Instructors on their way to teach the morning lessons were always jumping into formation, performing intricate manouvers and high speed crossovers to entice the public to take lessons with the hottest skiers on the mountain.
That tradition hasn't changed much during the last sixty years, with the exception of the addition of snowboard and telemark instructors to ski school rosters. In the mid - 1980's.

With a ski school pushing 1,100 instructors in 1988, Vail/Beaver Creek Ski School organized an inter - ski school synchronized skiing competition.

Teams consisting of four skiers, performing one 300m long run in front of ski school managers and supervisors, skied their way down Gold Peak in formations, some of which were made up just moments before. The event was held every Tuesday over a four week period and involved 15 teams.

This competition was so sucessful that Walt Chauner, an instructor from Vail, organized try - outs for a single Vail team; a team went on to compete against the newly formed Crested Butte program. Vail lost that one on one competition and then challenged Crested Butte to a rematch the following year (1988) won, and brought the title to Vail.

Since that time, the event now known as The Battle remained in Vail through 2000, even though both Aspen (1990 & 1991) and Deer Valley (1995) have won the titles in the past, before moving to Whistler, B.C. in 2001.

Now, in 2005, the skiing/riding world will see the 3rd annual Eastern Powder 8 Ski Championships at Jay Peak Resort, scheduled for the 10th and 11th of February, an event designed by Synchroski.Com to promote sport development with eastern resorts. Expecting a field of twelve teams or more, the event will be presented by Synchroski.Com's Sponsors Pool, including Red Bull, Karbon, Atomic, Simon Pearce, Swany, Rudy Project and more, serving as a prelude to the 2005 National Synchro Ski Championships in Aspen, Colorado and the US National Powder 8 Championships at Big Sky, Montana.