Snowboard Instructor Level 2 Course

It was the first day out of 4 of my CASI level 2 course! We a lot of riding to prove ourselves to our course conductor and talked snowboard technique ready for our teaching section tomorrow. I have to say I feel well prepared. All our practise throughout the season has proved extremely valuable, everything we touched upon today was very familiar and I feel comfortable and confident moving forward. Bring on tomorrow! Just let my soak my aching body first!

The course will take up the rest of my week and I will be focused on snowboarding. However I was working on skis yesterday! A full day of snowbirds: 2-5 year olds. One child for a hour, every hour. That means 5 kids in total that are very dependent on you for instruction, physical support and motivation. Overall an energy draining day, but full of cute little kiddies who are delighted to ski and hilarious fun. They happily chit chat away and I love to get them doing silly drills including thier favourite animal noises.. ROAAARRR we're skiing lions!

In other news, look at all the cool pictures I have grabbed from my GoPro videos through the park! I've been hitting various jumps, rails and even a quarter pipe that was constructed for the final rail jam of the season. It was epic. Take a look!

Watching the Rockstar Rail Jam

My mate Estonian mate Egon competing.

https://splice.gopro.com/v?id=7254yx 

Nose Grab!

Indie GrabM

Bonk

Bonk

Wipeout!

#justparkthings

First Week Of Spring CatchUp

This time at Panorama we had a very quiet midweek, I had Monday-Wednesday off due to lack of lessons booked. Which meant I was able to get out and do some free riding of my own. I worked Thursday-Saturday as we got slammed by spring break holiday makers. Now on a sunny Sunday, I am once again left to my own devices. Pancakes, skyping, blogging and snowboard are what the day holds I think, with some summer job organisation as well.
Happy Mother's Day by the way! Love to all my familly back at home xxx

Start of the week: Lazy mornings with snowboarding in the terrain park in the afternoon. I love jumping around in the kickers and sliding on the rails/boxes. I'm just getting used to falling through the air before I add style - which would make it flying (thanks Buzz Lightyear.) I've got to take it easy because I don't want an injury prior to my CASI level 2 course next week starting Tuesday!

https://splice.gopro.com/v?id=VPWYZd

This week we also picked up a football so we can have a kick around together, I haven't played football in so long it was great to have a run out. Although I forgot how competitive we can all get.. so our friendly 5-aside turned scrappy very quickly! All of us picked up knocks and aches from the physical excursion and questionable tackling. I could feel my swollen shins in my snowball boots come Wednesday! Hilarious fun, definitely on the table for next week. We play North vs. South. North won thanks to yours truly picking up 5 assists and a couple goals. Plus now that the word has got out that we have a football, more brits from the ski school wanted to some join in. Next weeks game should be a cracker.

We also got a care package from our lovely neighbours containing half a dozen packets of crisps which were very welcome. In other news our mates from pre season are back for the level 2 courses, so it's nice to have them around and catch up.

Come the end of the week I was back at work, I was on standby in the morning and on children's lessons in the afternoon. It was great! They were all snowboarders! Lots of beginners, as well as a level 3 yesterday which was super fun! 

Talking about yesterday, it was very odd. It seemed that all the spring break families had arrived in the morning and had booked the kids for afternoon lessons. Often we have maybe 3/4 in a group day lesson including add-ons at 1pm for just afternoon lesson. However yesterday, we had 6 add-ons at 1pm! It can be a little disruptive, new people bring new personalities, and new names and abilities for you to learn! It can be hard to organise them all, and make sure everyone is learning and included. Therefore me and my collegue Euan, co-taught for the start of the lesson and then split the group of 11 in half. It worked excellently, and everyone had a great time. My level 3s were great listeners and up to try everything I asked - the perfect students! We were jumping around, making turns and spinning around having fun. 

Every Saturday we have an earlier meeting to go through announcements and give out Pano-points. A way of recognising employees who have proved themselves durning the week according to Panoramas' 4 values: Thinking always thinking, Above and behyond, I am the resort and Inspiring confidence. I finally got recommended and mentioned in a customer survey! It read something like: 'My daughters instructor Zak was outstanding. With his help she can finally tackle chair lifts and now feels part of the snowboarder family.' 

