Tuesday 25 February 2014

ISIA performance training course - Days 1 and 2

Day 0 - Sunday 23/2/14
Off to a flying start when only four of us turned up to the pre course meeting, and not even the trainer appeared to meet us, even the ski school where the meeting was to take place did not know there was a course on this week, hmmmmmm. Let's just hope that tomorrow we are actually meeting at Medran at 9am.

Day 1 - Monday 24/2/14 - CLARITY, Physicality, Intensity
First off we discovered why the meeting did not happen last night, our trainer was only told on Sunday morning that he was running this course, and that 4, not 6 people were on it.  So BASI admin standards up to normal then!

However, our trainer is great.  Very experienced and happy to answer any question no matter how stupid or complicated it may be.  And this was great for me as I have plenty of stupid questions to ask.  Currently I am still trying to process what the correct inputs are in terms of movement and separation, predominantly because I have been trained to understand and do one thing, which is in fact, not correct, and until now I have not questioned it.  The positive of this is that I am now questioning it, and starting to understand it more.

Our main focus today was piste performance, shorts in the morning, longs in the afternoon.  We were mainly looking at making sure the task was clear, keeping the skis changing direction all the time, and rotational and lateral separation.

Not only did I learn lots, I felt the correct movements starting to come through.  It was a very busy day on the pistes though.


Day 2 - Tuesday 25/2/14 - keep the skis changing direction all of the time
Today we headed to Bruson where it was the busiest I've seen it, but still quiet in comparison to Verbier.  The morning was spent doing carving 'long turns' down a black run.  This was a bit of an eye opener for me as I was expecting to carve down red runs only!  When I focused on the task and really went for it, it went well, but my goodness it was fast.

After lunch the focus changed to short turns, and my performance slowly got worse and worse.  All of my old habits came back until I pretty much gave up all together.  It is definitely true that if you focus on the task and the aim you do it, and I think I have the skills to do it, but for some reason the focus just wasn't there.

So, a mixed day with two runs of variables at the end and despite the mixed success I finished super psyched for training tomorrow, I'm going to try hard, train hard and ski hard too.

Sunday 23 February 2014

Powder day, Faction skis test and general Verbier ski conditions round up

Snow covered trees from snowfall earlier this week
What could be better than having a powder day on your day off?  Other than the fact that I desperately needed to work on my mogul skiing it gave me the perfect excuse to consider one of my main 'ski instructor flaws' when skiing in the 'variables' (anything off the piste except moguls, so think chopped up snow) and that is that rather than keep a good rhythm going down the slope I prefer to turn where it looks good!  So I spent the morning initially making tracks and then seeking out the best skied out off piste to aim to do this:
  • perform rounded, linked turns in a variety of conditions on a steep red or black steepness slope
  • Show turns of various radii
  • Show a high degree of ski performance
  • Use effective posture and balance
The view at the top of Tortin Gentianes
As it got busier towards 10.30 I opted to squish in the Jumbo to check out Tortin Gentianes.  Having, unusually, not skied it yet this year I was curious to see how big the moguls under the fresh snowfall were.  They were quite big... after some lovely turns at the top it soon turned into bump snow bump snow bump snow the whole way down.  The wind had blown the snow into the holes between the moguls and hardened off the top of them too.  To make things worse lots of rocks were only just hidden under the surface.

The view down Tortin Gentianes, you can just about make out the different textures of the snow where the bumps are just underneath

Tortin Chassoure was in much better condition, as were the pistes.  Soft snow, busy and sunny.
Faction Heroine skis






Just before a late lunch I took my knackered legs down to the Faction Skis test at La Chaux.  Having only skied piste skis, lightweight touring skis and my new 10% rockered atomic infinity storms I was psyched to try some skis with more rocker on them.

I opted to try out the Faction Heroines, a women's specific, all mountain, rocker camber rocker ski.  I both loved it and hated it, it was fun to play on, good at skidding and rotating, but not so good at carving.  Still it was light and soft and quite easy to control and turn in the 'variables'.




Faction Heroine skis specification
Although fun to ski on, I don't think I'll be rushing out to buy a pair soon as my new Atomic's fulfill the 'good all-mountain' role quite well, but I will be looking into getting a fatter ski with more tip rocker for powder days.  And I still can't decide if I prefer a stiffer or softer ski either.  On an aside note I loved the satisfying click of the marker bindings that were on the test skis!

