NONSTOP Ski & Snowboard Blog » 04/05 Seasonaire Diaries

Red Mountain 11 Week Ski and Snowboard Instructor Course ’05 – Week 11

Tom NONSTOP — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:14:01 +0000

Level 2 assesment

Level 2 courses held at Whitewater after Red Mountain shut early due to poor snow. Whitewater has faired better but the slopes are sheet ice or very packed snow and skiing requires a lot of concentration. Two days in a miracle happens, it starts snowing. On Wednesday we arrive to an inch or two of fresh snow. Thursday its become four or five. By the Friday final exam we are in boot deep pow on the pistes. I blame that for the way I skied, I hadn’t seen pow for 10 weeks!

The level 2’s go well – everyone passed some aspect of the course, either skiing, teaching and half the group got the full qualification. Beers were raised in salutation and there was plenty of good humour to be had. The decision had been made to stay in Nelson for the evening and a big night out at the local bars and clubs followed. I think. To be honest I don’t remember that much!

Red Mountain 11 Week Ski and Snowboard Instructor Course ’05 – Week 10

Tom NONSTOP — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:11:20 +0000

Level 2 prep

Level 2 course begins next week so we are all in a panic – those who want to work as instructors in NZ or Oz shortly desperately need the 2, others want to come back to Canada next year and the 2 makes a huge difference to their chances. Others simply want to do the course and try for the qualification unsure what they will do with it if successful. It’s a reasonably quiet week though we all sneak out for the music quiz at the Steamshovel on Wednesday – once again we come second. I don’t like to seem like a bad sport and say it’s a fix but….

Disaster struck at the weekend – Red Mountain was closing down for the season due to lack of snow. The best part of 6 weeks without snow had seen the pistes go from lush powder to packed snow, slush and eventually browned with dirt coming through the surface. We all trooped up for one last ski and to collect our ski gear from the lockers.

READ WEEK 11

Fernie 11 Week Ski and Snowboard Instructor Course ’05 – Week 9

Tom NONSTOP — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:09:23 +0000

USA trip, road hockey and cat skiing…

On Saturday morning, around 40 seasonaires were packed on to a bus and carted off to Whitefish, Montana in the U.S of A, hell yeah! With the snow conditions being almost replica of the conditions in Fernie, most of the day was spent buying ridiculously cheap gear and drinking the (almost) free drink!

That evening we all went to Buffalo Bill’s saloon bar, where the first couple of hours of this momentous evening were spent. With drinks being still at such cheap prices, it was long before most of the nonstoppers were nothing short of inebriated! Well it was our duty as British citizens. Various tales of the evening are around somewhere but would be censored if found. Here are a couple of tellable stories, Dougi and Jim didn’t get back till the laterhours of the morning and Simon spent the evening in a hot tub…not by himself!

Apart from lessons this week, there was a level 2 skiing course and the skiers freestyle course, with Captain (James Hallam) passing his level 2 and a very high pass rate amongst the freestylers. On Thursday, we all took part in the road hockey tournament, just a it started to snow…did I say snow? Oh yeah, thank the Griz! The hockey was full of laughs with the added of comedy value of not really being able to see the ball! Pete’s house (plus moi in a one off guest star appearance) team won the $50 gift certificate given generously to us by the Pub. The next day was the first day of the cat-skiing, with some real pow-pow for everyone to rip up!

Fernie 11 Week Ski and Snowboard Instructor Course ’05 – Week 8

Tom NONSTOP — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:05:28 +0000

Night skiing at Powderkeg and avalanche course

It was the turn of the snowboarders this week to do the recreational avalanche course, which took up Sunday and Monday, while the skiers had their normal lessons. The only shame about the RAC being this weekend was the fact it was on Griz days, the annual “party” weekend in Fernie; basically it just meant that we had to queue to get in the pubs for once! The social activity organized for this week was a trip nightskiing to Powderkeg. A lot of people weren’t quite sure what to expect having been told that the snow conditions were there were no better than Fernie’s at the time. We arrived to fairly icy conditions but this didn’t stop any of us from having a wicked time. After a couple of runs on the normal piste, a big majority of people decided to brave the terrain park, lots of jibbing, grabbing and pictures were taken.

