believe the European. Kristen, correct me if I'm wrong, but they're, they're a three level system as well.

Kristen: It depends which European because like, and some of my mom's friends are level fours and their progress is like way harder because they have to do 90 days before they become a level four.

Speaker D: Okay. So you have to know when you're asking for an instructor of a certain level where you know what. What program you're talking about, because the levels are not all created equal.

Karen: And yeah, I'd agree with that.

Kristen: In the ski school. Like, I want a level four. Like, we have a man right now. He's adamant that he needs a level four when he comes out here.

So people do understand the difference between a level one and four, but not everyone does.

Speaker D: Tell us about the conversations and the journey to, like, actually starting this company and making. Making your own product.

Karen: I have my own business called A Step Ahead Healing as well, that I do a lot of, like, daily energy reading, kind of like, what's happening? And I love Oracle cards and all the spiritual stuff.

I'm into the Woo Woo.

And Kristen and I had been talking about doing. I'm like, we're gonna do something.

And then it was in the summer, and there was one day I called her,

I was like, hey, we're gonna start a company. And she goes, oh. And I go, yeah. And I said, I have this idea to make positive affirmation cards for skiing.

And she goes, I like that. And I'm like, okay, awesome.

And then I kind of figured out about printing,

and it was kind of like I was just guided to just build it and then the other stuff will fall into place.

So I had sent some ideas to Kristen of, hey, this is. These are some things that I've thought about for affirmations. And this is what the card like, here's an idea.

Here's an idea.

And then Kristen took it to the next level with her photography. She.

She had the.

All her pictures, and she put those behind the.

The sayings. And I was like, this is it.

And so literally from the time we started the design till we went to print was only three weeks.

And it went really fast. But we got to a point where I'm like, we need more photos. So a friend of ours who skis at Silver Star in the winter, she's a professional photographer in New Zealand.

I phoned her and I'm like, hey, what have you got for pictures? And I said, we're just looking for still shots of skiing fun in the snow.

And she is this colorful, vibrant, beautiful person. And she has one where she's like, making a snow angel in the snow. And that's how I remember to have fun today.

You know, we made the cards,

then we found a printer right here in town,

came down there's like, sure, we can do that. And away it away it went.

Nicole: So now you have, you have this product.

From what I've seen, they look beautiful.

And now it's spreading the word. And how are you. So you, you can do it, you know, one lesson at a time.

Maybe not the most efficient way in the world. How are we going to make sure that this gets a wider audience?

Kristen: We, we started with Ladies Day, so because I host the Ladies Day, especially the lunch, we started talking about it there. We obviously was putting in into our lessons as well.

Karen started using it with some of our trainees for their intern program.

And then it just kind of got word out. The lady that gave us some photos, she bought a whole bunch and she was giving them to friends as well.

And then we took a bunch last April to, to Banff to the Women in Skiing Summit for the csia and they kind of really took off there.

Yeah.

Karen: And we, we gave a couple packages to Heidi Ettlinger and Lucia Davies to take over to the World Women's Sports Organization Summit in, in Austria. And they were wonderful because they posted a ton of stuff about them.

And so we got a little bit of traction there. We're still, we're still small. We're trying to get the word out. Like, follow us on Instagram this summer. We again,

very short window. Kristen said, I've got something to show you.

And so she, I said, okay. And she comes over and she created the start of our Kids Mountain Magic book.

And so it's again,

we took our pictures and used old AI and turned them into watercolors of little kids skiing. So we're in the book and our friends are in the book. And it's just a way that now you can take it to your kids.

So we're, we're expanding that way.

But yeah, we're just really trying to get the word out. We were just featured in the Ski Canada Magazine Buyer's Guide.

And so hopefully people who are looking through that kind of get to see the cards and reach out to us. So.

Nicole: Yeah,

well, we have a listing. It's one of the most popular resources that we have of women's camps and clinics in North America. We've not expanded beyond Canada and the U.S.

but there's,

I think there's probably 60, 70 camps and clinics in there that are all geared towards women.

