As the end of the ski season draws ever closer, some of the original course members from the initial BASI level 1 examination have unfortunately had to leave due to both illness and injury. We were all sad to see them leave and hope they recover soon and return to complete their training.
Since passing our first exam we have spent the following two weeks shadowing the ski school over one of the busiest periods of the year, the infamous – School Half Term.
Shadowing the ski school
I myself was particularly lucky having the opportunity to spend my afternoons with some of the higher performing groups – Level 6. The instructor I was to shadow (Sam Goodlass) is known as quite the character within the ski school and by all accounts is a fantastic instructor from whom I learnt a great deal. Sam gave me some very useful feedback when analyzing my skiing, which helped me to continue developing my technique over these two weeks.
The varied groups provided a great balance enabling me to spend the slower paced mornings on the nursery slopes and then in the afternoon being able to head up the mountain for more technically demanding skiing. The children within the group were brilliant, really funny and we had a great time tackling both Tortin and the ski cross-parks on numerous occasions.
Overall the shadowing aspect of the Gap ski instructor course was a great insight into what the being a ski instructor actually entails. The whole course felt we got a lot out of these demanding weeks and it was a fantastic opportunity to gain some invaluable knowledge putting some of the drills and skills obtained within our training to the test.
Final preparations
Having completed the shadowing aspect of the course we only had our last full week of training to go prior to the long anticipated BASI level 2 examination. This week was a very productive weeks training with the sole focus on putting those finishing touches to our skiing and brushing up on areas where we felt our skiing was weak.
Monday morning marks the official start of the BASI level 2 exams, where once again all of our hard work over the past 8 shall be put to the test. Following on from the roaring success of the previous Gap Course who achieved an astounding 100% pass rate the pressure really has never been greater to perform.
Blog written by: Dean Wilson
January GAP Course 2013-2014