After such a session, everyone was to be found at the ridiculously cheap bar and after a few drinks each we headed home to Fernie. We made a stop to another pub but we hardly needed to thanks to Jim’s (crash test) never-ending supply of vodka! When we eventually stumbled (I’m not naming names…Cory) off the bus in Fernie, many believed their beds were calling for them. How mistaken they were. Those of us with the party spirit decided to head to the Royal, the walk there perhaps taking longer than necessary. We stayed there till past closing time, to be invited to an impromptu party at Pete’s house. The last of us guests left at around quarter to five in the morning. While lots of raucous fun is being had off the piste, we really need the Griz to start doing his job again and in the words of that famous song “let it snow…”.

READ WEEK 9

Red Mountain 11 Week Ski and Snowboard Instructor Course ’05 – Week 8

Tom NONSTOP — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:01:09 +0000

The lessons continue – I was still working toward a final assessment for my Level One after failing at the first ask, as were three others in the group. Of 16 skiers 10 were intent on taking their level two’s and you could feel the pressure on them to perform. Personally I was hanging off every word Salsa said and tried to follow his teaching without words (patent pending!) lessons.

Respite from this pressure came in the form of a pub crawl to Northport, Wa USA. A short run over the border into the US from Red you come to the town of Northport. I’m not sure its on a map but it is the stereotype of small town America. Red neck bars with peanut shells on the floor, both kinds of music on the stereo (that’s Country AND Western) and huge plates of food. After a meal at the towns dinner come bar (which to be fair was a pretty damn good steak) we headed over to Kuks Bar – a place made famous by Mark’s enthusiasm for it explaining it offered dancing and skittles. There was a mechanical skittles game with a curious scoring system and the dance floor was a four by four patch of lino. Without a hint of irony I put Jack and Diane and Born in the USA on the duke box.
The end of the week brought me a shiny little CSIA badge and a successful level one pass followed by the all important party! Cue the hangover.

READ WEEK 10

Fernie 11 Week Ski and Snowboard Instructor Course ’05 – Week 7

Tom NONSTOP — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:57:39 +0000

Avalanche course and griz parade

The week started with the recreational avalanche course. Two days of new knowledge presented to them by our very own Dave Richards. The rest of the week consisted of the usual lessons. On Wednesday and Thursday, the seasonaires were given the option of going to a Raclette at Birch Meadow’s B & B, both evenings were very successful with people eating more than enough! On the Friday, some of the Banff and Red NonStopSki seasonaires arrived and we had a mission that night, to make sure they have a wicked night Fernie style; well we’re pretty certain they did anyway!

The night started off with us joining the Griz day parade , we made some beautiful cardboard waves, stuck the side of the raft behind the bus and “strutted” our stuff through 2nd Avenue. We then met everyone at the Central and then moved on to various other locations of licensed beverage, which concluded another very good evening and week. Let’s just hope we can get some more snow soon!

READ WEEK 8

Red Mountain 11 Week Ski and Snowboard Instructor Course ’05 – Week 7

Tom NONSTOP — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:51:57 +0000

SHADOWING A SKI LESSON by Alan Maxwell

Having gained our level 1 ski instructor qualification, some of us have been fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to shadow a ski lesson provided by the local ski school. In the one I attended, Greg, the ski instructor, first introduced himself, got to know the student, and identified what skiing experience he had. He quickly spotted (as did I!) that the student, a teenager originally from Poland, had old straight skis. He explained to me that, although we could work quite a lot on the student’s technique, there were other elements of the Canadian ski teaching methodology which just would not work with this type of skis. We watched the student ski down, and Greg gave me the opportunity to comment on the student’s skiing style. We decided that there were two main things to work on – he was leaning too far back, and there was virtually no up-down movement during his turns. This became the focus for the rest of the one hour lesson. By the use of explanation and exercises, Greg was successful in improving the stance and introducing more movement to the student’s technique. At the end of the lesson, Greg wrapped up and gave the student a few pointers to continue working on.
By the use of explanation and exercises, Greg was successful in improving the stance and introducing more movement to the student’s technique. At the end of the lesson, Greg wrapped up and gave the student a few pointers to continue working on.
I was very impressed with Greg’s coaching style, appreciated his interest in keeping me involved and explaining things, and I am very grateful to Red Mountain ski school for giving me this opportunity. It was a very worthwhile experience, and I would recommend it to future participants if given the chance.

