RED 11 Week Instructor Course 16/17 - Week 1

 Jane, 57, is on our 11 week instructor program in RED Mountain. Having skied all her life Jane was keen to take her technique to a new level and push herself. She found the time to join us for the season in British Columbia and will be posting a few guest blogs about her experiences.

We all arrived at Spokane airport last Monday and were met by Paul, our new host for the winter. He's the guy who makes sure we know where to go and what time to be there so our life is easy. Due to delayed flights we didn't arrive in Rossland until early Tuesday, but it was a chilled day for our jet lagged gang to get settled in.

Our group is a truly global one. Course members from France, England, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and US, with ages ranging from 18 to 57. Whilst diverse, what brings us all together is our love of all things skiing and riding.

Our first experience of the super cute community of Rossland didn’t disappoint. We had a guided tour of the town by Paul, a local Rosslander himself who knows the place like the back of his hand. Rossland is only about 10km from the USA border with Washington and is often touted as the start of the Powder Highway in British Columbia. The town itself is a 5 minute drive from RED Mountain and a free snow bus runs every hour between the two, giving easy access to the slopes.

We were also given a workshop on equipment by Mark Impey, the Course Director for RED Mountain. He ran through the types of skis that would be suitable in RED on the program, as well as the importance of well fitted boots and taking care of our gear. Rossland is a very welcoming community and over an evening dinner we met some local folks who made us feel at home right away.

We couldn’t wait to get going on Wednesday for our first day of coaching. Bluebird, but mighty cold. Mark raised the importance of safety on the mountain, which was very pertinent as the temperature was -18c so everyone needed lots of layers to keep warm and stay safe out there. This first day on the hill was just about getting back into skiing groove again and the feeling of sliding on snow.

Thursday was another bluebird day with cold temperatures persisting, but this of course meant fantastic snow quality both on groomed runs and in the trees. During the coaching we focussed on stance and balance, getting some ski miles under our belts and just generally having fun and enjoying the crowd free slopes. The clear weather continued on Friday with no wind and, as usual, zero crowds!  Wow… I think I died and went to heaven.  More skiing in the trees, interspersed with moguls and some runs on the groomers.

And to cap off a great first week at RED Mountain, we all went to experience our first real life Canadian ice hockey game in Trail, a small town about 10 minutes drive from Rossland, where the Trail Smoke Eaters were in action. Ice hockey is Canada's national sport and no trip to Canada would be complete without seeing grown men brawling on a slippery surface over a small puck they hit around with sticks.

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If skiing on uncrowded slopes is your thing, take a look at our RED Mountain program and discover how we will transform your skiing and open up a whole other side of the mountains to you. And you'll get instructor qualifications along the way.

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