And it just gets thousands and thousands of views every year because when somebody asks about a camp or a clinic, it's very easy to find, you know, in Google search, it's very easy to find.

And we are always sharing that resource amongst our community and amongst our friends because I do believe,

you know, learning from anyone is great, but there is that camaraderie, that support when it's an all women's group. And I've done lessons that are,

you know,

with male instructors that have been fantastic. I've done group lessons. But there is a little bit of magic about women supporting women. And I have definitely pushed myself in a, in a way that also feels safe and comfortable in these women's groups.

So I don't know if you all have seen that same sort of magic happen when you've been teaching.

Karen: Absolutely. There's a lot of. Actually the Women in Skiing committee here with the CSIA has done a lot of research on that.

And the success rate of women in an all women's group is much higher than even if there's one guy.

And not to bash men because we're not here to do that. But it's, it is, it's that safe environment. I can ask a question and I'm not gonna feel silly and.

Yeah, I, I agree. And we also,

we are starting camps this year with Kristen and I called the Divine Arc Ski Experience.

Speaker D: Tell us a little bit about Silver Star.

Kristen: It's a very cute little quaint village here in Vernon, B.C.

so when you drive up, like the first thing you see is just color everywhere. So a lot of people describe it as like a little mini Disneyland or like you're like engulfed in like a little snow globe and it's like, I think it's like a minimum of three colors you have to have on your house.

So when it is white, I mean it looks pretty in summer, but it looks way prettier with the snow.

And it's just very cute. Quaint village,

very small knit community. Like everyone knows everyone, everyone supports everyone. And then we just have some really good terrain.

It doesn't look much when you're first in the village,

but it goes over the back and down below and it's.

A lot of people say it's a hidden gem.

Karen: Yeah,

it's all natural snow,

so there's no snowmaking whatsoever. So we don't get that, that hard,

hard stuff underneath. It's also a mid mountain village.

So when you come into the village,

you can take the gondola from mid mountain here and go up,

or you can ski down to the lifts. We also have a pond for skating.

We have a tube, a big tube town.

There's two terrain parks, one like learning area, terrain park and then one of the big terrain parks they have.

Yeah, the terrain is insane. There's something here for everybody. There's over a hundred kilometers of cross country trails woven in.

So if you're more of a cross country then a downhiller, there, there is literally something for everybody. There's snowshoeing,

fat biking in the winter.

Kristen: What?

Karen: Have I forgot anything?

Nicole: And I know my, I have a daughter who is a Nordic ski racer. So they do their camp, their preseason training camp in November at Silver Star.

And the reason they picked that is because it has very reliable early snow, which is always the, A question that comes up again and again in our Facebook group.

And people ask me that where is the most reliable snow at Thanksgiving, American Thanksgiving? And I always say, well, first of all, that doesn't exist.

You know, I'm, I'm not, I'm not going to be the one to tell you that this is a hundred percent.

I will say that every year their team goes to Silver Star to ski on those hundreds of kilometers of trails and they often will alpine ski as well because it's usually opening up just at the time of their, their Nordic ski camps.

And it's an international.

People come from around the world to, to train there ahead of season because it is such reliable early snow. And my daughter has shown me pictures of the village and Kristen, I, she.

It. It, it doesn't even look real. It looks like it doesn't. Sometimes it looks like AI to me for sure. I've not,

I've not gotten the chance to go out there. But where do we fly into if we're coming from North America?

Karen: You would fly into Kelowna International Airport. So a lot of flights will go to Seattle and up or spell Kelowna

Nicole: because it's not spelled like we think it's spelled.

Karen: It's K, E, L, O, W, N A.

Nicole: See, people would never be able to Google that. You know, I'm, I just know when I got her first airline reserv, the

Karen: airport code is Y, L, W. It's

Nicole: like they don't really want people to get there. You've got to know like the secret code. Okay, so when we fly into Kelowna,

do we need a car or can we get to Silver Star? Is there a shuttle?

Karen: Yeah, there's a taxi, there's a shuttle. I think it's like a hundred dollars from the airport up to the resort.