Tomorrow the BASI ISIA performance training course begins, so bring on the learning, skiing hard and hopefully some more snow.

Friday 21 February 2014

Diary of a ski instructor - teaching beginner kids

Believe it all or not, every week, day and even minute is different for a ski instructor.  Although I spend my winter's 'just skiing', the snow and piste conditions, clients and their moods change everyday.  This week we have seen alternate days of snow and sun, and I have been working with a beginner kids group in the morning, the 'souris' group.

Maxing out at 6 children per group, I still occasionally think this is too many to have in a beginner kids group.  However, when I learnt there were often 12 or 14 in a group, and the first time I taught skiing I was given 10 beginners in one group, so I can't really complain!  And I suppose that every now and then even one person can be one too many if they simply don't want to do anything other than cry.

With beginners you have to put 110% in for the first two days to make the rest of the week easier.  The minute everyone can make a snowplough by themselves a huge weight is lifted, you know they can stop, not all get in a pile up at the top of the lift, avoid people and generally begin to learn a lot more.

The Swiss snow sports 'snowli' cartoon character and friends


So, for those of you wanting to become a ski instructor think about this (similar to a group I had earlier in the ski season):

You have six 3-4 year olds, all of whom might speak a different language, and almost no English or French
  • first up, meet them all - remember their names, their parents, check their gear, and get them and their skis on the bus to the nursery slope
  • then you have to carry 7 pairs of skis and help them all get up the slope from the road to the baby run
  • set up your beginner 'garden' complete with carpet so they can walk up the hill, cones to turn around, teddy's and balls to play with, and edgy-wedgy's for their skis.  
  • Ok, phew... 
  • Now get all of their skis on and spend the next 15 minutes running around picking up kids, stopping them sliding around backwards towards the trees and other groups!
  • Finally, once they are all on the carpet help them walk 10 meters to the top and encourage some sliding and snowploughing action.
  • All the while you are smiling, chatting, encouraging and trying to keep calm while keeping some form of order!
  • In the middle of the lesson they are all tired so you take off all of their skis and have a break, play games and build a giant snowman.
  • Then put all the skis back on and try again.


Then, one starts crying non stop, some of the others join in / fall over / walk backwards off the carpet and start sliding around, one needs the loo, another one manages to shake a ski off, and one is in the splits!  Hmmm, you imagine everyone else is watching and thinking 'thank goodness that's not my class!'

Come day 2 or 3 or sometimes 4 or 5, and most of your group can make a snowplough - ish, some more than others, the crying has calmed a bit, the taller ones can pick themselves up when they fall over and your body aches more than skiing moguls all day.  Finally you manage to do a run with most of them following you, no mass pile ups, and even some turns.  This is the truly amazing point, and quite often takes a few mornings of hard hard work.

An 'edgy wedgy' in action, from www.lockwoods.com


So, my top recommendations for a new ski instructor in this situation:
1) take your touring boots and skis, lighter to carry and easy to walk in - if you don't have the boots by them as soon as you can
2) edgy-wedgys in your pocket for those that are struggling - it makes it sooooo much easier (or controversial depending on who you talk to - you can take it off on alternate runs though!)
3) make sure the parents know what to expect and don't promise too much
4) label all of their skis - they don't know which are their's and you won't remember
5) take your swisssnowsports language ski dictionary with you for the kid that speaks only Russian and you just can't explain anything
6) pack an ikea bag to carry all of the skis up to the slope with you
7) stay calm, stay calm, stay calm.
8) make sure they all go to the toilet before the lesson
9) check they all have gloves, goggles, helmets etc... and refuse to take them if they don't
10) work hard - when they finally follow you down the slope it is amazing, and you won't be teaching them season long.


This past week I taught an older kids group, mostly 6-11 year olds, which makes a big difference.  They learn quickly, have improved co-ordination and muscles, are generally more chatty and all want to learn.  It was a great week, also with ups and downs, but at the end of the week most of them had skied on a blue run and are all following me with super snow plough turns.  With a group of three year olds, the progress is normally 3 or 4 times as slow depending on the kids.


On a different note the pistes conditions in Verbier are excellent at the moment, the snow has been falling today, and it looks like next week will be busy with Swiss holidays and some more snow.

Saturday 15 February 2014

A trip to Veysonnaz and Thyon from Verbier


Today, being Saturday, the start of half term school holidays, and with great snow conditions in the resort, I knew it would be quite busy in Verbier.  What could be better than escaping across the four vallees on a trip to Veysonnaz?  Despite my legs feeling a bit tired from training this week I heading out for some serious skiing mileage!

