Courses

Supergroup – Winter 2012/13 – Verbier, Switzerland

15 Dec – 22 Dec
22 Dec – 29 Dec
05 Jan – 12 Jan
19 Jan – 26 Jan
16 Feb – 23 Feb
23 Feb – 02 Mar
02 Mar – 09 Mar
09 Mar – 16 Mar
16 Mar – 23 Mar
23 Mar – 30 Mar
30 Mar – 06 Apr

Price: £495 (Course only) – CHF100 per person is payable in resort for the off piste guide

All dates listed above are Saturday to Saturday travel. Discounted accommodation available through Ski Freedom.

 
Academy Supergroups

Since introducing the Warren Smith Ski Academy ‘Supergroup’ concept in May 2010, there has been a massive interest from skiers at the Academy looking for the next challenge and a more extreme push in their skiing.  As explained in May, the Academy Supergroup was devised after requests from Academy clients looking to pay a little more to be in a group of between 4 and maximum 6 people.

The groups other main characteristic is that the majority of time will be spent off piste, pretty much from the offset of day 1.  All skiers in this group will be skiing with full avalanche kit and protective clothing.

Who is the Supergroup for

Academy Supergroup participants will be skiers from Levels 4 to 6 on the Academy Levels system.  Please view the Academy Video Levels system here. The course has been designed for skiers who have attended Academy ski courses before and so have the foundation and technique skills knowledge in preparation for the Supergroup. It is not intended for first time skiers to the Academy, regardless of level.

Equipment needed

Due to the nature of the course, it is compulsory for skiers to wear a helmet and have a transceiver, shovel & probe. Equipment is available to rent at our partner skishop Ski Service in Verbier. You can contact them in advance to make sure they have equipment available for you to pick up on your arrival. Click here to contact them.

To get booked into an Academy Supergroup you will need to inform us directly of your interest in a specific week by writing to us through the contact page of the Academy website.  You will need to include your skier level when contacting the Academy.

We have also created an Event within the Warren Smith Ski Academy – Official Facebook Group for Supergroup Interested Skiers.  If you are a member of this group you can RSVP as ‘Attending’ to identify yourself to us.  We check this group on a daily basis and will be looking to put like minded skiers in touch with each other who are requiring Supergroups on specific weeks.  You can also post requests within this Event asking for other like minded skiers to join you on a desired Supergroup week.  The following are initial weeks flagged where a Supergroup will be run in conjunction with an existing Academy week are as follows:

 - 10th December
 - 31st December
 - 14th January
 - 25th February
 - 11th March

Other weeks may also be added upon interest shown from correspondence with Academy clients.  Skiers that would like to book the Supergroup concept over a weekend should also contact the Academy direct.  Please use the contact page of our website to send your enquiry or requests. Please note that groups are a maximum of 6.

About the Winter 5 day Supergroup Ski Courses

The winter 5 day group courses run from Sunday to Friday with the Wednesday off. The skiing in this group will cover performance skiing and the development of skiers looking to carve to an expert level on piste.  Skiers will use these skills to increase performance off piste and aim towards making controlled but higher speed turns off piste.  Skiing narrow, steep couloirs is also one of the main objectives of this group aiming towards 45 degree slopes.  Mastering zip line moguls in control and skiing in the trees will also be covered.

We meet together as a group at 10am at the Medran lift station on the first morning (Sunday).  You will need to have your lift passes by this time to avoid delays.  Try to get to Medran by 9.45am to organise your pass.

We ski each day there after with a 10.15am meeting at the Ruinettes lift station. We ski until 3pm and take a lunch break at approximately 12.45pm.  Please bring a small or medium size backpack to store your bottle of water and energy bars in.  It can also carry your belongings i.e. Ski Jacket, Fleece, Gloves etc if the weather is extra cold or warm.  Please note that Wednesday is a rest day from the course and a day for you to freeski.

We will be filming and doing video analysis on the Monday and Thursday and watching the footage and analysing it those evenings before dinner from 6.30pm until 8pm. It usually makes a big difference the next day with what you’re working on so it’s a good idea to bring a notepad and pen to make notes.

