HarbSki

Chris Brown

Given my background in the industrial field, it would have been more likely to find me building lifts rather than coaching skiers. I started skiing later in life, spending the first three years taking lessons and camps at Colorado resorts. Highly motivated to learn and improve, I almost gave up the sport as I became increasingly frustrated with my lack of progress.
While attending a prestigious camp with some highly-decorated World Cup skiers as hosts, my coach showed me a magazine article about a ski instructor claiming he could get skiers carving on intermediate terrain in as little as half a day: Harald Harb. I signed up for a half-day lesson and had Diana as an instructor. My skiing didn't change so much that day, but my partner's sure did after Diana installed some alignment shims for her. I could no longer recognize her on the hill. Although my challenges were movement-based, I could instantly see the validity of alignment and PMTS instruction. My passion for the sport was re-ignited!
I attended several camps over the next few seasons and then became accredited at the Green level. I studied everything about human anatomy -- especially the feet and ankles -- that Harald and Diana could feed me. With my background I naturally gravitated toward boot fitting, making footbeds, and doing alignment, recognizing that to really help other skiers I needed to be able to deliver the complete package, as it had been delivered to me.
I am now Blue-level accredited, I teach the Alignment Technician course, and I am working to become a Blue-level Trainer. I have been managing the Harb Ski Shop in Dumont since 2004 (hence my nickname, “The Shop Guy”). I get to work with skiers from all over the world, from beginners through World Cup racers. They're not letting me coach the World Cuppers (yet!), but it is very satisfying to help skiers from outfitting them, to aligning them, to coaching them on the hill.

 Walter Edberg

Walter decided in the late 80s to make a career change and moved to the Lake Tahoe area to become a ski instructor. He has been a full-time instructor around the lake since that time. He is one of the most requested instructors at Alpine Meadows and has been on Ski Magazine's Top-100 Instructors list. Besides alpine skiing, he is involved in telemark skiing as an instructor and guest clinician at several western telemark festivals.

Walter and his family spend the off-season aboard "Dream Aweigh", a 50-foot cutter rig sailboat, cruising the Caribbean.

Walter has known Harald since the mid-90s and started studying and teaching PMTS since its inception. He has a Blue-level accreditation and teaches at several camps each season.

"I look forward each season to the Harb Ski Camps and the shared mutual growth and camaraderie of all attending, coaches and campers alike. Through Harald and Diana's tutelage I continue to grow and evolve as a skier and coach and it is my pleasure to pass this on to all whom I ski with."

Maria Fermoile

Maria is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and a Board Certified Orthopedic Specialist who lives in Fresno, California. Maria began her journey with Harb Ski Systems as a "camper" in 1999 after reading Anyone Can Be An Expert Skier 1. As a physical therapist, Maria instantly recognized and personally experienced the impact of skier alignment.

"Once I experienced the impact of skier alignment and PMTS technique there was no turning back! Motor learning is a process that is based on learning fundamental movements, progressively refining movements and ultimately integrating the movements to skill. PMTS teaches the skier to make the smallest most refined movement to accomplish the achieve the expert skill of skiing while creating and maintaining balance."

After the first camp, Maria became a certified Green level instructor and alignment technician. Maria immediately began to spread the word about skier alignment and PMTS in California. Maria started a Preseason ski fitness class in Fresno and began to introduce local skiers to PMTS and skier alignment. The following year Maria became a Blue level coach and has been a coach for Harb Ski Systems ever since!

Twelve years later Maria's passion to understand and improve human movement continues across the spectrum from prevention of injury, to rehabilitation from injury or pathology, to achieving skill. She continues to teach pre-season ski fitness classes, offers skier alignment services and PMTS coaching in CA. Maria brings her passion and knowledge to Harb Ski Systems and continues the evolution of understanding expert skiing through working with skiers of all ability levels and coaching at Harb Ski Systems camps.

Jasper Heinsius

I was, so to speak, born with skis on. My father started an indoor ski deck in the Netherlands back in 1989 and I spent most of my time there growing up. Since the age of 17 I started teaching skiing and snowboarding there as well. My passion for skiing resulted in me now being co-owner. Since 11 years we happily teach according to the PMTS Direct Parallel. We always search for the best method to teach our students and we believe PMTS is  an advanced method that best meets the needs of our students and clearly distinguishes us from other ski decks in the Netherlands. We have been participating at PMTS camps in Europe ever since. I am now a Blue-level accredited instructor. Next to our own ski camps we organize each year, I started coaching at Harb Ski Camps since last year.