The view down the Piste de L'ours

Ski conditions on Chassoure Tortin were great, super soft small moguls and not as busy as the pistes.  Once I had gone up the Greppon Blanc button lift the queues and people vanished, and untracked powder beside the slopes arrived.  Despite choosing the less wind scoured sections the off piste was still wind affected and slightly heavy.  I managed to get in at least five untracked descents before heading down the Piste de L'ours - the slope that has held many World Cup races.  Normally this is an incredibly icy run, however it was super soft and there was no race training going on so the whole piste was open.

The view towards the Lac des Dix from Thyon

Can you spot the Matterhorn in the back on the right?

Another reason I love exploring Thyon is the open feel of the pistes and the incredible views across Switzerland from the Bernese Oberland to the Matterhorn and Zermatt 4000ers.  You can also see the dam of the Lac des Dix at the end of the valley.

The main valley and the Finsteraahorn dominating the skyline on the right

It takes around 1-2 hours to return all the way to Verbier.  That is, if you ski quite fast and don't get lost or distracted along the way! Although you don't cover a huge number of vertical ski meters it is a long way horizontally and you need to be relatively fit as well as being happy skiing red runs.

A big avalanche across the piste on the way back to Verbier

Evidence of avalanche activity was everywhere, and whether natural or set off by the ski patrol, there were some pretty big slides around the resort only helped by the continuing strong winds at altitude.

You can just make out this slab that had gone on the side of Mont Gele towards the Attelas to Ruinettes piste

Thursday 13 February 2014

ISIA Training


Ski conditions in Verbier are great, with lots of fresh snow today the pistes were soft and powdery, and slowly but surely the trees are filling in.  It's still an avalanche forecast of 3/5 and with the recent new snow accompanying strong winds it will be interesting to see what the affects of this are.


This ski season I am hoping to complete my ISIA ski qualification.  Under the BASI / British system, the ISIA stamp is also the Level 3.  To complete this you need the following:

  • Level 1
  • First Aid
  • 70hrs ski school experience
  • Level 2
  • 200hrs teaching after Level 2
  • Common Theory
  • Mountain Safety
  • Second Language
  • Coach Level 1
  • Second Discipline Level 1
  • ISIA teaching
  • ISIA technical

So that makes a total of 47 days of compulsory training and assessment if everything is passed first time.

However it's not just the compulsory courses that will get you anywhere close to the level required.  Over the last four winters I have skied, taught, ran, and read in preparation for my ISIA and am still yet to be 100% ready for the last two exams.

In March I will be sitting my technical and teaching exams, the last on the long list and the ones I know I will find the hardest.  This week will be my last work free one to train in (excluding the optional BASI performance training course the week before the technical exam) and here are some of the things I have been up to:


Monday - shake down day in resort, having been away for three weeks I took the chance to build some leg endurance and work on a few of the things that I had changed and focused on in January.  This was mostly pressure management in the piste performance strand.

Tuesday - focus on piste performance short turns.  Improving body position, pressure control and early edges.  Also working on getting every turn right from the offset, keeping a rhythm down a pitch and through several pitches varying in angle.  Really driving the ski and standing on it early too.

Wednesday - bumps, bumps, bumps.  Focus on the adaptablility of movements to match the terrain, maximum ski to snow contact, linking rhythmical turns in varying corridors from zip line to medium length turns.  Moguls are going to be the hardest part of the exam for me.

Thursday - a bad weather day today so my main aim was to 'try to replicate what I can do in the sun in the fog'.  A tall order but we got there.  By the end of the day I had some good revelations about pole planting and body position.  Now I need to make my pole plant stronger, in the correct place, keep my shoulders stiller in the shorter turns, think more about my body position - not opening up and launching it down the hill!, and more.

So... not a long list at all then!

Monday 10 February 2014

A windy day in Verbier

The snow in Verbier today was good on the pistes, fully tracked out off the pistes and full of lovely small moguls.

However, upon arrival at Medran I discovered that the lift to Ruinettes was closed due to the wind.  I headed to Bruson in the morning and Savoleyres in the afternoon.  The lower lifts in the Verbier sector reopened later on, but it was still pretty windy on the tops.

