Jose (the self proclaimed crazy Frenchman from Quebec)

When I arrived in Whistler Blackcomb I signed up for the Ride Tribe. It is like ski school, but its for snowboarders who aren't beginners.

My instructor for the first two days was Andy. He was fun, but he liked riding the alpine, (the high part of the mountain) so there was any time to practice rotations and spinning. Then Jose came along.

Jose is self proclaimed crazy Frenchman from Quebec that uses a doll (he also claims its an action figure) to teach some cool stuff. The third day we spent the entire learning how to spin. Surprisingly, the doll he named Terje (after the pro-snowboarder) helped tremendously.

I explained to him the progression I put together and he molded it slightly to his liking.

Since I already could do flat-land 360s, he suggested that we start the morning by doing jumps. All mornings that is all we did whether it was in the park or on the side of the run; we hit jumps everywhere.

The purpose of this was to master the pop or ollie. The pop or ollie highlights the board's contained energy. Once your front foot leaves the top of the jump, you lean on the tail till it bends, and then you release it to get your pop. He said once we perfected the ollie, spinning would become 100 times easier.

After lunch he decided we were ready to start spinning

This biggest thing he emphasized was the setup carve in the approach. He told us to be almost spinning by the time you get to the lip or the top of the jump. He showed us this by making us go off the jump at an angle. By doing this were pre-winding more than we would normally would. This was very helpful. He also mentioned to look over the shoulder and explode the shoulders at the take off.

At this point spinning was getting easier and easier.

This entire day was a 10/10. Jose is the man and he will never be forgotten. 

"What did the snowman say to the other snowman? Does it smell like carrots over here? No! It tastes like rocks" -Jose (one of his priceless jokes)