You can schedule it. There's quite a few different little shuttles that you can take or you can rent a car driving up the mountain in the winter is,

I'm going to say it's not bad.

I know coming from Southern California as a kid, like I went to school in Montana and then I would go back and I was like, people can't even drive in the rain here.

Like, this is crazy.

But if, if you've been in a car with snow before,

it's a very, very easy road to get up.

It's, it's nice, it's not super windy. It's got some, some windiness to it, but it's not like switchbacks all the way up. It's, it's quite a nice little climb.

Speaker D: And then what is the lodging like?

Kristen: We have a few different places. Like the main one would be the Snowbird. That one's always advertised in pictures. And then there's a lot of Airbnbs.

Karen: Yeah, the rbo.

Kristen: Yeah.

Karen: And then you know what, you can stay down in the valley.

There are hotels down here. It's only 20 minutes up to the hill, so it's not like you're lugging everything for two hours.

It's a 20 minute drive from town. There's also like, they have a junior, a hockey team in town so you can go to hockey games and there's climbing gyms. There's, there's just lots to do here.

So it's also for all the wine drinkers out there that are moms. This is the,

after Italy and France, this is the, the third largest spot for wine in the world that people come.

So the Okanagan Valley is known for its Pinot Noir,

but there's other wines too. But yeah, there's tons of wineries around here.

Kristen: And cideries. A lot of cideries.

Karen: And cideries. Lots of cideries, distilleries.

Kristen: Yeah.

Karen: There's something for everyone.

Nicole: And so we, we get there, we've got our cute lodging, we start our ski day. Is there anything iconic that we would, would be doing? Is there like a lunch spot or, you know, an apres ski spot that is really defining the character of Silver Star.

Karen: It's really like a big mountain with a small town vibe. You know that you, you go into those small towns and like everybody skis and that's kind of what Silver Star is.

There are apres spots,

the,

I'm going to call it by the wrong name, the Red Antler is kind of the bigger area that we have.

Kristen: There's Canadian experience, Long Johns.

Karen: Yes. Long John's is, is where all the, all the staff kind of go and hang out. It's small,

it's but it's. It's fun. It's a good spot.

Yeah. There's the Bears Den. If you want a little more upscale.

There's. You're more here to ski than find the fine dining.

Kristen: I guess you can't find anyone. You just go around to each place and you'll find someone eventually. Yeah, there you are over there.

Nicole: And what about the children's programming? Is it a good place if we. If our kids are just getting up and running with this sport? Is it a place to introduce younger, new skiers to the sport?

Kristen: Yeah, we have a kids center here. We run group lessons out of there. And then weekends we have more programs, but the programs are more catered to if you Canadian, so you've got to be more of a resident to sign up for those programs or be here for the length of that program.

So you just can't kind of drop in.

We train our instructors up quite well so that they're prepared for any situation.

And then. Yeah, the adventure center is like,

it's cute.

We need a little bit bigger space now because we are getting more popular with our program. So we have very basic learning area at the front that we set up every day with some tools for the kids to make it more fun.

And then once they get comfortable, we start progressing them to the next beginner area,

and then we take them up the gondola.

Karen: I would say, too, as a parent who has had my kids in that ski. So now my kids are 28 and 25 now, or 27, 25 and. But they started skiing out there when.

Out here when 5 and 7.

So they started.

Every time we came out, it was like, you gotta go on ski school.

And the instructors, like Kristin said, it's kind of cool now that I get to help train those instructors. But our instructors are really, really good. They're well trained.

We now have, like, the safety bands that can go on each kid, and at the end of the day, the parents get an email that shows where they went,

and it's. They have a lot of fun,

and there's different types of. Of lessons that they can take more. You know, the. The hot shots is that I don't. I'm in the adult center. I don't know all the levels, but, like, the hot shots are the kids that go over on the backside.

You know, if you're coming out and your kids are so young, but they're in a race program, you could say, hey, my kids are racing. Don't take the racer out of them, but make a Better, you know, and.

