Fernie 11-week Instructor Course Diary – Week #3
It’s the end of another great week on the 11-Week NonStop instructor course. The focus of Week 3 has been further preparation for our CASI Level 1 exam. Meg, our instructor for this week, has continued to work through the skills pyramid, which includes the 5 skills:
Stance & Balance, Pivot/Steering, Edging, Pressure Control, Timing & Coordination.
On Tuesday we had a fresh dump of snow on the mountain, allegedly 5CMs, but it seemed to me to be more like 10. We worked on our skills down a fantastic run through the trees in Siberia Bowl (Morning Glory), and also made use of the powder to hit a jump and practice some different grabs.
On Tuesday night it was one of the Neils birthday so we followed up dinner at the Red Tree Lodge with a few drinks before heading in to the town, first stop the Kodiak lounge where we had vouchers for free beer, nice! Following that it was onto the Bulldog where we met up with more of the NONSTOP crew. It got quite rowdy and the Sambuca’s started to flow freely.
Needless to say the bus to Kimberly resort on Wednesday morning contained a few people with sore heads. It was great having a day trip away from Fernie and riding a new mountain, especially as we didn’t have to organise a thing! By the end of the day everyone had recovered from Tuesday night and a few more beers were had as we watched that days video analysis in the bar. There was a good sing-along on the bus back to Fernie with a quick stop at pub on the way back!
Back in Fernie on Thursday we headed up the Bear chair and did the traverse across Cedar bowl and the short hike up to Snake Ridge. This is a fantastic area of Fernie with easy access to what feels and rides like backcountry but is actually within the ski area and lift accessed. We worked on Timing and Control by following a partner down through the trees, challenging but great fun.
In addition to improving our riding skills we have also started working on the teaching elements required for the Level 1. To practice our teaching skills we all had to pick something (anything) to teach the group. This was a good laugh as our group got inventive with what they wanted to teach, including standing on our head, hopping and even how to correctly drink tequila, which was expertly taught by Jim Darlow in the Griz Bar on ‘thirsty Thursday’.
Of course this set up the evening perfectly which was another NONSTOP social, two events were happening – Street Hockey and Curling. I was involved in the Street Hockey and our team even made it through to the final, losing out by the narrowest of margins in the final. I played in goal but I don’t think a change of career is likely.
After the street hockey we went to the Royal in town where we met up with the people who had been to the Curling. NONSTOP had arranged some vouchers for 2 for 1 Jagerbombs, which were extremely popular!
Friday is freeride day and a number of our group had one-to-one tuition which they were raving about at the end of the day. We chilled out on Friday night as my new board had arrived and we all wanted to get on the hill on Saturday. Had another awesome day on the hill and looking forward to a party at the OGS tonight. That’s it, that’s all.
Rick Haigh – Fernie 11-week Course
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11-Week Snowboard Instructor Course
