Warren started Day 1, Stage 1 as part of the Dallaglio Fintoff Cycle Slam team a little apprehensive due to only clocking up 4 hours of training because of bad weather over the Alps in April. Kick off was at the birthplace of the Olympic games in Ancient Olympia, on the Peloponnese peninsula of western Greece. The massive 174km day 1 ride went well for Warren and he found himself in better shape than expected and in a really good team. Check the Day 1 video blog here.

Warren said, “Day 2 was a tough day, probably because of the challenge of day 1 and a few unexpected climbs. It was a day of great views and good banter between Lee Dixon and Graeme Le Saux. They were both team captain’s for the day and there was a lot of Chelsea Arsenal chat between them.” Check the Day 2 video blog here.

“Day 3 was another day with long climbs but amazing views across Greek coastline and even a small stop at the seaside town of Plataria for a quick swim. Simon ‘Headless’ Hunter was on good form this day performing some road bike freestyle to break the monotony and Lawrence Dallaglio needed a leadership medal for making the call on the Plataria beach stop off!” Check the Day 3 video blog here.

“After an overnight ferry from the Greek port of Igoumenitsa to the Italian port of Brindisi, Day 4 was all about keeping high speeds and good peloton etiquette. Our peloton went for quite a distance at around 48kph. A few beers were had when we arrived in the town of Bari to close stage 1.” Check the Day 4 video blog here.

It’s an incredible commitment that everybody is making for these charities. Warren is currently in London getting in some training in around Richmond Park and the Surrey Hills. Feel free to tweet him on @warrensmithski if you would like to join him on a few laps or a bigger ride. 

Please help Warren reach his target of £6k before he starts stage 5 on the 14th May by donating at the following page, uk.virginmoneygiving.com/WarrenSmith. Thanks so much to all of you who have donated so far. It’s very much appreciated.

Here you can view a clip of the feedback from this students on this year’s course and the incredible before and after shots of the students. To read more information on next years course in Verbier, please click here.

You can also book onto the summer GAP Ski Instructor course running in Saas-Fee here.

The Academy team have arrived back in the UK once again to commence the Spring ski coaching courses this week in the UK’s indoor real snow centres – the Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead, Chill Factore, Manchester and Sno!zone, Castleford.

Skiers looking to continue their training out of season take advantage of these sessions and work on the drills that develop their skills and improve their technique for their return to the snow the following winter, or even before that to the glaciers or the Southern hemisphere in the summer. All of these destinations bridge the gap between the winter and summer ski season, critically keeping the ski muscles in tune.

Dates and information on the Indoor Snow Slope Courses can be found by clicking Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead, Chill Factore, Manchester and Sno!zone, Castleford. If you would like your skiing assessed prior to attending our summer or winter GAP year course, please let us know in advance of your coaching session via the Contact Page of our website.

Here you can view a clip of the feedback from this students on this year’s course and the incredible before and after shots of the students. To read more information on next years course in Verbier, please click here.

You can also book onto the summer GAP Ski Instructor course running in Saas-Fee here.

It’s just over two months before we begin our 10th summer in Saas-Fee. This summer has seen an increase already in bookings for the 5 days courses and the summer GAP instructor course. The resort received a phenomenal amount of snow this winter, especially the bonus snow in April, and the glacier will open on the 14th July with more snow depth than previous summers. The reason we are about to begin our 10th summer on the glacier can be seen by viewing the video clip here that explains about the course, the snow and the resort. Click here to view video.

As an Academy client you automatically benefit from the large discount offered by Hotel Du Glacier, our Academy base for the summer, and the discounted lift pass from the Saas-Fee Bergbahnen. The Hotel du Glacier is located in the centre of Saas-Fee and is only a two minute walk from the main lift station. The Academy clients and coaches all stay here together making it a cosy and friendly week with plenty of people to join the many activities or apresski activity. To read more about the summer courses in Saas-Fee, click here. To book a course, click here.

The prize of two places on a Warren Smith Ski Academy course and two Business Class flights to the Alps, valued at over £2000 was won by Stephen Long.

Congratulations Stephen. Please contact us here to claim your Academy ski weekend.

Many thanks to Snow + Rock for promoting this competition for the duration of the winter 2011/12 season. As well as the release of the new Snow + Rock Summer 2012 catalogue, you can also find in store great discounted offers on winter 2011/12 ski kit. Worth checking out www.snowandrock.com.

