By Andy & Sue Ost
Week 4 started with a shuffle of the lesson groups. The focus for this week’s lessons and technical session was the skills and standards expected for Level 1 and the courses available to us afterwards. Repeat after me… check out snowpro.com!
Tuesdays for some of us are evening classes. Those of us doing sports massage learned about pre-event karate chop style massaging this week.
Wednesday ended in pain and injury- well, skiing is a very dangerous sport after all. Tobogganing on the other hand, is “super” dangerous, which also makes it great fun! After a near miss with a snow cannon and a painful collision, we decided to retire to The Wood for a few drinks to numb the pain.
On Thursday we had our lessons in Kimberley- an hour and a half away. The sun was shining (a novelty for us), giving us fantastic views of the Rockies. Those thinking of taking the Park and Pipe course played in the terrain park. The rest of us enjoyed the trees.
This weekend’s credit activity was a trip to watch the NHL in Calgary where we saw the Flames beat St. Louis. The Saddledome was a seriously impressive stadium, but somehow with all the breaks for adverts and the distance from the ice, it just wasn’t as exciting as the Fernie Ghostriders. (And there were no fights!)
After the game, we made our way to the notorious Cowboys night club. The boys looked like children in a sweet shop with all the flesh on show. The ‘boobie shot’ was enjoyed by most blokes and even at least one girl (naming no names!)
Saturday began quite slowly- not just for us, but for the rest of Calgary, which didn’t seem to wake up to about midday. We wandered around the shops in a daze before it was time to go home. It was nice to be back in the mountains and see snow again!
On Sunday, half of us had private lessons to help prepare for the Level 1 course and I think most of us are starting to notice a huge improvement in our skiing.
READ WEEK 5
By Sarah Witte & Paul Tindle
What can we say? Another awesome week with NONSTOP Snowboard. This week was our first day trip away from Fernie. We went to Castle Mountain where the conditions weren’t great but it had a lot of potential.
We also went to our first hockey game, the Fernie Ghost Riders and now we’re their number one fans. The games are great, you get drunk and shout lots of abuse at the opposition. Woohoo!
Looking forward to more of what Fernie has to offer. Yeah Baby!
READ WEEK 4
After a busy previous week, with plenty of social input, you could suddenly feel the increase in focus on the ski hill. The rise in tension driven by the impending Level 1 exams has led to some close scrutiny and real fine tuning of our skiing/riding and teaching techniques. The instructors are still great fun and always innovative but the pressure to perform remains.
Hopefully with this self-critical view, by the time of the Level 1, we will fly through!
Around half of the course attended a Wilderness First Aid Course last weekend (the remainder will go this weekend). The two days were split between theory and practical work with emphasis on emergency care of accidents in resort but also in the backcountry. There were some real comedy moments as we practiced bandaging and dressing each other for all sorts of ailments. Everyone wanted to out do one another on the ‘comprehensive care’ they could offer leaving the patient trussed up heavily. However with our backcountry skiing weekend looming there was a serious side to this training as with the avalanche awareness course last week.
Socially, there have been some great nights out including pub golf on Wednesday and Wild Bills on Thursday. You’d have thought that this was a great chance to meet with the locals but many of the seasonaires are starting to wonder if they really got off the plane in Canada as Banff seems to be totally run by Aussies! Asking Grant ( the Course director) the reason for this they were greeted with his (now trademark) answer to any question ‘that’s a great question guys’!
Don’t look now but we may be qualified ski and snow board instructors in two weeks…keep reading for the latest!
READ WEEK 5
Week 5 Blingin!
High jinks and fancy dress shenanigans were the order of the week with the central theme being Bling. You’ll have to wait to hear all about it from the horses mouth but check out the photos!
READ WEEK 6
By Adam Gunter
It has been a long time ambition of mine to become a ski instructor as I live for adventure and fun. I was getting bored of the day to day, nine to five job back in the UK. So what better place to learn than in Fernie, BC where the snow keeps falling, the mountains are big and people’s thirst for enjoyment is even bigger.
I am now only in my 3rd week of a 11 week course and already I have learnt and participated in so much that is on offer. For example, I went to a resort with a small group of skiers from the course. It was only 2 hours away from Fernie and called, Castle Mountain. It started off as a beautiful sunny morning and little did I know, it was going to get even better.
Once at the top of the mountain about 7000ft. above sea level, I could see spectacular panoramic views of the surrounding mountains and valleys. There was fresh wind blown powder on the challenging black runs. I couldn’t wait to try it out.
Two friends and I set off down a great gladed run. We were flying through pine trees, twisting and turning, sliding through the snow. It was a 15 minute descent that was the time of my life! This experience was by far the best days skiing I had ever done and I was full of adrenalin and excitement. And this is just the beginning!
READ WEEK 4
Tom | February 14th, 2006