What I enjoy most about coaching at the camps is being able to let people enjoy skiing to the fullest by equipping them with proper techniques.

 Bob Hintermeister

Bob's bio coming soon!

 Lynn Horwitz

The 2011-2012 season is Lynn's 19th as a ski instructor.  She was a lab rat in the earliest PMTS experiments, and has been learning and exploring the system ever since.  As a Green Level instructor she has worked as a trainer in the Midwest with various ski schools and ski clubs and has coached for Harb Ski Systems for several years.  On her off hours, she runs the knit shop in Chicago that she owns.

Kris Kruse

Kris (aka "girl Kris" as opposed to "boy" or "shop" Chris) grew up skiing and teaching skiing on Mt. Hood.  After various travels around the US for her education (DVM, PhD, and Boarded Anesthesiologist), she joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin - Madison and in her spare time was the Technical Director at Tyrol Basin Ski Area Ski and Snowboard School.  She became involved with PMTS around 1998 and converted the Tyrol Basin Ski School to PMTS Direct Parallel soon after.  She has been involved in PMTS instructor training and accreditation events and Harb Ski System camps since then.

Kris currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area and train instructors and teaches students at Tahoe.  She continues to coach Harb Ski Camps and loves the enthusiasm for learning that the campers bring each year.  She is currently working on incorporating stretching, functional movement screening and corrective mobility into her ski coaching repertoire. When not skiing, her "day" job is as Medical Director at AnimalScan in Redwood City, a MRI center for pets (and the occasional sea lion!)

Rich Messer

My degree is in education, but my education in skiing began in high school when I started teaching children. My first formal training occurred when I passed level one in CSIA, just after my 18th birthday. Level two followed and in college I taught nights for the PE program as well as weekends and holidays at Stratton in Vermont.  In 1971 I attained full PSIA certification and became a trainer and examiner shortly there after in the eastern division. While a trainer at Stratton, I met Harald, hot off the Canadian national team and ready to teach skiers—sort of. In spite of our technical differences we became good friends and even dated sisters for a time! I moved on to become ski school director at Glen Ellen in Vermont, now part of Sugarbush, and spent 4 summers in New Zealand winters and earned my NZSIA certification.

Reality finally set in and I left the ski business for a 15-year career in the electronics business, running the US division of a large Japanese company with full profit and loss responsibilities and too much travel. Life changes and priorities led me to a simpler life, and I was skiing again. Then a PSIA journal arrived with news that Harald was on the PSIA demo team. This I had to see. The next season found me in Winter Park, CO, and a renewal of our friendship. PMTS was under development and mating the system to shaped skis showed the clear superiority of the approach. I was, and am, convinced it’s the best way to learn to ski. The last 15 years have been spent as a trainer, examiner, and camp coach—all rewarding. I am thankful to the people that I have met, for my personal skiing improvement courtesy of Diana, the great information exchange with my fellow coaches, and the wonderful diversity of our clients. It's been a great ride as I move on to part-time retirement. Keep tipping your feet—MORE!!!

Jay Peterson

I come from a family of athletes and skiers. As an adolescent, I was a competitive freestyle skier and skied in two nationals. I learned from classic freestylers such as Eddie Ferguson, Eddie Lincoln, Robert Young and Karen Huntoon.

After I stopped competing, I worked as a climbing guide in the Northwest for  almost 10 years, Much of this time, I shunned ski areas, opting instead to earn my turns on 3-pin and randonee gear. Eventually, I began an university career in education, including advising/counseling, curriculum design and evaluation, but I continued to back-country ski and climb.

While on an ice climbing vacation, a good friend of mine suggested that we attend one of the first Harb Ski Systems (HSS) camps at Kicking Horse BC.  Even with my skiing background, it was immediately obvious to me that PMTS could greatly improve my skiing on every level, so I attended several camps as a student.

Having a career in education, I was amazed at the master teaching of the HSS coaches. I was learning more about teaching and motivating people than I had in any university environment.  I began learning everything that I could from HSS about skiing, teaching, and boot/alignment work.

Harald, Diana, and the not-quite-retired Rich Messer revitalized my passion for skiing and finally in 2009, I quit my job at a major university to go back to skiing full time as a HSS coach and owner of Skiersynergy.com in the Mt. Hood area.

Now, I am skiing around the world, year round, with fantastic groups of people who are excited to be in the mountains learning as much as they can about skiing. Now, what most people hope for in their dream vacations, I do for a living! See you at the next camp! 

Max Sherwood

Max's bio coming soon!