Its race training time with some Stubbies, so Monday comes nice and hot and it’s just me and Matt with Alessandro coaching us. First day doing some racing for a while so we do it on very flat terrain. I’m on normal piste ski’s and Matt’s pitched up on park ski’s…….. smart move Matt. So anyway we set the gates as a slalom for the first few and then it widens out a bit and we then start hitting them. The course is super fun although it’s very flat but its fast. We quickly set ourselves aims for the course time wise and Ale starts to ramp us into a competition between us. I start more than a second ahead of Matt after our first run but the skis have a lot to say in this as Matt’s skiing very well. He starts to close down the time gap but I end up after the morning about half a second ahead of him which Ale doesn’t let him forget at dinner later that night.

So Tuesday comes and similar weather again but we are going steeper this time and we have 2 more joining us so more competition. So Harry and Lawrie have joined us and Harry, Matt and I are all on FIS skis. Lawrie’s on a high end piste performance ski. So we set the gates on a poorly groomed piste and we then all do a run. Me and Lawrie both put down times but the other 2 have bails and don’t get a time down. My time is 19.66 Lawries is 20.76. So we head back up and do another run. I go first and have a big bail, lose both skis and slide 150m on my back. No injuries which is good. Matt then comes flying down and bails as well. He hasn’t got a time down and Harry and Lawrie set times. Harrys at about 20.07 and Lawries 20.50. Next run we finally all get times down. Matt sets a solid 19.8. I move into 18.86 and Harry has a good time of 19.7 and Lawrie gets 19.90. He has a h

alf second taken off due to his skis and we are racing for a beer. Loser buys. So we set off again all talking about aims for times. Me and Matt reckon there’s a 17 up for grabs. Matt goes first again and set a good time of 18.80 and then I go and move the time down to 18.40 and Harry get a 19.20. Lawrie moves down to 19.70. 2 more runs to see who’s the victor. Lawrie goes first and gets a 19.55 and he’s annoyed with that. I go next and move down to 18.29, felt good but could have been better. Matt comes down and sets a time of 18.60 just Harry to go to make it a good run for all of us. He tucks early, catches edge just before the finish and does a flat ground 360 and crosses in 18.90 very good in the circumstances. So we go into the last run all to play for.

I go first and almost have a bail but keep on my feet and knock my time down to 18.21, with a bail at the end not sure what happened but its bent my break out of place. Lawrie comes down and sets a good time of 19.36. It’s all to play for the beers as Lawrie has moved into 3^rd with his time to take off. But Harry comes down and breaks Lawries heart with a 18.60. Matt then comes down and secures a 2^nd place and sets a time of 18.30.

It was a great morning, a few funny wipeouts and lots of laughs and good competition and improvements from everyone be over a second.

I would like to thank all the trainers we have had this season its been a good season with lots of variation and finally some nice weather at the end of the season and amazing snow and I would like to thank Harry Steel for sorting all the training out. Its been a great season roll on next year.

After a week of teaching training, central theme, shorts and longs, the Team was ready for a big day of skiing off-piste.

Everybody was wearing fat skis, and back country gear; standing at the summit of Mont Gelé, anxious to ski the powder on one of Verbier’s most famous descents.

The snow is the lightest and deepest it has been this season and the sun is shining. This promises to be an amazing day!

I start the transceiver test and give a brief outline of Avalanche safety, trying to call the sensitive side of each one. But my words sound empty. Nobody looks very interested about keeping the adrenaline to the correct level.

It´s hard to get them to listen when theirs wills want to run wild.

Be safe and Let´s go skiing!!!

We skied mainly on Mont Gelé, and Attelas faces that morning and had great time.

The lightest powder of the season, everything was good to be skied or jumped. There were many good lines, drops of rocks ,“FACESHOTS” and most of all: big bails!!!

The best faceshots, were actually the head plantings in the snow….

HAHAHA

What a wonderfull day !!

Was a pleasure to share with you guys the best day of the season!

Cheers

Federico

We tore up savoleyres for the rest of the week working on piste performance, freezing, with the occasional pass out at the side of the mountain – fixed of course with a hot chocolate fix! Filmed our longs and shorts before some in depth video analysis searching for that sexual chocolate Harry’s been trying so hard to teach us! Then to the pub!

Thursday was teaching day using out well prepared lesson plans… Freezing cold but a very nice lunch!
Finally we got to Friday after a long and stressful week. By midday most of us knew we’d passed … For some (one) tension built in the last few runs until the final run we found out we would all be going out that night!

It was a tough week, good fun, well celebrated with a champagne dinner – literally, Champagne in the pasta!

Milla and Emily

For the December Group the main focus was to consolidate all the hard work they have put into the different aspects of their skiing over the past few weeks. From making sure they can perform accurate demos in their central theme to performing strong rhythmical turns in the bumps both groups took advantage of great skiing conditions in Verbier. It has been amazing to see the big changes everyone has made over the course and they all should be very confident heading into their Level 2 exam next week.

For a bit of fun however on the last day to make sure it wasn’t all getting too serious we all dressed up in some fairly silly outfits as you can see in the pictures below! A particular shout out has to go to Ed and Joe who braved some seriously cold conditions in little clothing!

A huge congratulations have to go to the January Group who all passed their Level 1 exam which is an awesome effort! They can look forward to exploring the Verbier mountain some more as they venture into the bumps and Variables with their Altitude coaches next week.

Firstly two of the Level 4 trainees have passed their Eurotest in Italy this week, apparently they were the only 2 Brits to pass, so massive congratulations to them!

Secondly the BASI GAP recieved a 100% pass rate on their Level 1 course this week, they all worked really hard to achieve this so we are all very proud of them!

And last but not least the sun has been shining and the skiing conditions on the piste are fantasic. It has been an ideal last week for the Dec gap group

to prepare for their level BASI 2 exams which start next week! Good luck everyone

Below is a picture of one of our Gap students helping out on the beginner slope last week.

Look out for the blog over the next few weeks from the Altitude Futures L4, ISIA and the Gap students.

If you are interested to know more information have a little look at this video. It’s not long now until the fun starts! Last season was amazing fun, could the vibe on the course possibly be better than last winter?

Last winter Altitude’s ISIA course recieved the highest pass rates of any of the Verbier ISIA courses. This was down to great students, great coaching and turtle power.

This winter many of our ISIA students will return to Altitude in Verbier to further develop their teaching experience and to also train towards more exams in the BASI system. Some will pasticipate in Level 4 Training with Altitude and some will also work full time in the school.

Altitude offers a great pathway for all instructors wishing to progress in their career. In Verbier we provide a training pathway from Gap all the way through to Level 4 exams. See you on the snow soon

Nothing compares to the feeling of riding fresh, untracked, deep powder on a steep face.

These tips will help your performance.

Steep & Deep (Download PDF)

Altering the way you stand on your board can help you have better control and ride more efficiently.

Use these hints as a starting point and play around with the basic measurements.

There’s no right or wrong what feels comfortable probably works best.

Stance adjustment (Download PDF)