I don't have a picture of the recommendation card but I will get it later today. I give everything to my job and absolutely love it, which is fullfiling enough for me to be content. To have recognition for my effort and passion is really motivating, and gratifying to know that people do notice my work, and appreciate it. Now I can pull a ticket out of a hat and be rewarded with a voucher to spend at the resort: $5-$20, exciting sttuff.

Until next time! 

The Last Week Of Winter

Today is the first day of Spring, so my update of last week is how I finished my first Winter living and working as a ski/snowboard instructor in Canada.. Bring on spring skiing in the sun!

Monday - Lessons / Goodbye Michael: Monday was the last day my housemate Michael was around. He flied back to Blighty on Tuesday to go back to work so he could travel during the summer with his girlfriend. Everyone was sad to see him leave, he was a big personality, and my only snowboarder back up in the Rack Shack! However I didn't have too long to be all melancholy as it was straight back to work. Monday I had a sweet bunch of little snowboarders, the kid who stood out most was Dodge. He seemed to have some learning disabilities and I had been warned by other instructors that he can get out of hand when too tired.
It turned out to be a great lesson. Initially he wanted assistance with everything. Carrying his board, doing up his bindings, a helping hand whilst riding. I refused to let him take the easy route! My background in the CADS teaching methods really helped me facilitate his learning by increasing his independence. Theres no reason to help him with everything, he just needed the confidence to know it was within his ability to do all these things. By the end of the lesson he was fully capable of taking the magic carpet up by himself and attaching his snowboard without help. Even small steps like this can prove, not only to others, but to himself, that he can do things. May be it won't be the conventional method that works for everyone but thats beside the point - it can still be done. Plus I would argue that children are the best source of creativity and finding new solutions. They aren't restricted by embarrassment, or the limits of how it 'should' be done. If there is goal they want to achieve, they will find a way within their ability to do it.

Tuesday - Called Into Work: My regular day off but they needed extra bodies to work to accommodate a school group arriving for the week. I had a small group of snowboarders from Edgewater (small town 45 minutes down the road.) who I took for their ski field trip of the year. They were fairly strong riders on easy terrain and they really wanted to go to the summit. So after lunch I promised we would go to the top together. So after lunch we make our way up the chairlifts, and on the short CAT tracks to the next chair it seems my boys have forgotten how to snowboard! Not only that, one starts getting anxious and starts telling me how he's afraid of heights. Time for a change of plan I thought, or I'm never going to get these boys down safe and happy. Thus we drop into Sun Bowl, tear it down in our sturdy heel-side side slip and even start playing around with jumps and fresh snow. We did a great job going down fast that we got back in time for the kids to be let go and free ski for a while.

Wednesday - Kicking Horse Trip: I mentioned this briefly last week and posted a picture but heres another!

That was a steep hill, with so many black diamond, gnarly runs! 178 in total, with crazy deep snow, rocks, and tree runs accessible via a gondola - good thing too as it was tipping it down with rain at the bottom but thankfully transitioned to snow higher up. The ladies I was with weren't as strong a riders as me so after a couple runs together and lunch I headed out solo to shred. It was all fun and games though. On the journey to the resort our coach broke down literally 5 minutes from the resort we could see the chair lifts! As staff on the coach it was our jobs to keep the guests informed and satisfied as we found a solution. We called Kicking Horse, local colleges and bus providers to try and find alternative ways to the mountain and within half an hour we had struck gold - 2 coaches on route to save the day. After some stiff conversations with stressed guests and organisation of the group, we successfully delivered 50 guests, plus skis to hill and had them ready to ski with passes in no time. We all needed a coffee after that though.

Thursday - Staff Trivia Night: With ice skating and bonfire on the lake thrown in too!
Friday: St Paddys Day: Funky costumes on the hill and the first day of the 3 day long music festival High Notes! Lots of live music kicking about which is a nice change when sitting down with a nice pares-ski beverage. Otherwise, nothing special.

Saturday / Sunday: Saturday was possibly the wettest day I have ever experienced at a ski resort, and guess who was out there working hard in it, all day.. I think all the instructors accepted that it was just a unpleasant day so resorted to the one thing that would guarantee child happiness - SNOWBALL FIGHT! It was crazy! Never before have I seen all the instructors collectively participate in snowball fights with each other, their kids and even other instructors lessons too. It was so fun and created a wonderful, playful, happy atmosphere that kept everyone smiling. Despite the weather.

