History of the Western Division:
Skiers in California wanted an opportunity to secure a sanctioned event and invite the world to experience what California had to offer. To do this, California needed a statewide organization affiliated with the National Ski Association (NSA).
The California Ski Association (CSA) was admitted into the NSA at the annual convention held on December 14, 1930. The CSA grew out of a loose alliance of ski clubs organizing and regulating jumping, cross country, and primitive downhill (speed skiing) events in California and Nevada. CSA’s focus turned to sanctioning skiing events, including the 1932 Winter Olympic Games, which they lost to Lake Placid, NY. Yosemite and Big Pines bid for the Olympics, but the world saw California as the “Land of Sunshine and Flowers” and couldn’t believe there was any snow in the state. In addition, many in California didn’t want the world to know they had snow because they thought it would hurt tourism.
In the early 30s, the CSA, in coordination with the Forest Service, had established a committee to work out a “Plan for Certification of Ski Instructors” and to standardize teaching. The first “official” examination of the Instructor Committee of the California Ski Association was held at Sugar Bowl in 1931. The examiners were Otto Steiner, Charles Proctor, Joel Hildebrandt, and Cortland Hill.
World War II interrupted skiing as it did everything else in the early 1940s.
The California Ski Instructors Association was not legally incorporated until 1947, the first professional ski instructor organization in the United States. The CSIA held their first exams at Sky Tavern / Mount Rose later that year. Otto Steiner was elected President of the new organization and a founding father of our organization. Other significant names early in our division’s history include Luggi Foeggi, Amiele Alias, Ray Patten, Bill Winthers, Peter Piccard, Georges Dessaux, Bill McMains, and Nic Fiore. At the CSA convention on October 29, 1948, the association officially changed its name to Far West Ski Association (FWSA) to conform to the designations of the other divisions of the National Ski Association, which later became the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA), and to have a name more representative of the geographical area it encompassed – California, Nevada, and Hawaii. The annual convention was also changed from fall to spring. With the name change of the CSA to FWSA, the California Ski Instructors Association went to the Far West Ski Instructors Association (FWSIA). This was done further to differentiate the competitive organization of the instructors’ association.
The Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) was established in 1961. This was the first step in organizing several ski associations throughout the United States. See the link at the bottom of the page.
In September of 1979, the Western Division’s Board of Directors passed a resolution to change the association’s name from FWSIA to Western Professional Ski Instructors Association (WPSIA). A vote of the membership would take place via a stamped postcard ballot in the October 1979 edition of the Gliding Wedge newsletter. The resolution passed.
The Board felt the name change would benefit the membership in several ways as it would add the word “Professional” to our name. It would also more closely align us with the PSIA in the eyes of the public as well as give us an advantage in national advertising. It also separated us from the confusion with FWSA, which focused on racing. By this time, Eastern EPSIA), Central (CPSIA), and Northern Intermountain (NIPSIA) had all adopted their name changes.
In 1981/82, the division’s name changed, once again, continuing to be more and more aligned with the national organization; hence PSIA Western was adopted.
Several regions in the PSIA were teaching snowboarding in the late 1970s and early 80s, including resorts in the Western Division. The first snowboard training and education programs were started by PSIA in 1987. Though many regional exam manuals were written across the country, the first official PSIA snowboard instructor manual was published in 1989. Snowboard Skiing, as it was referred to then, certification exams in the Western Division did not take place until the season of 1989/90. The first exams were Associate Certified (Level 2 today). The winter of 1991/92 saw the first Snowboard Skiing Full Certified exams.
In the winter of 1993, the PSIA, as well as the other divisions, changed the names of the Certification Levels from Associate Certified to Level 2 and Full Certified to Level 3.
The PSIA formed an affiliated association with the American Association of Snowboard Instructors (AASI) in 1997 and became PSIA-AASI. The Western division followed suit, and the PSIA W became PSIA-AASI W.
