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Mammoth Achievement for Frederictonian Beairsto

Magazine ranks her among top 100 ski instructors

By Scott Briggs

For The Daily Gleaner

Fredericton’s Kelly Beairsto has been hurling downhill since she was six. But after almost 30 years of going downhill, her career has shot upward.

Beairsto, 35, has been a downhill ski instructor since 1984. She’s set to begin her third consecutive season at Mammoth Mountain California. When that season is over, she’s heading for Las Leñas, Argentina to instruct students for the summer season.

Overall, she has instructed 20 different winter and summer seasons combined. And it turns out all the teaching, travel and time have been worth it. Beairsto was recently recognized by Skiing magazine as being one of the top 100 ski instructors in North America.

The glossy monthly based in Boulder Colorado, rated its top 100 instructors for the third consecutive year.

The distinction is awarded to someone whose excellence is recognized by peers, who promotes sound technique and changes a student’s whole mind-set, instilling true passion for skiing, the publication states.

The magazine divides the top 100 recipients into different states. Beairsto was listed under California for her work at Mammoth Mountain.

“ I found out when my parents called me about it after the magazine had come out in September,” remembers Beairsto. “They said ‘Congratulations’, and I asked ‘For what?’ I didn’t know what they were talking about, and then they told me about the article.”

Beairsto was in Argentina when she received the good news. But if not for her brother, Jeff, the family wouldn’t have found out so soon – if at all. One of Jeff’s friends told him about it.

One of Beairsto’s peers working at Mammoth Mountain was also ranked in this year’s top 100. In addition to working there, he was also instructing in Argentina when Beairsto’s parents – Fred and Dixie – called to congratulate their daughter. “I live in a staff residence down there. He just happened to be walking by the phone when my parents called and so I called him over and my Dad got to tell him the news at the same time,” laughed Beairsto.

Beairsto, a 1980 graduate of Fredericton High School who graduated from the University of New Brunswick in 1985 with an Education Degree has worked in Banff, Alberta, Sugarloaf Maine and Australia. Her first full-time instructing came at Crabbe Mountain, where she was encouraged by ski school director Judy Rust (now Judy Murphy).

Throughout all those years, however, she has been California dreamin’. While many people dream about the west coast for vacation, Beairsto is happy to call it her work place.

“I remember in Grade 9 thinking when I grew up I was going to be a ski instructor. And then I followed the normal course of action and went to university and everything. But I always had a really strong attraction to the mountains, and always enjoyed working with people and being outdoors.”

That passion drove her to travel to Banff, where she worked at Sunshine Village.

“That’s how it really started. At first I thought of it as a temporary career for three or four years, and then I would enter the real world,” joked Beairsto,” but I met people who taught both seasons and actually made a living at it and made it their profession for life,” she added.

Along the way, Beairsto has benefited from meeting people of different cultures. For example, all her seasons in Argentina are taught in Spanish.

“When I got to Argentina, I thought that I might have jumped the gun a little bit. I took a small introductory Spanish course before I went. But I was still unprepared. People were speaking to, me in Spanish and I didn’t understand, but when you’re immersed, you have no other choice but to learn.”

Helping others learn, of course, is what Beairsto’s job is all about. “There’s a satisfaction of being able to help people at a sport that I still have a passion for. I enjoy it so much, and when I can make it easier and more enjoyable for someone else, I get my reward through their satisfaction – that’s probably the best thing about my job.”

“Being active, traveling, meeting new people, experiencing new cultures. Some of the benefits are obvious. At the same time, instructors can’t afford to be complacent.”

“I think that the constant challenge is to always treat each person as an individual. Although you may have seen somebody very similar to them before with the same skiing problem, you have to treat each person as a special person and meet their individual needs,” explained Beairsto, who has taught both beginners and advanced.

Overall there’s one out of the hundreds who still sticks out. While at Sugarloaf about eight years ago, she instructed a nine-year-old deaf boy. She taught the boy on weekends and holidays, gaining a wealth of knowledge about communication. She learned sign language and the two still keep in touch.

“You want to make it fun while they’re still learning. It’s always a challenge – making that human connection.”