Season 2013/14 so far…
What a great start to 2013/14 season with record early snow falls. My first trip out was in October as part of our pre season training with our Snow Centre school to partner resort Solden. This was the week before the world cup opener and the snow was fantastic! This week gives our team a great opportunity to train together and get ready for the winter season.
November all current BASI trainers attend our annual refresher and this year this took place in the home of British skiing, Aviemore! It was great to be back up in the highlands and this especially close to me as its where I passed my final technical exam ( Grade 1 National ski teacher) back in the day. As I write this now 2 months on from our conference Scotland is enjoying a good season s far with the resorts open.
Back at The Snow Centre we have seen the busiest winter so far since we opened in 2009. Its great to see people making snowsports part of their lifestyle. The Snow Centre has really provided a venue and opportunity for people to participate on a regular basis and we are now seeing some great performance levels in some of the young children who started here back when we first opened.
December saw our training trip out to Hintertux with my other business www.alpinecoachingsnowsports.com Myself along with trainers Ali Smith, Guy Nason and Richi Grassl had a great week coaching our snowsport fans. Weather was fine ( blue sky) with perfect on pste snow conditions. Great for woring on the technical piste turns ( long and short). Off piste was very limited at during that period although we found the odd challenge : )
Since then its been full tilt at The Snow Centre but I have been getting out on the slope 3 or 4 times a week to train with the team. Next week Im off out to Switzerland ( Hoch Ybrig) for a short trip to see how my son Dan is getting on teaching with the Swiss ski school. Its a new resort for me so looking forwards to that.
Our next big challenge is the Feb half term holidays which is our busiest time, then its the Sochi winter games which I hope will inspire many more people both young and old in to trying a snowsport.
Im leading an adventure trip down to Macedonia in early March ( see last years blog on skiing in Macedonia) to ski some off piste. The snow fall in the Balkans has been more progressive than the Alps so im hoping by March we should have a reasonable base. They had a fresh 10cm last night ( 15/1/14). They still need more as its been little bits at a time.
I will update on the up and coming trips. Enjoy the mountains and stay safe.