Snapshot from the website at lunchtime

Thursday 6 February 2014

Aber falls wander in Snowdonia

Aber falls, or Rhaeadr fawr in Welsh meaning 'big waterfall' is one of the largest waterfalls in Wales at 37m high.  Located just off the A55 near the village of Abergwyngregyn in the northern Carneddau, it provides good access into the surrounded mountains as well as several easy walks.  The area has been inhabited by people since the Bronze age and has a great archeological history as well as being know for the falls itself.

Afternoon light walking towards the falls
As you walk along this section of the North Wales National Trail there are many other things to see from huge number of lichen covered trees to the wildlife and birds.

Crazy looking trees along the route
One of the steps to becoming a qualified mountain leader is learning more about the environment.  This can be the plants, fauna, rocks, history of the area you are in, and more.  During my assessment a few years ago I realised how lacking my knowledge was, however it has only been over the last two years that I have really yearned to learn more about the plantlife and rock formations in my 'office'.  Not only did I know I had to learn more for my work, but I started to find things really interesting, just the other day I discovered that heather has a mycorrhizal relationship with fungi (this means that it has a mutually beneficial relationship with a fungus, the fugus provides minerals and water from the soil, and the heather provides sugars produced via photosynthesis).  

Facts like this entice me into wanting to learn more about things we see everyday out in the mountains beyond knowing that 'that is a tormentil, not a buttercup' 

Lichen on a tree
This lichen above is a foliose or 'leafy' type of lichen, beyond that I have struggled to completely identify it as lots of them look the same.  My best guess so far is some kind of a caperata lichen, but I honestly have no idea.  Lichens, like fungi are notoriously difficult to identify.

Fungi on a new wooden seat
Not long into the walk and you catch a first proper view of the falls.

Aber falls
In the summer the pools provide an exciting wild swimming spot.

Aber falls - you can see how tall the falls are in comparison to a person.
In the winter the falls rarely freeze, but if they do offer some good ice climbing. 

Close up of the pool at the bottom of Aber falls
On the way back to the car park I spotted the tree below with a giant hole in it, and was curious to discover what had caused it.  It's a tree hole or tree hollow, usually caused after an injury to the tree, such as a branch falling off.  After this fungi and bacteria get in and start 'attacking' the tree forming a hole.  This then provides a great home for birds and insects.

A hole in a tree
Some of the bird life we saw...
A robin




A huge bird's nest


















Everywhere you looked were old trees and evidence of the more recent coppicing of alder, used for a time in charcol production.  Mosses and lichens cover lots of the trees, indicating that the air is not polluted and the environment is humid.

I love this moss and lichen covered tree

Cool hawthorn silhouettes before sunset

Monday 3 February 2014

A wintery day out in the Glyders, Y Garn - Y Gribin ridge

Sunday's forecast looked great for a day out on the hill - 35-45mph winds, and 'patchy sunshine'.  I was keen to get out and see how much snow and ice were on the hills and try to get in at least 1000m of ascent too.

A slightly snowy Y Garn on the left

From Ogwen cottage I decided to head up Y Garn along the footpath on the NE ridge.  This would allow me to gain height quickly, check out the condition of the front face and see what wintery state cwm idwal was in.

Cwm Idwal

View down the Ogwen valley, Tryfan on the right

The long uphill slog began and I was already missing my trail running shoes.  Pausing by Llyn Clyd to get a look at the snow conditions on the east face, I saw that no one was on it yet, but some people had started down-climbing from the top.  The top 100 vertical meters of the face looked quite fun, but below it was all slushy and the ground was not frozen either.  At 800m or so I put crampons on as the path now had a solid ice filling on it, and went on to break trail towards the summit.  Conditions were definitely mild and the wind forecast was correct, windy, but not too bad.

A sunny snowcapped Pen Yr Ole Wen

Continuing on to Llyn y Cwm, instead of following the 'normal' path up I opted to go up the gully just west as it looked solid and I had never gone that way before.  On to the windswept summit of Glyder Fawr and the bad weather didn't look far away.  The dark grey clouds over Snowdon and odd sprinkling of hail led me to descent down Y Gribin in the hope that I would avoid the worst of it.  Cwm Cneifion had a bit of a cornice on it, and a few people were coming up the gullies too.

The top of Cwm Cneifion (the nameless cwm), complete with cornice

Ominous clouds over the snowdon range

Y Gribin was in good nick, with some solid snow/ice cover until the football field, where it started to turn to slush.  From here I walked back to Ogwen Cottage via Llyn Bochlwyd.