And they'll just go have fun with them. I know our instructors love those lessons because they're like, yeah, we just get to go ski with these kids and have fun.

Speaker D: And what would you say is like,

I know that there's,

you know, probably many ways to answer this, but what would be a really good time to plan a trip there without maybe the,

you know, school vacation crowds and things like that?

Kristen: February, probably between the middle of December to January,

we have all the Australian crowd come over because that's our summer break.

And we have a lot of people that own property from Australia up here at Silver Star, so they will spend at least four to eight weeks here.

So usually at the end,

I want to say, like, school usually goes back, like, second week of January.

That's when it starts to quieten down.

Karen: And in March, they have. You've got the Alberta and Saskatchewan spring breaks, and then BC they get two weeks off for spring break. So our March is usually towards the end of March is really busy sometimes with snow, too.

Nicole: That's really good to know, because February can be quite busy in American resorts because a lot of schools do have a February break in the US So that could be a great way to avoid the crowds in Colorado or Utah, for instance.

And, you know, you're still going to get a nice, fluffy snow experience and

Karen: a positive one with our divine arcs as we go through the village or in the gondola and say, hey, you want a card?

Nicole: So one of the things that we've really been diving into with the podcast is mindfulness in skiing. And we're trying to not, you know, label it as fear, but more, you know, feeling the feelings that you have and recognizing them.

This seems to align with our goals as well.

I think it makes skiers safer, and I think it makes them smarter when they are in their bodies, quite literally, and in knowing what they're feeling at any particular moment.

Do you have a description or an idea of what you think it means to be a mindful skier?

Karen: I would say for myself,

being in the present moment,

you have to be when you're skiing, if you start thinking of something else, that's when things go sideways. Trying to just remember to breathe.

I always say, breathe in my strength, breathe out the fear, or breathe out the weakness,

and just coming back into my breath.

And as I'm skiing,

I like to.

Kristen: I like to be like, look at

Karen: what you're being able to do and just being grateful in the moment. To me, that's mindful skiing and usually When I get out of my own way and just come into the present moment, my skiing gets way better.

Kristen: I think for me, like, I normally find that I'm more, like, mindful. Like, I'll notice. I'll start singing or talking to myself about certain things, which a lot of people that ski with me know that I make a lot of noises,

but usually that's when I know, like, that I'm, like, in a happy place, and I'm just kind of, like, singing as I go down the mountain, just minding my own little business and not overthinking anything.

Nicole: Do you have tips, or is this a great example of the card.

Maybe we're on something that's a little icier than we're used to, or the pitch. You know, we picked a trail that the pitch is a little steeper that we're used to.

And the skier could be male, could be female, freezes up a little bit. You know, there's quite literally stuck where they are.

How would you suggest that they move forward mindfully out of situations like that?

Karen: I have had instances where I've taken some women into bumps that weren't quite comfortable there.

So at the top of the bumps, I had them stand with their hands on their hips, that Superman pose.

And. And I asked them, do you know how to turn your skis? Yes.

Do you know how to bend your knees? Yes.

Do you know how to look ahead? Yes. Okay,

then we're good to go one turn at a time, like. And I said, and don't go until you're ready.

Keep your hands on your hips, and don't go until you're ready. And just take a deep breath and then go. And then that seems. And then when we get to the bottom, I make them look up and cheer that we got through it.

So that's a big thing, too.

It's not only at the top to get going,

but give yourself credit. When you get down to the bottom, look back up and go, I just killed that. That was awesome.

I. I did it. I did it. And just kind of prop yourself up.

Nicole: And I love that. That giving yourself a round of applause. I think that's really important to be modeling that for our kids as well as adults who are learning and trying new things.

I think kids pay more attention to what we do than what we say. And if they see us feeling great about something we did physically,

I think it's a really good lesson for them.

Speaker D: I also love how you are just breaking it down.

Karen, to just very basic. Can you do this? Can you do this instead of. You know, it can be very daunting to look at it all in one big picture, but I love the way you broke it down into all of these very doable pieces.

Made it much more approachable.