To find out more about Swiss International Air Lines and its network, go to www.swiss.com. SWISS, the skier’s airline of choice are one of the only remaining airlines that will transport your first set of skis/snowboard and boots free of charge (in addition to you standard luggage allowance). They get the Academy vote! Click here to read about ‘SWISS – the skier’s airline’.

The course follows the same format as the Winter GAP ski instructor program in Verbier. The main difference being that there are a lot more summer activities to get involved in such as downhill mountain biking, golf, tennis, climbing, football, basketball, volleyball to name but a few…if you have the energy! If you are interested in training to be a ski instructor this summer, please read information on the course here.

The autumn and winter 5 day group courses take place from Sunday to Friday with the Wednesday off. They are designed to build and develop skill and confidence, to enable people to ski all terrains including Moguls, Steeps, Variables, Powder and how to Carve effectively on piste. Skills are developed during the coaching by practicing specific exercises that benefit the main topics.

In addition to adding autumn ski courses in Saas-Fee, the Academy have increased the number of Supergroup weeks which had proved increasingly popular last season. All of the Supergroup courses last season were fully booked with waiting lists, so the Academy had to increase the number of weeks to cope with the demand.

The idea of the Supergroup was to have smaller groups of 4-6 skiers focussing on more technical and more advanced skiing in more challenging terrain. It was designed for regulars of the Academy (level 4-6) who have been on several courses, are confident with the format and wish to be pushed to the next level. It also bridges the gap a for skiers who usually take guides but require tuition as part of the itinerary and off piste skiing experience. The Academy Facebook page (click here to ‘Like‘) is ideal for Academy skiers asking who is thinking of what particular week.

To read more on the autumn courses in Saas-Fee, click here. To view winter dates in Verbier, click here.

Thursday 26th April was the fourth day of the Dallaglio Flintoff Cycle Slam 2012 (http://www.dallaglioflintoff2012.com) and we had to dig deep for the 140km’s.

We had a pretty straight forward crossing from Greece over to Italy. It was easy to notice the difference in drivers mentality towards cyclists! Cars pulling out on our peloton a lot in the first hour which we hadn’t seen in Greece. You could tell that although there were a lot of tired legs, all everybody was thinking about was getting to Bari asap. The peloton speed got up to about 48kph for a good 15 mins. Was amazing being in a line like that. Thanks to Bonzo for keeping us in sync. 

Another day of great scenery with a progressive climb of 70km’s then a slight downhill for 70km’s. It was the fastest day of the week and we were speeding towards Bari. With the help of some inside knowledge (Simon ‘Headless’ Hunter’s contact) we ended the ride with an amazing seafood lunch which was an epic end to the cycling week! 

After lunch we had just a few kilometres to go which was late afternoon / early evening. The light was awesome as we cycled into Bari through the rush hour madness. Was such a great feeling to be at the hotel and chilling out after an unforgettable week. 

There has been a massive amount of donating going on over the past week and the amount raised is now just above the £1.5 million mark now which is incredible. Please have a look at the website and continue to donate to the Dallaglio Foundation, the AF Foundation and Virgin Unite. My donation page is http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/WarrenSmith. Please help me raise my target of £6k, any size donation welcome. Look forward to seeing some of you on our Academy UK ski courses over May and in Saas-Fee in the summer.

Wednesday 25th April was the third day of the Dallaglio Flintoff Cycle Slam 2012 (http://www.dallaglioflintoff2012.com) and quite a good day for the body because the climbs were not too bad and the distance was just under 90km’s.

It was a nice day on the road, great views of the Greek coastline and even a small stop at the seaside town of Plataria for a quick swim. Simon ‘Headless’ Hunter was on good form this day performing some road bike freestyle to break the monotony and Lawrence Dallaglio needed a leadership medal for making the call on the Plataria beach stop off! 

It felt like a good day to almost recover a little from the first two days. Day Four is 140km’s so a slightly easier day was desperately needed. My legs felt ok but my neck is in a pretty bad way. The people working for David Roberts Physiotherapy have done an amazing job keep us all going this week. Thank you for keeping my neck turning! 

There has been a massive amount of donating going on over the past week and the amount raised is steadily heading towards the £1.5 million mark now which is amazing. Please have a look at the website and continue to donate to the Dallaglio Foundation, the AF Foundation and Virgin Unite. My donation page is http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/WarrenSmith. Please help me raise my target of £6k, any size donation welcome. Look forward to seeing some of you on our Academy UK ski courses over May and in Saas-Fee in the summer.