Sunday 2 February 2014

Drosgl horseshoe


For the last two weeks I've been back in the UK and enjoying the cold damp feeling of a Welsh winter by wearing wooly socks on my runs, doing lots of admin indoors-by the radiator, and taking photos of the snow topped mountains.  I also have tried my hardest not to be too jealous of the new snowfall in the Alps recently.  Over 50cm of fresh snow is forecast to fall in Verbier ski resort during the next week.
The view towards Gyrn Wigau - the two rocky knolls either side of the path.
The other day I completed a new fell run around the NW Carneddau.  Leaving Bethesda I set out towards Drosgl.  Half way up Drosgl you reach Gyrn Wigau.  From here you get great views across the Caseg and Llafar valleys, and the taller mountains of the Carneddau.  As you pass through the rocky knolls either side marking the last ascent to Drosgl you feel more like you have stepped into the wilds of Scotland, than that you have gone less than 3km from Bethesda!  This area has some of the largest mountains and longest valleys in Snowdonia.  While the Glyders and Snowdon are busy, the Northern peaks in the Carneddau area are often quiet.

Looking across towards Bera Bach and Carnedd Uchaf.

Yr Elen with the main Carneddau mountains behind.
The wind was howling at around 40mph and so rather than continue with my original route to Carnedd Uchaf and back down the valley, I ran NW towards Gyrn and over Llefn and Moel Faban to Bethesda.  This made for a great 12km circular route with around 700m of ascent.

Looking back towards Llefn and Gyrn.
On the Welsh winter conditions front, nothing is in condition and it doesn't look like much will be for the next few days either, but there is still some snow on the tops and the wind and rain continue relentlessly.

Last view back towards the mountains on the side of Moel Faban

Saturday 1 February 2014

A mid-week weekend in the Lakes


Last Thursday morning I headed up to the Lakes for two days of walking and an induction day with an outdoor company that I would like to work for.

Google maps said 3hours 15min, I was thinking 4hours at least, and, because of the amazing views it took 5!

The single track road that leads north to Eskdale

Just one of the amazing views along the way, you can just about see snow topped fells in the far distance.


With only a few hours of daylight left I thought I would wander up to Slight side, the first Wainwright you reach on the way to Scafell from Eskdale.  The Southwestern section of the Lake District is not an area I'm familiar with and what could be better than stretching the legs after a long journey by ticking a hill off and finding the snow line.

First good view of Slight side and Scafell

One of the things that amazed me were all the sheep walking around on the hills at this time of year.  When the majority of the Snowdonia sheep are herded up, what were these ones still doing out and about?  I later discovered that they are Herdwicks, a breed developed by the community to cope with the local conditions, and one of the most hardy in the UK.

This Herdwick sheep kindly posed for me!

Along the way I even got a few rays of sun

The sun finally came out

.
The view onwards to Scafell

Awesome views

Upon arriving back to the homely Eskdale YHA, complete with drying room, hot showers and a wood fire, I was greeted by a cup of tea and lots of other mountain leaders.  Over a homemade curry we chatted through the plan of action for tomorrow and had a chance to read the latest weather forecast.  It did not look good... snow and gales were predicted with 'any mobility tortuous on higher areas'.  At least we weren't required to prove our winter mountaineering skills, and aimed to stay amongst the smaller hills tomorrow.

The snow started falling softly


More snow and wind
Towards midday the wind increased, and the snow kept falling.  As we walked around Harter Fell we soon entered Dunnerdale forest, where the Forestry Commission are trying to restore the semi-natural  woodlands and 're-wild' them back to their original state.  You can find out more about the project here.

Some shelter in the forest

Shortly after exiting the forest we came across the Hardknott pass road.  One of the steepest passes in the UK at a gradient of 33%, and the Roman's '10th highway'.  Towards the end of the pass there are the ruins of a 2nd century Roman Fort, which was believed to be occupied for over 300 years.  In the current weather I couldn't imagine living there for just one winter season!

Aerial view of Hardknott Roman Fort  © English Heritage

The English Heritage site also has lots more information on the Fort.  Click here for the website.

Hardknott pass, the decision was made not to drive home this way later on!

Walking down the grass by the side of the road was considerably easier until we reached the freezing level where upon it all turned to slush.  Looks like the winter conditions in the Lakes will be ok at the weekend if the wind calms down a bit.