Sunday juxtaposed Saturday completely. Roaring sunshine all day was a welcome relief, I didn't want to have to take my uniform hime again to dry them out. I find it strange to ask the kids if they want to go inside for water and a cool down rather than warm up during a ski lesson!

Sunday was enjoyable as I had a returning client from the last couple weeks snowboarding with me again. She comes every weekend thanks to the special discounts offered to her tribe. You see, Panorama is built on Shushuap land. The ancient territory of the native Shushuap people. So in order to build on and use their land we give discounted tickets and lesson to them. Which is nice because you finally get to build a relationship and witness improvement.

Sorry for the wait, hope you enjoyed the data dump. Until next time! xx

Non-Stop!

So many cool ski lessons to report on! As well as the odd snowboard day too, today I did my first double-black diamond on skis and tomorrow I'm fortunate enough to land a free days riding in kicking horse resort as a staff member for the weekly guest trip...! Exciting! Not to mention skating and bonfires on the lake and the departure of a house mate.

I will have to update with pictures and stories later on tomorrow. Until then - got to run for the bus xxx again!

*UPDATE*

7am-7pm round trip to kicking horse was great fun! And it was freeeee yay! Went with a great bunch of girls and had a lovely time riding and talking with guests. Specifics later, now sleep. Up early to set up the learning area tomorrow, back to work.

A Fantastic Day

Today was pretty much the best day ever, why?

It started off pretty shaky, first gear swap of the season from snowboard to ski after my coworker called in sick. That's why dual certs are handy! I (if a little begrudgingly) complied and went to get changed, upon returning I found out I had my first full day 9:30/3:30 (longer than normal) of snowbirds - 0-5 year olds on skis. They can be the cutest little guys ever and today they lived up to that reputation. All of them were delightful, my first 5 year old was the brother of my previous Monday student and could even do chair lifts! Although he was too small for the Buttonlift so I had to step up and do my first tandem lift run.. it went remarkably well. Although my forearm is aching from holding tight to him for the duration of the lift, three times. He just loved the moustache trail, all in all.. A level 3 snowbird, my lucky day!

Next up was a no-show, which gave me the opportunity to test out my mates skis, with the possibility of buying them. Turns out they're perfect, nice and light carving ski for a great price. So guess who bought new skis today.. I feel like a proper ski instructor now!

Final bird before lunch was a cute 3 year old - a noodle, but a sweetheart. It tested my ski instructor ability by needing constant contact and support and positivity- right up my alley! I also owe a big thanks to Mickey the lifty who kept him in high spirits by giving big high fives, and marvelling at what we did each run after I relayed the past 20 seconds to him. Team work at its finest. Until he spotted his mum who came by to watch - instant water works and home sickness. But after convincing him to finish his lesson and go back to daycare, he was happy as can be.

At daycare I tried to introduce myself to my 2:30-3:30 snowbird, which didn't go well at all. She refused to ski with a male instructor! So during my lunch break I visited the snow school desk and helped rework schedules so that my female coworker could take my pm snowbirds (to get the kiddie on snow) and I could fill in her scheduled lesson. Despite halving my lunch break as a result, I was in a great mood and hyped for the afternoon.

I had a level 3 lesson where I brought x2 13yearolds and a 6 year old girl into a fun ski team - always laughing and learning together. It was magical. The little girl certainly held her own considering she didn't like boys, or big kids! (It was a wonder she liked me then) The little speed monster was always grilling them for being too slow! I joined the fun making and we had a great afternoon.

Coming home I stopped by a friends house for a chat and indoor golf putting, and then returned to a full house. All my friends were round being ill together it seemed on thier combined day off. So to lighten the mood I cracked open a beer to celebrate my grand day and after a whole load of chit chat I promised to make pancakes for them all. So I did! They were perfect (if I do say so myself.) The perfect end to a pretty much perfect day.

Ps. Alisha from activities got someone to fetch my shoe from the roof to add to my good mood.

A lifty occasionally goes out and takes pictures round the resort, today he captured this beauty. It makes me so happy.

Quiet Week

Ever since Sunday the resort has been very quiet, capacity is at around 60% and the rumour is that today only 5 lessons were booked in the whole ski  school. Which means lots of staff were cut and we get a day off to free ski and such!

