Seasonal statistics: Winter 2018-2019 by the numbers

, 5 min, 885 words

Tags: adventuring ems national-ability-center teaching

Well, it's the shoulder season again. That means transitions and an opportunity for reflection. Like last season, I thought a statistical view of the experience would be interesting, so here it is!

Ski instructing

First off, I skied a total of 108 days this season. Not all of those were full days, and the total includes days I spent teaching on the magic carpet just as much as days I skied hard all day with friends.

Lesson statistics

  • Total lessons: 94. This includes both half-day and full-day lessons. I wish I'd kept track of distinct students versus students I taught repeatedly, but I'd estimate I taught about 70-75 students throughout the season.
  • Training hours: 80 or so after our orientation week. This included bi-ski tethering camp, learning to guide and teach people with visual impairments, learning to monoski, skills trainings, a memorable prosthetics clinic, and several others that don't come to mind immediately. One of my big goals this winter was to learn a ton, and I think I can call that a success! Corollary: I am also proud to now be a certified PSIA adaptive level one instructor.
  • Between teaching and training and helping out around the mountain center, I worked a total of around 83 days.

Weather stats

Coldest weather I remember: around -17 Fahrenheit in the mornings one week in January. Solid toe-warmer weather, in my opinion.

Hottest weather I remember: somewhere in the forties and sunny our last couple weeks (so late March and the first week of April). Sheesh was this hot.

More info to be calculated if I get motivated to parse a file full of historical weather data.

Tutoring

In addition to ski instructing, I also did a bit of tutoring to keep myself busy, and helping people understand difficult material is every bit as fun as getting someone out on the snow for the first time.

  • Total tutoring sessions: ~30
  • Students impacted: 5

EMT training

Finally, this winter I pursued something I've wanted to do for a long time: I took an EMT-basic course. I finished up the course at the end of March, and now I'm waiting to take my national registry written test. The whole process was a real joy. I learned a ton about the human body and ways it can malfunction under pressure. I also learned about teamwork and the everyday courage of thousands of first responders across the country. I've been accumulating some notes here, which I hope to add to as I have time.

  • Official hours of classtime: 92
  • Additional hours of pathophysiology and skills practice: ~12?
  • Hours spent reading and studying outside of class: jeez I have no idea, but definitely a lot.
  • Practice patient assessments: ~110

Finances

Alright, fair warning: I’m about to talk about money. If you’re uncomfortable with that in any way, skip to the rest of the post and stop reading now. I’ll write a little filler and then stick in some blank lines so nothing hits you in the face. Have a nice day!

 

First, income!

  • Total income: $8,221

    • Of that, 60% was pay from the NAC (after tax), 12% from tips (before tax), and 28% from tutoring.

And expenses!

  • Total expenses: $7,238

    • Education expenses: $1,600. Almost all of this went to course fees ($940), equipment ($280 - those textbooks are pricey), Utah Bureau fees ($100), and miscellaneous bureaucratic stuff (the rest). The remainder went to PSIA certification as an adaptive instructor. You'll note this was nearly a quarter of my expenses, and it doesn't include gas costs of commuting to and from class. Whew.
    • Another quarter of my expenses were health-related, including over $1,500 paying for health insurance.
    • The rest of my expenses were focused on food, transport, a short vacation in southern Utah after the season, and miscellaneous day-to-day expenses.

To be honest, I'm not thrilled with my finances this season. I guess working for a nonprofit as an instructor isn't particularly...well, profitable. And with substantial educational expenses, my take-home savings were a little less than $1000.

 

Up next

From here, I'm heading up to Washington State as a sea kayak guide for Anacortes Kayak Tours. I'm thrilled to explore the San Juan Islands and get to know an incredible area. Stay tuned for training vignettes and fun adventures.

To be honest, I wasn't thrilled with my finances this winter. If I choose to go back next winter, I'd likely seek out more tutoring opportunities to pay for my adaptive ski instructing habit, and cut back on expenses like eating out, plus hopefully reducing my educational expenses.