GAP SKI INSTRUCTOR PROGRAM

2008 GAP Ski Instructor Course Review

Stephan Bough, 40 Software Engineer, Brighton I had been planning a season away from work for several years and managed to arrange a career break with my company to allow me to do so. My main interest was to improve my skiing, with a side benefit of hopefully gaining a qualification I might want to use at some stage in the future. I'd originally been planning on going to Canada, but after going on one of Warrens performance coaching weeks the previous year I pretty much decided then and there that I wanted more of that.

I arranged to turn up a week early so I could get the cobwebs out of the system before I had to demonstrate my ability (or lack of) in front of the other people on the course. Once we all got out together on the first day I was happy I had, since the level of skiing was pretty good even from the start. The range of experience was much wider though with some people who'd been skiing decades and some who only had a few weeks under their belts.

After the first day we broke up into four groups of eight and started the training proper. A typical day starts about 10AM with a warm up routine to loosen up the muscles and then progresses into the coaching proper. The day ends normally between three and three thirty with a warm-down stretch, after which people are free to head out until the lifts stop, or head down for a rest.

Twice a week we did video analysis sessions, which involve normally practising some element of skiing a few times prior to taping it, then getting together later in one of the chalets together and going through the video almost frame-by-frame. It's a phenomenally useful way to see what your problems are from the outside and was very helpful.

The course in general was five weeks of coaching, one week for the BASI level 1 exam, two weeks for BASI level 2, and a week for shadowing a ski instructor in the Ecole de Ski Verbier ski school. We were being trained throughout the examination weeks as well, providing a slightly different slant on ski technique.

In addition to the skiing we did a mountain safety course (avalanche training and so forth), a first aid course, a child protection module and a course on managing difficult personalities on the mountain. All in all it was pretty intensive!

The coaching itself was very impressive. The guys managed to break down my skiing completely and rebuild it from the ground up. Considering I had fourteen years of bad habits to get rid of that was no mean feat. The entire process was occasionally frustrating, often exhilarating and always made easier by the guys who's endless enthusiasm and patience made it all much easier.

Verbier as a resort is an awesome place to spend a season. The mountain offers almost endless variety, I was still discovering (i.e. being shown) new places to ski after twelve weeks there, and it's filled with all sorts of areas which are not named on any map but everyone (who lives there) knows about like Stairway to Heaven or Barry's Bowl. The apres ski is pretty impressive as well, ranging from the Farinet where you will probably be dancing on the bar by eight o'clock (and I did) to quieter bars like Wonderbar where you can (and I did) spend evenings shooting pool.

The gap crowd were a pretty mixed bunch, ranging from teenagers to people in their fifties. Despite that the group dynamic worked out extremely well. I suppose having the passion for skiing we all had gave at least one thing in common, which was bound to help. I think most of the people on the course will remain in touch with each other for a long time.

All in all the course was a huge success from my point of view. My skiing is hugely better than it was before I went out, and of course I'm now a qualified ski instructor. Just to make that even sweeter, the 100% pass rate meant that the last day of the course was a celebration that noone was left out of and left more than a few sore heads the next day I suspect.

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