We are delighted to announce the headliner for this year’s annual NONSTOCK reunion festival is non-other than Joe Driscoll! For those of you who haven’t heard of Joe, he’s an American born artist who uses live looping to create a sound worthy of any 5 piece band! Joe beatboxes, plays guitar, harmonica, keyboard and even sings as well…oh and don’t forget the tambourine!

Joe has played such festivals as Glastonbury, Bath Fringe Festival, Beach Break live and many more. He’s even been sampled on a recent Nokia advert!

Joe played NONSTOCK two years ago now and was an instant hit. We are delighted to welcome him back and couldn’t be happier he could fit us into his busy tour schedule.

Check out Joe performing at Glastonbury!

There’s still time to get your NONSTOCK tickets! £48 for a weekend of entertainment can’t be bad and the booze is equally as cheap so get involved! Give us a call on 0207 720 6500 for more information and tickets. Get a group of 6 together and purchase a group ticket for just £200, saving you £88!

http://www.nonstopsnow.com/about-us/nonstock-reunion-festival

I spent last weekend in Newquay, the home of English surfing, to find out whether my snowboarding skills would transfer to what looks like a very closely related sport. Along with a few friends, I joined Errant Surf School for two full days of instruction.

The obvious differences in the sport were even more apparent than I thought they would be. I’ve watched a lot of surf videos filled with people standing sideways riding waves – which looks like a similar kind of experience as riding powder – but, those clips are just snippets of the surfing experience, they don’t show all the stuff in between. They don’t show the paddling around, waiting and fighting to get out through a set of waves, I guess in the same way that they don’t show pros sitting around on chairlifts for 10 minutes in snowboard videos.

Those bits in between are a shock to the system. With limited experience, fighting through waves with a huge buoyant board is punishing. As well as being very tiring on muscles that you never normally use, you have waves crash in your face, get tumbled around in white water and swallow a hell of a lot of salty water! I’m sure experience would make that side of things easier. Thinking back, those first couple of days snowboarding were exhausting – from the constant falls and the strain in your legs from always balancing on an edge. In time, as snowboarders fall less and spend more time pointing downhill, surfers similarly learn to dive under waves and are more economical with their paddling.

Over the course of the weekend I started to sample what makes surfing such an obsessive pastime for a lot of people. A wave accelerating you through the sea is a really unique feeling. Standing up is hard, it somehow feels very different to standing on a snowboard. Because you spend so much time floating at the sea level, you feel very high when you stand on the board and it’s very wobbly. Even though you’re only likely to be stood up for a couple seconds at first, it’s an extremely satisfying couple of seconds!

Towards the end of the weekend, I felt that my skill level had come on, as I started to catch green waves, but with so little left in the energy bank, it was hard to make the most of it. I’m now really looking forward to going again, when I can use what I’ve learnt with fresh energy.

So, if surfing like snowboarding? No, to be honest it felt like a completely different skill set. I think having the balance standing sideways helps a little, but general snowboarding skills didn’t seem to come into play very much. On saying that though, maybe they would once you start to surf longer lines and put turns in, etc.

Anyway, with or without snowboarding experience, I had an amazing time surfing and can’t wait for the next trip.

Find out about NONSTOP’s snowboard and ski courses here.

If you’re already an experienced surfer and would like to become an instructor, check out NONSTOP Adventure’s surf instructor courses.

Now our more, more, more attitude has gone one further and we are proud to announce a series of extra courses that you can take part in as part of our Fernie 11-week ski/snowboard instructor course. Want to learn the basics of sports massage, brush up on your French, develop your photography skills (see what I did there) or find enlightenment through Tai Chi, then read on for a list of what’s on offer.

French for Travellers – 9 Sessions
Acquire basic conversational French, build up a vocabulary, learn how to ask questions and discuss activities. Ok so you are not going to learn how to deliver an epic monologue in French but “from small acorns” and all that……..

Spanish for Travellers- 9 Sessions
Learn how to greet people, exchange basic information, buy things in shops, understand directions and learn about Spanish and Mexican culture- Again don’t expect to come out fluent, but these classes can give you a solid foundation of conversational Spanish to work from. For those considering a season in South America in the future as an instructor, speaking Spanish is a pre-requisite.

Taiji & QiGong (also known as Tai Chi) 10 Sessions
Focuses on slow, even, graceful movements, giving the practitioner time to become aware of their posture, body, balance and feelings. Not for everyone granted, but a better understanding of posture and balance can only be a good thing when it comes to skiing and snowboarding.

Sports Massage- 4 Sessions
Designed to help participants to understand the purpose of sports massage and will cover the different types of sports massage and the components of each, from pre-event, post-event and therapeutic. This course will also give participants a better understanding of muscles and why it is so important to stretch! Hey, at the very least you’ll learn how to give massages and we all know how beneficial that can be!