Nicole: Do you give them their poles back, though, or do they have to ski with their hands on their hips? I'm very concerned.

Karen: Oh, no, they've got their hands. Their poles are on their hands. They're just standing there in that position. It's like, when you're ready to go, you go.

I know when Kristen was going for to get into, we used to have to get into a level four academy to then go for your level four, and you had to try out for the academy.

And she was getting ready to go. I had a little anxiety or a little.

And so I was helping her out, and I said,

when you're standing at the top of the mountain, you don't go until you are ready to go,

because that's what's important. You have to be in the right space. And she said, I did that,

everyone.

Kristen: Like, I was actually doing it with one of our good friends, and he's quite an anxious person, and he was breathing so loud, and it was like, just like. I was starting to, like, feel his nervousness.

And I'm like, oh, my God, Go away. Like, just go so I can calm down and, like, focus.

And I was like, Karen told me to go when I'm ready, and I'm like, I'm just gonna stay here. If I'm the last one, I don't care.

Nicole: You are working within the ski school,

and are you seeing a difference between the female instructors and the male instructors as you're going along? Because it looks like this product that you've developed is geared more towards women, though I'm sure men could benefit from some affirmations as well.

But are you seeing a real difference in the way that women are signing up for classes, the way that they're learning, the way that they're interacting with the programs?

Kristen: We have a Ladies Day program, so that's quite successful here.

So we've introduced the cards. When we first made them to some of our groups, I kept forgetting the cards. Karen always had them in her pocket because I was busy, like, organizing.

So one of my jobs is to organize Ladies Day, so I just forget them. And Karen's like, did you bring your cards? Like, no.

Yeah. I think males are more receptive to taking lessons than females. Definitely. If you look at the. The data,

I don't know. You'd Hear a lot of mixed stories. Like, my experience in the industry is very different to someone else's. Like, I've had quite a positive experience, I think,

but some people have a negative experience.

Karen: Yeah. And I would say, like, with the women that are on our mountain,

they're all pretty keen to learn because,

you know, they want to go ski with their spouse or their partner.

And so we do have a lot of women that come and be like, yeah, I'm. I'm going to, you know, ski faster than the boys.

I'm going to be in more control. And. But it really comes down to with women in my experiences,

they want to have that control to get. Get away from the fear.

And so if these cards can just put them in that mindset, off the get go, like, you know what? Positive vibes only today. That's one of our cards. You're here to live.

Leave your mark.

You know what? Let's go. Leave our mark. I always say the snow is your canvas and paint your picture, like, just trying to come at it from a different perspective.

And then when they come down and maybe they didn't do something right, I can look at em go, hey, what was your card today? And they're like, positive vibes only.

Okay, so are we there?

Yes, I'm back. And so it kind of just shifts to make them think about,

you know, skiing is supposed to be fun. Nobody comes to the mountain to have a bad time.

And this can kind of remind you, even if you're on the lift, like, say your group has just, like,

gone sideways or your family that you're skiing with has gone sideways. Well, you reach in your pocket and you pull these out. It's like, all right, everybody, we're gonna turn this day around.

And you pull the cards out, and you're like, pick a card.

I think just sparks a little switch in your brain that says, hey, wait a minute. This is fun. And as instructors, we can get so technical that it's a good reminder for us and anybody who's training to up those levels that, wait a minute.

This is supposed to be fun. It doesn't have to be technical all the time.

Nicole: My favorite instruction that I've had over the years, and I do love taking classes. I'm a lifelong learner.

I like when they know they've reached maximum wisdom that they can impart for, you know, a day.

And they're like, now we're just gonna ski. There's only so many tweaks you can make in a day or in a few hours.

And My favorite ones. And they give us, like, one or two things to work on for the day rather than trying to completely rebuild from the ground up. And then it's just about, you know, skiing and trying to put it into practice.

So I do love that you all are embracing that same ideology that, you know, sometimes it's just about being out there. You know, you can only make so many pro.

So much progress in a day.

Karen: How lucky are we to be out there? Like, you think of the people that don't go skiing or are too afraid.