Sunday: I wasn't booked for any lessons, so I was on standby - finally! This is good news because I get a rider improvement session from The Wizard (AKA Dylan, the resident level 4 instructor.) A level 4 snowboarder is a very rare creature, these guys can critique Olympians on their technique and go to annual CASI conferences to talk snowboarding and push the boundaries of our teaching and riding. Needless to say he's a very talented bloke and extremely knowledgeable. That's why I was so excited to finally have a Sunday morning free to train with him.

We rode all morning stopping often to talk about the new stance CASI is pushing onto their snowboarders. Instead of having your body stacked parallel over your board and squatting down (the way I was taught) you need to have your hips slightly open facing down the hill - resulting in a lower stance. Furthermore you should then have more freedom to manipulate your board using only the lower joints. Specifically your front leg for steering, and your back leg for edging, with a 40%-60% weight balance respectively. Now that may all sound like gobbledygook but for me its a new dynamic way of riding that was super fun to try out!
" *Update* Changed my snowboard bindings to better adapt to this riding mantra and it was super fun! Lovely snow today in Tayton Bowl, groomers and tree runs. Good day!"

We tore down some blacks and blues (runs) and then jumped into Tayton Bowl - Jekyll and Hyde. This is the furthest run out in the bowl and used to be out of bounds last year, its super fun: steep and deep just how we like it. There was some good snow out there and it was great to tear down as a group. We even found a gnarly tree jib with a good drop off at the end. I didn't hit but Michael and Dave did and they totally nailed it, it looked so cool.

After that we spent the remaining time learning how to Euro-carve, a carving turn wear you literally hug the ground as you spin around at top speed, hands dragging in the snow creating a half moon of snow spray. Its looks pretty epic and now I know the technique, I'd love to crack it.

Monday was brill because I got to shadow a level 2 / 3 ski lesson with three boys under the tuition of Mark. The nicest 6'7 bloke you'll ever meet, who used  to be a polar bear tour guide! His explanations were so clear that even I learnt something. In the afternoon he got called onto a new lesson so I was left with the boys who were now progressing into level 3 which is when we introduce parallel skiing. So at lunch I got Mark to teach me how to teach them parallel as it was a small section of the level 1 course, and more like the drills we were being taught! By the end of the day however I got them all skiing 60% parallel 40% snowplow which was a massive win; plus me and the boys had loads of fun.

Tuesday/Wedsnesday: Days off to shop, clean, and organise my affairs. With the odd trip up the hill to work on my snowboarding following Dylans Sunday session. Also I am starting to study for my level 2 exam on the 23rd of March, I've been told I'm a strong candidate for riding, I just need to make sure my teaching is up to standard.

Love to all my family xx until next time

Staff Do & First Ski Lesson

The staff do: X country skiing to a log cabin in the woods over looking the frozen creek, accompanied by my fantastic colleges and friends, and a roaring fire. It was hilarious hiking there on extremely thin ski that only your toes were attached to! There were many spills from everyone and all in all it was a great time and a work out!

We cooked hotdog and marshmallows and drank into the twilight. Then skied back in the dark!

Had my first ski lesson today! A level 2 lesson with 5 six year olds with the assistance of Tom, thank goodness I could just shadow him in the beginning. I did notice that his teaching style was very serious compared to me! It was a great day nonetheless, learnt a tonne of things you only get by working on the job. For example how to untangle pretzeled kids when they fall over! Or for me especially it was great to see them so mobile so quick - which made me want to speed off everywhere. Tom fedback to me that I should slow up and keep everyone close and controlled.

It was pretty hilarious at time - particularly when travelling down the mustashe trail. The first time was smooth, surprisingly so.. which must have been a fluke, because in round two both our little boys lost a ski on the same stump! So I was left to sort them out independently. With a bit of manhandling and coordination we got them both going again, happily flying round the course. Which left me to get my own skis back on, using a tree for balance, which left me covered in snow from the branches. I felt so goofy.

Round 3 was contained even more shenanigans! A little one got stuck in a ditch/snonwbank and was immobile, but laughing hysterically. And I joined him, in both respects! It took me so long that Tom came back to find us. He swooped in with his skis on, lifted the boy up in cradled in his arms and threw him back onto the trail like some sort of mountain rescue god! It was epic.

Saturday equals free kids lunches for everyone! Chicken burgers and fries was a great shout today. Then in the afternoon I even got to use an edgie-wedgie for the first time. (Felt like a true ski instructor.) Edgie-wedgies are two clamps attached by stretchy tubing that fixes kids skis together at the front/tip, forcing them to snowplow/pizza if they don't have enough muscle support to maintain. We call these kids noodles - legs as firm as a wet noodle. With the initial support of the girl advanced enough to do a snowplow all by herself which was great to see, and really important for her development as a skier.