To read reviews and press articles on the courses, click here.

Private coaching also available

The Academy coaches can be hired out privately. The prices are:

Full day (5 hours) – £299.00 (£39 per extra person(s))
Half day (2 hours) – £159.00 (£29 per extra person(s))
Three hours – £229 (£19 per extra person(s))
Warren (5 hours) – £599 (no charge for extra person(s)

Warren can be hired for private coaching at a daily fee of £599. Please be aware that he is usually booked up far in advance, therefore bookings may not always be possible.  To book Warren for a ski coaching + guiding session please write to the Warren Smith Ski Academy through the contact page of the website.

Travel

To get to Verbier book a return flight to Geneva Airport . Once you get to Geneva airport you can get to Verbier by Train (http://www.sbb.ch/) or by a Private People Carrier taxi through Ski Freedom.  For full details on travel plans to Verbier use the Verbier Tourism website (http://www.verbier.ch/) and click on the ‘Access’ tab. Another excellent website for finding information on Verbier is http://www.verbinet.com/. If you click on the ‘Travel/Transport’ tab you will find every solution.

Ski Course Coaching Content

On the course you will cover several of the following topics:

Skier Symmetry

All skiers that come on the Academy courses, whether in Group 1 or Group 6, have a problem maintaining symmetry whilst turning. Perfect symmetry is skiing from turn to turn with your hips, knees and feet the same distance apart allowing both skis to be identical in angles. It’s common for most skiers to ski with either their knees dropping closer together or their feet splitting wider apart. Both of these create the classic A-Frame stance.

The A-Frame stance makes it difficult to carve, ski powder, moguls, steeps and generally built on your ski technique as your ski edge angles will always be different. On the courses we address this issue and leave you with a strong, symmetrical stance that allows you to build good ski technique on.

Whilst developing your ski symmetry we will work on biomechanical aspects such as switching on certain muscle groups that help maintain the ideal stance, checking your ski boots to make sure they are set up correctly and integrating the 0-Frame stance into your skiing. Having skier symmetry is crucial in preventing knee injury, fatigue, accidents whilst skiing and allowing you to reach your true skiing potential.

Ankle Flex

One of the biggest areas of development on the courses in Ankle Flex development. Most skiers join us with a lack of ankle flex. Most skier flex at the knee more than the ankle and this puts the skiers weight back. Once it’s back it makes it hard to steer and almost impossible to ski steeps, moguls and freeride terrain. You thighs end up being used to help you stand up rather than being used to help you steer the skis.

The reason that most skiers have a lack ankle flex is that a lot of skiers learn to ski in boots that are to stiff for them to flex so the joint that does all the flexing is the knee. A lot of skiers also suffer from having calf muscles that are to tight to be able to move and flex the ski boot.

With specific ankle flex development exercises you will learn to dominate your ski boots and flex them so as to allow you to be in balance and maintain leverage in the legs to have powder to steer. Once you have this flex you automatically have power and in turn confidence. The learning process increases dramatically with this flex and your skiing take a major step change in its level.

Thigh Steering

Most skiers who attend the courses, even Ski Instructor level, steer their skis by foot steering. Steering the skis by foot steering is usually what you get taught in your first week of ski school tuition. Unfortunately it usually stays with you through your skiing life. Foot steering is weak and although it might get you through your first week of skiing it won’t be so efficient for more advanced skiing. Foot steering can also put stress on the knee joint.

Thigh steering is a much more powerful way of steering your skis and allows you to steer with more confidence on steeper slopes, in moguls and in freeride terrain. It also allows you to carve more effectively and move onto skiing higher speeds without loosing control.

For thigh steering to switch on we develop specific exercises that provoke you to use the muscles in the legs that control this movement. Once you find the muscles (usually takes about 15 minutes to switch them on) you will immediately feel stronger on your skiing and more secure. Once we have you doing this, other aspects of skiing we show you during the week are easily absorbed and changes takes place in your technique with ease.

