Banff 11-week Instructor Course Diary – Week 6
Week 6
So even the talent of our course leaders was pushed to the limit this week – how do you entertain 55 newly qualified ski and snowboard instructors who are ready to let out all the stress of the previous week’s level 1 evaluation? It went a bit like this……
They got us all ‘AMPed’ for a week of all mountain skiing –drop-ins, chutes, trees, bumps, jumps, ‘expression runs’ – we were let loose on all types of terrain, given some tasks we needed to complete and encouraged to attack the mountain in the best ways we could – and we all happily obliged! Some of the best wipeouts of the course happened this week, with many of us making friends with different trees……the days ended with a good old shred of the pistes, showing the world that ‘edge in phase three’ can be a sight to behold and can also send fear into the hearts of any beginners passed nearby….
Wednesday we got stuck into some competition – ski racing at Norquay. It started with each group being given some tips about how to approach the course and find the best lines, and ended with us all throwing ourselves through the gates, determined to beat anyone and everyone who dared to take us on. Pre-race odds were ripped up in the first few runs, with Rupert struggling to find his racing lines. Louise and Badger, Floor and Anne battled hard – with Mike and Anna capturing all on camera, including a great gate-hugging moment from Tom…..
Thursday was a particularly big day, as for the first time the snowboarders and skiers went out together – hiking to untracked runs, hunting for powder stashes in the trees, following each other’s lines and discovering parts of the mountain that we hadn’t seen during the level one – an awesome day. All of this worked to the ‘All Mountain Pro’ Level one assessment, specifically designed for Nonstop. Most impressive was that we stuck to the pact made at the start of the day that we wouldn’t take each other out!
As is the standard on this course, there were plenty of capers off the slopes as well. Superbowl Sunday was huge – chilli dog buffet and drinking games through three hours of American Football – all of which led to a night at Aurora. Martin walked away as the poker champion on Monday, a good time was had by all at the Snowtubing on Wednesday, with others choosing instead to eat some serious Chicken Wings at the 35c wing night at the Paddock. 7$ litre jars of Pilsner, Hoodoo Lounge and Stu’s ‘gorilla’ move followed dinner in the Elk and Oarsmen on Thursday, in preparation for Saturday’s main event.
Early afternoon Saturday, we headed to Calgary for the Flames vs Ducks ice hockey game, and to meet some colleagues from Fernie. With a licensed coach in tow, everyone tucked into a few pre-match drinks and we headed for dinner before heading to the game. The Nonstop section in the Saddledome came to life as the game progressed and following the Flames’ 3-1 win, we all hit the Tantra club in Calgary and partied hard with the Fernie guys before returning to Banff. Ant is still convinced that he can dance.
CSIA Level 2 / All Mountain Pro Level starts this week, so with another c6 weeks to go, plenty of fun to have and stories to create……
By Andy Fletcher – Banff 11-week Course
Read all of the other course diaries for the Banff 11 week instructor course here.
Find out how to take part in Banff ski instructor courses here.
And check out the Banff snowboard instructor courses here.