Photography- 4 separate classes

1. Digital Camera Basics
2. Digital Photography Taking the Next Step
3. Photoshop Elements 8.0
4. Photoshop Elements 8.0- Going to the next level

Does what is says on the tin! Take all four classes and gain a Certificate of Training…which is nice. However I really see it as a great way to gain a solid foundation of knowledge of photography basics and of course Photoshop, which can help turn those good shots into great ones!

If you are interested in joining us in Canada for an 11-week instructor course check out our website for more information.

11-week Ski Instructor Course
11-week Snowboard Instructor Course

That means that at the end of next season, in our 10th year, NONSTOP will have run exactly 100 ski and snowboard courses in the powder laden haven of Western Canada.

Our courses have evolved and multiplied, from one 11 week course in Fernie in 2002 to 20 ski and snowboard instructor and improvement courses in 2012.  Nevertheless the core of NONSTOP remains the same;  we’re incredibly passionate about what we do. Our team in London are all instructors, and have been trained by our ski pros, of whom the vast majority have been with NONSTOP in Canada since the very start. We are a tight knitted group, and a well oiled machine.

Below we’ve compiled a “group photo timeline” of our 11 week course in Fernie. Note how the clothing becomes more and more colourful from start to finish!

Take a look here to see what Ski Schools in Canada, New Zealand, Japan and Europe have to say about NONSTOP and their reputation for providing the best trained instructors.

Fancy making it onto the NONSTOP group photo hall of fame? Check out our:

Ski Instructor Courses

Ski Camps

Snowboard Instructor Courses

Snowboard Camps

Based in the Porters and the Club Fields region of New Zealand, our course has access to some of the best Freeskiing in the Southern Hemisphere. Plus, making the course even better this year, you can now work towards your level 2 NZSIA over the course of the 12 weeks, which will really set you up for a ski instructor jobs around the world!

Everyone who goes to Porters falls in love with the place and there’s no surprise that many of our past NZ course participants have gone on to work there. So, we recently asked Porters Ski School how some of them have got on, and we’re pretty pleased with what they had to say:

Letter from Porters Ski Area:

Since our initial involvement, there hasn’t been a season during our association with NONSTOP that we have not employed graduates from the programme the following year. Because they train on our mountain and spend time developing their skills in a genuine teaching environment, we are able to see the instructors improve their own skiing and their ability to teach. We are always impressed by the personal calibre, work ethic and professionalism these graduates demonstrate.

The big success story on Porters from the programme is Dan Walbeoff, who began his career teaching with us after gaining his Level 1 in 2006. Since then Dan has worked every season for Porters, always challenging himself to gain higher qualifications. Now as a fully qualified instructor, Dan has become our Ski School Director. This is a testimony to Dan’s grit and determination and the excellent mentoring of NONSTOP’s programme director, Jason Collins. Other instructors have worked many seasons with us and now live the dream- instructing year round in both hemispheres.

U. Dinsenbacher
General Manager
Porters Ski Area

What more can we say?! If you’re interested in joining us out in New Zealand, give us a buzz on +44 (0)207 720 6500, email info@nonstopsnow.com or find out more on www.nonstopsnow.com.

The coast of Greenland

I’m currently sat in my room following the first day on snow and feeling slightly the worse for wear after only managing around 3 hours sleep in the last 48 hours. The excitement of being in Fernie has made the jetlag bearable though, and it certainly didn’t affect a great day on the slopes. Although long, my journey from London to Fernie yesterday was great. I’m usually an “aisle” kind of guy, but yesterday I landed a window seat and, with clear skies for most of the flight, I was treated some amazing views of Greenland, the Arctic and Northern Canada on the way over.

Nice sunset - poor picture

Following on the from flight was an equally stunning drive from Calgary to Fernie. Unfortunately the pictures I took with my phone didn’t do justice to the sunset I was driving in to. The striped yellow, orange and deep blue sky was accentuated by the vast open plain and the sudden dramatic mountains on the horizon.

Today I tagged along for the first day of our latest two week performance and development ski camp. As an “orientation day”, it consisted of a range of activities to introduce everyone to Fernie, their coaches, and their legs back to skiing again. Sandwiched in between, a welcome meeting / equipment talk and dinner with the instructors was an introductory tour of Fernie mountain. It was a nice easy going day, as one of Fernie’s senior ski instructors showed us around the bowls with historic tales and more anecdotes than you could shake a pole at.

The snow conditions were a great surprise. Although Fernie has had a belter of a season so far, a week ago it was hit by a bit of warm weather and rain, followed by a few very cold days. That, as you would expect, iced everything up a little. However, as Christine from RCR stated when I brought it up with here, “Fernie always come through”. Sure enough, there have been a few small falls of snow that have made the conditions good, and I’m sure it won’t be long before they become epic again. I just hope that happens before I move on to the next resort!

Tomorrow I will be leaving the two weekers to their first day of proper lessons and heading out with the 11 week snowboard instructor course guys. I can’t wait! They’re a week into their programme now and will already be starting to develop their riding. I just hope I can keep up!

Stay tuned!