Left + Right Turn Differences

All skiers suffer from having a weaker turn direction. At the Academy we are fully aware of the importance for the skier first feel the difference between left and right turns and them understand why there is a weakness with one side. With the sport of skiing you are only as good as your weakest turn. This is obvious especially in powder, slush, steeps and in moguls.

Skiers generally have a weaker turn due to left and right side differences with the brain, injuries to certain sides of the body, imbalances on the left and right side of the body and equipment that might not be set up correctly.

With the use of video analysis, exercises and biomechanical awareness we make you aware of your weaker direction, show you it on video and then built up with specific exercises that benefit the weaker side of the body. Once you are balanced the sport of skiing will feel different to you and the foundation of you skiing will be strong and secure.

Middle Body Strength

Nearly all skiers that join the Academy courses are never using there middle body strength to its full potential. Many skiers break at the waist when skiing moguls, powder or just carving at higher speeds. The more dynamic skiing becomes the more you need to active your core whilst skiing to keep the middle body strong and avoid it collapsing. On the course you’ll learn how to activate your core whilst skiing with simple exercises that are easy to integrate into your normal skiing technique.

4 Wheel Drive for All Terrain

To assist your Moguls, Steeps, Variables and Freeride terrain skiing you’ll learn how to develop your pole plant timing and arm positioning. This gives your pole plant more overall strength and it will support your body effectively when initiating your turns in these terrains.

Individual Feedback

Every skier that joins a course has their own individual skiing style. An important part of the Academy course is to offer each skier feedback on their own technique specific to them. This takes places at various times during the week.

Other Course Content

As well as the above content various other aspects are also covered such as Short Radius Turns, Developing Leg Lean, Progressive Steering, Loading the Skis, Skidding and lots more. Many skiers attend several course during the year whether Winter in Verbier, Spring in UK or summer in Saas-Fee.

Group + Skier Levels

Skiers ability levels range from basic intermediate skiers wishing to get off the typical intermediate plateau to skiers taking their instructors exams and performance training for competition (alpine racing or freeride). To easily identify the levels of skiers and groups running on an Academy week you can use the following system:

Group 1 Basic Intermediate

This group consists of skiers who are trying to make basic parallel turns but use a small snowplough wedge in between the turns to help turn initiation. Skiers in this group can generally get down blue runs but struggle on Reds. This is this group have usually never skied moguls, steeps or freeride terrain.

Group 2 Intermediate

This group consists of skiers who can make basic parallel turns but lack the strength and confidence in the turn to make it consistent. These skiers can usually get down blue and red runs. On red runs however there technique suffers and the body weight moves over the back of the skis making the steering more difficult. These skiers have usually attempted moguls, steeps and a bit of off-piste skiing but with no success.

Group 3 Advanced Intermediate

This group consists of skiers who can make parallel turns with confidence on blues and reds. When they attempt black runs or steeper gradients they lose their technique and the body weight drops back. Skiers in this group can generally get down moguls, steeps and freeride terrain but with a weak or/and confidence lacking technique.

Group 4 Advanced

This group consists of skiers who can ski with confidence on Blues, Reds and Black runs. They can carve effectively from turn to turn on nicely groomed snow but are not so consistent when the snow is icy or un-groomed. Skiers in this group can get down steeps, moguls and freeride terrain with confidence and a semi consistent technique but loose control approximately 30% of the time. Skiers at this level want to develop performance towards skiing 40 degrees slopes with good technique and direct (zip) line moguls.

Group 5 Expert / Instructor

This group consists of skiers who can ski all terrains comfortably but want to be able to ski higher speeds through greater dynamics, ski steeper fall line moguls with a greater range of absorption and extension, make higher speed GS freeride turns in powder and variable snow conditions and generally master a solid technique. Skiers in this group would cover the basics of race training, steep couloirs, instructor exam technical requirements, freeride performance and higher speeds.

Group 6 Athlete / Performer

This group consists of skiers wishing to compete or who already compete in freeskiing competitions, Alpine Racing competition or freestyle skiing disciplines such as moguls, half pipe, big air, slope style or rails. In this group you will also find skiers who are training for there BASI 1 technical exam and Euro Speed Test.