You know, that was one of my biggest things about becoming an instructor, was I was around all these ski moms that sat in the lodge because they were embarrassed that their kids could ski better than them.

And I'm like,

well, let's go work on your skiing then. But they were just so afraid.

Or they would come out to the mountains and they would go ski by themselves and their kids and their husbands would go somewhere else. And I just thought, that just doesn't seem fair.

I mean, I'm all about being out on the hill together with our family.

And so, yeah, that was one of the reasons that I wanted to inspire women to keep coming back and keep learning.

And this is just one more tool to say, hey, go have fun with this. Who cares if they ski better than you? It's about being together. It's not about,

you know, oh,

you did that turn wrong, mom,

with your affirmation cards.

Nicole: No. Are you supposed to pick your favorite one and, like, carry it with you, or is this, like, a daily?

How many cards are in the deck? And. And, you know, how do we.

How do we use this product day to day?

Karen: So there's 31 cards in the deck. I'll see if I can open this one here. No, I'm not gonna get it. So this is what they look like. They come in a little bag and they.

What you do is you kind of. There's a card in here that tells you how to use them as well. But I like to start the day, I just kind of hold em.

And then it's. The intention is to allow your energy to pick the card for what your energy needs that day. And it is so fun to see what people get.

And they're like, yep, that's what I needed.

And so you just shuffle the deck, you fan them out, and you say, oh, pick a card.

And you just kind of move your hand over, and you're like, this one. And it was like,

oh, okay. I guess if I fall down today, I'm Gonna learn for it from it and have more fun.

And.

And then, like, you're going through the lesson, and they. They just fall over, and they're like,

oh, I'm gonna own this. I'm gonna learn from it, and I'm gonna have more fun. But it takes away.

Yeah, it. They just take away the.

That little voice in your head that is like, oh, you're. You're doing such a bad job. Like, why did you fall down?

No, I'm gonna. I fell down. Huh? It told me I was gonna fall down, and now I'm gonna get back up and have some more fun.

If you wanna hold the card in your pocket, if they're your deck, great.

I have people pick them. And then I go, you can take a picture of it.

Kristen: You can.

Karen: I'll. I'll keep it. I'll know which one you had. And. And. And then I'll just remind you.

Nicole: Kristin, do you have a favorite card? Or you. They're all beloved.

Kristen: It's funny because, like, last year when we were, like, playing with them, I kept picking the same one all the time, and I was like, oh, God, it's, like, haunting me, this one.

I think it was,

like, the repetition one. So I was trying to,

like, improve my bump skiing a little bit, and I was having some issues with, like, my boot alignment.

And then there's one that talks about, like, it takes 10,000 repetitions to get,

Karen: like, to master master skill.

Kristen: And I was just like, not this one again.

I think some of them are, like, the pictures more than the sayings, like, because they're, like pictures that I've taken. Like, there's one.

It was a very cold day. Yeah. And it's just like the way the sun has caught the snow, and it's just sparkly everywhere. And I'm like, that.

Karen: One of my favorite ones I happened to grab. We have them in English and French, and I thought I grabbed one of each, but I grabbed them in French, so I think my French is nil.

So here's one that this one you could see in the Ski Cannon magazine. And it. It is. Skiing is a dance, and the mountain is leading.

And so it's. You know, you just. It's a reminder that the mountain again is giving you that feedback of, oh, you need to bend here.

Kristen: And if.

Karen: If you think of the mountain as leading you. If you've ever danced with somebody who's a good lead,

you know that, oh, I go this way or I go that way, and, oh, okay, I need to bend here. I need to turn more here.

Green, blue, or black. I can conquer that.

Yeah, they're just.

I just love them.

Speaker D: So where can we get them?

Karen: You can order them from our website. It's divinearcs. Com.

They're 2599 Canadian,

so take a third off of that. And you've got the American price,

but there is some shipping in there as well. I think it's only $6 Canadian to ship it to the US though.

So, yeah, divinearcs.com we have the cards in English or French.