READ WEEK 8

Fernie 11 Week Ski and Snowboard Instructor Course ’05 – Week 6

Tom NONSTOP — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:48:13 +0000

Level 1 week…

The morning after… many poor souls were ripped from their beds to a take part in the first aid course. Those of us more fortunate had the opportunity to sleep off our various hangovers and some even headed up the mountain. Saturday night was the usual pub crawl and night of debauchery, and Sunday was a day of much needed rest or first aid in some cases. The rest of the week’s focus was on the BIG ONE – the level 1 exam – the main reason to us being here. Normal weekly social activities were pretty much suspended while seasonaires showed off their demos and practiced putting on and removing their goggles in the most instructor-like manner possible. Butterflies were felt all round, and finally the week reached its climax around 4 or 5 o’clock in the Daylodge at FAR.

After hearing their good news, everyone faced the treacherous journey upstairs to the Griz Bar where the less than sober brand-spanking-new level 1 instructors started the night’s celebrations. Celebrations then continued briefly at the OGS then onto the Royal, where an (almost) official NonStopSki pileup took place…let’s put it this way; the Royal’s taking was very high for a Thursday night! For those still standing, El Dorado’s seemed the only way to finish off the festivities.

Friday was a day of attempted recovery from it all and on Saturday more than half the course set off to Castle Mountain a mere hour and a half away from “Fenie” (as Henry calls it). The day trippers had themselves a really great day and then proceeded to stop at a few too many pubs on the way home. On return to Fernie, many seasonaires hit the town hard a la NonStopSki style. Details of the evening are still missing.

Beth Davies

READ WEEK 7

Red Mountain 11 Week Ski and Snowboard Instructor Course ’05 – Week 6

Tom NONSTOP — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:43:58 +0000

Week 6 by Paul…again!

A mixed week – the CSIA Level 1’s are running which puts us under pressure to perform for our instructors and ourselves but I have some friends in town visiting so every opportunity I get I am catching up with them to demonstrate new found skiing ability, practice a spot of teaching or at least fault recognition and have a beer. A Wednesday spent free skiing with one of my friends left him unable to walk the next day after a particularly painful landing on the double black diamond Pale Face. Oops!

Friday night was a big party for the successful Level One instructors and commiserations for the few who failed. Our instructors took the opportunity of being free from instructing duties for a while to come out with us and a good time was had by all.

READ WEEK 7

Banff 11 Week Ski and Snowboard Instructor Course ’05 – Week 6

Tom NONSTOP — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:41:46 +0000

Level 1 week…..

The mood of the week was one of excitment and trepidation. It’s surprising how the atmosphere and feeling of a group is so variable – it makes the
course a rich, diverse experience. The ‘Nonstop’ social interation shifted to a calm and focused lull in anticipation of getting judged on everything we had been working on for 5 weeks. Monday was really based ontrying to polish all our skills – both on teaching and riding – and smoothing over any glitches and doubts. The skiers were due to start their 4 day course on Tuesday and therefore took the afternoon off – playing football – to keep their minds away from the last minute nerves.

Whilst the skiers underwent the first day of their Level 1 Course, the boarders were left toplease themselves with the recreational activity of their choice. After a sumptuous breakfast of beer and bananas in the sun on our deck a couple of us and one of our instructors climbed the beautiful Tunnel Mountain. There is so much to see and do in Banff if you’re and addict to the outdoors.

The course itself was more educational than testing. We were given ways to improve our riding and after so long being trained by such high quality
instructors most people were more than prepared for the teaching side of things. There was almost a 100% pass rate, with only 3 boarders who were
marginally below the standard, but have since retested and passed.

Friday night, as expected, was epic. Stupid amounts of shots were consumed and much outragous dancing ensued on the slippery floor of the local club Aurora. It was a painful experience for those that rose at stupid o’clock on Saturday to go snowmobiling……even more painful for the
person who rolled their vehicle on an ice patch at a cost of $358. (Yep that was me!)

It was a fun and rewarding week but the best part was putting the Level 1 behind us and looking forward to the wicked challenge ofenbarking on Level 2 training.