BASI ISIA technical exam

Sunday 2nd March 2014 - pre course meeting

Having successfully avoided catching any colds or other illnesses since December - believe me, a true rarity living in Verbier over the winter; I finally caught one.  This morning I woke up on the brink of something and throughout the day it got progressively worse.  During the night I had whole body ache, could barely control my temperature and seriously thought that I would not be able to arrive for the first day of my technical exam tomorrow.  Going to the pre course meeting was bad enough with my lungs not agreeing with the cold air, and feeling awful, what a great first impression I made!

Monday 3rd March 2014 / Tuesday 4th March 2014 - Days 1 and 2

The first two days passed in a blur of feeling ill and skiing in the fog at Savoleyres and Bruson.  We looked at the fundamental elements in relation to the central theme and the strands.

Wednesday 5th March 2014 - Day 3

For the first time this week I had some energy to ski, and the sun came out.  Today was our last training day before the assessment process on the last two days of the course.  Covering the central theme in our warm up, and skiing most of the 'strands' on and off the piste.  A the end of the day we had a video analysis session and a short written exam.

Thursday 6th March 2014 / Friday 7th March 2014 - Days 4 and 5

The assessment days.  Both days took the same format of piste performance in the morning followed by moguls and then variables in the afternoon.  All at Savoleyers and it was very sunny and warm too.  My top tip for this is to get used to skiing the same run over and over again in the exam without getting bored, distracted and waiting with at least the majority of the other people on the exam too - in my week there were 32 of us.

It seemed as if there was a less than 50% pass rate overall, but I don't know the exact figures.  I failed the exam, but achieved my main goals of the season and my main reasons for taking the exam; to learn lots and to improve my own skiing.  Although passing would have been lovely I think if I had done I would have felt like a fraud as I still have great inconsistencies in my skiing, need to consolidate a lot of new ideas and techniques I have learnt this season, and just was not ready to.

I now have the tools and the psyche to work on my mogul skiing, embrace skiing faster and maybe even try some stiffer skis.  But most importantly I still absolutely love skiing and living in Verbier.

As an aside the pistes are quieter now, in very good condition despite the heat in the afternoon.  However off piste the avalanche conditions are not great, all of the usual spring slides are coming down and the SLF have started issuing separate morning and afternoon forecasts.