Find out all about NONSTOP’s range of ski courses here and snowboard courses here.

In the old days, if you snowboarded, you had to use snow shoes. Luckily NONSTOP has a fleet of splitboards (literally snowboards that split into two skis for the uphill (see photo above), and fix together for the downhill ride (below)). I was joined by Ryan (our lead snowboard instructor) and Adam (our host for the Fernie 11-week instructor course).

If you want to join us riding empty powder laden slopes then check out the various snowboard courses we offer in Fernie, British Columbia. Fernie offers some of the best, if not THE best, riding in North America, and has one of the highest snowfalls in the world. Right now it has more snow than any other resort in the Rockies. So get involved!

These links should help:

Snowboard Instructor Courses

Performance & Development Snowboard Camps

2-week Snow Safaris around Western Canada’s best resorts

I am in Banff today for NONSTOP Lead Instructor training. Below is Jens Mende, Lead Instructor from the Fernie Program and Anna Steckle, Lead Instructor from the Banff Program, on Banff avenue. The NONSTOP Lead Instructors meet every year at this time to prepare for the training of the NONSTOP pros, which is happening this week for the Banff crew. The NONSTOP instructional team has a lot of depth to it this winter.

Winter has arrived in Banff, all is white and it was exhilerating to get back into winter driving.

Find out more about our courses in Red Mountain, Banff, Fernie and Whistler:

Ski Instructor Courses

Snowboard Instructor Courses

Now that the dust (or rather hay) has settled and more than a few sore heads have cleared, we’re really happy with how it all went… and wish we could do it all again this weekend!

This year’s NONSTOCK took place in the beautiful countryside of Purley on Thames, just outside of Reading. As well as having loads of space and the ability to make a hell of a lot of noise without any complaints, this location was far more accessible than previous years, which helped build our biggest attendance to date!

Excitement was in the air on Friday afternoon, as most people hooked up with friends that they hadn’t seen for a long while. It was also great to see a bunch of soon-to-be NONSTOPers, who came along to get a taste for what’s in store for this winter. That evening Beats in Abundance took to the decks to properly kick off the party. Their eclectic and randomly imaginative set of tunes could have got the biggest party poopers strutting their stuff, but the already excited NONSTOPers were lifting the roof in no time. With quite an act to follow, Greg (from last year’s 11 week Banff course) took to the stage to play some bangers.

Saturday’s main event didn’t disappoint either. The daytime was filled with football, swimming in the Thames (don’t worry, the cleaner end of it), Puckett and the NONSTOCK Volleyball championship – won by the Banff Cougars, who thankfully knocked out the “VIP’s” (who were just a little too big for their boots). Thanks also to the Banff crew for bringing along their own bouncy castle!! Matt Channerin kicked off the evening’s entertainment with a great performance of sing-along tunes. Next up it was awesome to see our Red Mountain 11 weeker Naoimh O’Hagan and her band take to the stage, for an excellent set. The Joint headliners of Will and the People and John Bull and the Bandits, along with the return of Beats in Abundance, fuelled a legendary evening.

For the second night in a row, we were amazed when the bar was drunk dry and, on that note, congratulations to the Banff crew for seeing off their round of 30 Jaeger-Bombs in the space of 90 seconds… we hope your heads are starting to feel a little better by now!

Thanks to everyone who made this year’s event happen, and we hope to see you all (and all the fresh blood) at the same time next year!

Check out a couple more photos below, or visit the album on our Facebook page here for the full collection.

How to ride a button lift / t-bar or drag lift
It’s one of the most common problems in snowboarding, but don’t let it become an issue for you. Learn how to banish your fears here.

Learn to ride bumps and moguls on a snowboard
Moguls are another common fear in snowboarding, but if you persevere you can actually start really enjoying the challenge that they present. Find out how to ride bumps here.

Learn how to wax and edge your snowboard
Servicing your own board can save you a stack of cash and is a good bonding experience. Learn how service your own board at home here.

Buying the right size and type of snowboard
Buying a snowboard can be pretty daunting… deciding which one to hire can be hard enough. Have a read through our guide here and make sure that you try out a few boards to get a feel for what you like.

Are Flow bindings any good?
It’s got to be one of the biggest discussions of all time in snowboarding. They are the marmite of the industry. Check out the pros and cons here.

How to become a snowboard instructor.
Being a snowboard instructor is seen as a dream job, but it’s by no means inaccessible. Here’s some advice on how to do it.

Want to know what it’s it like to be a ski or snowboard instructor?
We train hundreds of instructors every year and many have gone on to work around the world. Here are some of their stories.

Ever wanted to spend a season snowboarding?
We’ve got loads of info and options on nonstopsnowboard.com for those on a career break or gap year.

Check out some of snowboard courses, camps and holidays:
11 week snowboard instructor course
3 week snowboard instructor course
6 week ‘MTM’ off-piste course
3 week performance / development camps
2 week performance / development camps
2 week Snow Safari
2 week freestyle camp