You've got the Magic Mountain or Mountain Magic Book. And then we have a combo pack, so you can order the cards and the book.

So the whole family gets in on it.

Nicole: And we always love to finish up our interviews with talking about what apresky looks like for you.

Um, and as instructors, maybe you could give us, like, after workday and then if you're not on a work day, what upre looks like for you. So why don't we start with you,

Kristen: Kristin, after a work day? Depends. It's usually always after a training session because we have to go debrief at what we did not achieve.

So usually we go into Long John's, have a few drinks, maybe some snacks, and we just sit there and we will literally talk skiing for, like, a couple of hours on a day off.

I don't know. Sometimes Karen and I will go. We'll go have lunch, go for skiing,

go have lunch.

Or we'll go and have a little apparay,

just for a little bit, just chill.

Nicole: Is Silver Star known for anything? Like, is there, like a soup that we have to try or,

like a regional specialty that when we're there we have to order?

Karen: They do have a duck poutine in the den. That's really good. Go home, walk my dog and sit on the couch.

Nicole: Yeah, it's a little different when it's your profession. And, you know, you've gotta rinse, lather, and repeat the whole thing. So maybe it's. It's tea and, you know, cuddling on the couch with your.

Your dog.

Karen: But, you know, there's. There's so many things. Like if people come during Christmas, they do the 12 days of Christmas giveaways. Like, they hide stuff all over the mountain. And there's scavenger hunts.

We have the Santa Ski on Christmas Eve, where I think we had over a hundred people last year dressed in Santa suits coming down.

They have.

In spring break, they have all kinds. There's always something going on in the hill.

So if it's, you know, they will set up a stage in the village where they'll play music. And you know, we have the. If your daughter's the cross country skier, if you come at the end of the season, they have the S2s, which is the Sovereign to Silver Star Cross country race.

They do one day of skate, one day of, of classic. And you can either do 50k or 25k. And we had, what was it, Kristen? Like a five year old do that five or six year old finished the half marathon.

Like it's. Yeah, it's just a, it's a fun hill. There's everything on that hill.

Nicole: And if we want to book lessons with one or two or one of you,

how do we go about doing that? Do we just call the Silver Star Ski school and say like, I want Kristen, I want Karen. How does that work out?

Kristen: Yes, they're on the Silver Star website. You'll go on to like the lesson portion and it will have like probably a 1-800-number.

And then you will get transferred to someone that's working on the front desk. Otherwise there's an email. So the email right now, because it's off season when we're preparing that one is a little bit more reliable than the phone right now.

So you can just email.

It'll either be like Georgia or Jack and just say like, I would like to book a private lesson and I want to record request like Karen or Kristen. And then if you're wanting to request Karen,

put her last name as well. Now I'm sorry because we have another Karen.

Karen: Yeah. Or just M for the mountain. Yeah.

Nicole: And is there anything else that you, you all want to impart before we, we end our time with you? Is there any, like, last bits of wisdom?

Karen: I'm gonna say just don't be afraid to get out there,

no matter what your level or your ability.

Book a lesson or just go out and play around. Have fun. But don't be afraid to ski with people,

even if they're better than you. That's how you get better too.

And I can tell you, as somebody who skis with everyone,

I'm just happy to be out there skiing with you. So if you've got friends that you're like, oh my gosh, they're such good skiers, I'm not going to ski with them.

Go ski with them. Push yourself to do that. Even if you're going down the blue and they're bopping through the trees. It's all about being together out there and having fun.

Kristen: I think some of the best chats happen out on the hill or the chairlift as well,

where you all really connect. And I think that's why we're like the group we have. Like, we're such good friends.

Nicole: Well, thank you so much for this great product. I think it's going to help a lot of people get in touch with their mindful side on the mountain this year and hopefully have even better ski days.

So thank you very much.

Karen: Oh, thanks for having us. We really appreciate it.

Nicole: Hey ski moms. We hope you enjoyed today's episode and got some great tips for your next family ski adventure. If you had as much fun listening as we did making this episode, we'd love for you to hit that subscribe button so you never miss out on our latest episodes.

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