When the day of instructing ended, work did not! I volunteered to help out activities staff with kids carnival following the big ski race today. I.e. Parents partying, kids going wild on sugar and pizza. Our station was tobogganing down the bunny hill using purpose made plastic sheets and foam blocks as speed management crash pads. It was a hit! Other activities included carnival games, hockey, sack races, parachute games and a movie. Love the organised-ish chaos.

It ended with a kick about with the under 14s race team who helped us out tonight. It felt so good to play footy again that I may have gotten too into it.. one thing lead to another and let's just say that one of my batman shoes now resides on a roof.. it was a screamer though!

Until next time! Xxx

We did it!

(Grinch voice)

I'm now a qualified ski instructor! The hilarious thing is that now I am just as qualified as my ski instructor friends.. who are insanely good skiers.. and then there's me! Pizza children! PIZZA

Me and my ski boarders! (Left2rigtht: Ben, Sylvia, Tyler, Rob, ME)

Finished off our course with practise teach, more explanations and assessment/development on each other. Nice and relaxed, followed by beers in the pro-room awaiting our results! The whole gang pulled together to celebrate and we're all super happy with it.

A few celebratory drinks tonight, back to snowboard session tomorrow! Next stop level 2 snowboard! If all goes to plan I could come out with level 1/2 snowboard, CADS 1 AND ski 1. Uber qualified and I'm not even 20 yet and it's my first season!

(The badge on my baseball cap is for the qualification :D )
Until next time xxx

Zak the Ski-Boarder

I'm going to have to change the prologue of my blog! - now that I'm becoming a ski AND a snowboard instructor.. A Ski-Boarder!

So far this week: 

2 days from our 3 day course done! Yesterday after working for an hour in the morning the 4 ski-boarders hopped back onto skis to continue our course. Focused on personal ski improvement, what the perfect skier looks like so that we can assess and develop our students. These 2 points are the most challenging aspects of the course for us snowboarders. Teaching is a piece of cake thanks to our previous experience and training - it is our job after all! We just need to adapt to the new terminology, lesson structure and drills then Bob's your uncle.

To help us we received video analysis on our own riding. Going through the tape and spotting the kinks in our riding really improved my understanding of the perfect body positions and what I need to work on, thus aiding my analysis of others. We studied terrain assisted learning (using bumps and jumps to challenge balance and manoeuvrability)  and tried the 'Moustache Trail.' A small series of berms, bumps and tight turns that snake through the glades and shrubbery adjacent the pommel lift. Kids LOVE it. They go fast, they love bumps and jumps so its a hit. Going through as an adult however is a little tricky! We aren't as manoeuvrable as the little ones... I sped into a tree and with a muffled cry; Ben lost a ski to a bush!But that wasn't the only hilarious shenanigans.. Nope, I can always do one better.. *facepalm*

Let me elaborate. We have a magic carpet lift to access the bunny hill called the Red Carpet, I've mentioned it before. You simply slide on and stand upright waiting to reach the top. I love a good old chinwag, so of course I needed to twist around to carry on my conversation. This movement throws off my balance and in slow motion I casually descend backwards in a crumpled heap. Helpless to gravity. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't get back up - much to the delight a raucous laughter of my fellow ski-boarders! Eventually the lift operator noticed my impersonation of a upside-down tortoise and halted the lifted so I could stand with as much dignity as I had left. My belly ached for the next 20 mins thanks to all the laughing and excursion. I'm a bit of a idiot. Oopsie.

220 school kids on the mountain;

that was the hour lesson prior to my course. I had 16 students and could only get through 2 runs in the limited time period. My job was to make sure they had amply technique so they don't break themselves during the trip, and explain mountain safety in order to ensure the same outcome. It was chaos, but I did my job, answered their questions and recommended runs for them to stick to. All the best team!

The departure of a good friend.

Plus it's only midweek with more excitement to come! Such as afternoon ice-hockey on the lake, pub quiz, final course day, and finally a staff night of cross country skiing at dusk followed by bonfire and beers. A jam-packed end of the week - can't wait!

Until next time xxx

Me and Sylvie mid ski course.

The Extreme Dream Zone!

High Notes Music Festival in construction for next week.