BASI-International ski teaching diploma

After just over 3 years of study, I finally passed the last exam of my ISTD diploma this week.

What this means for me, is I can now teach and guide on and off piste skiing and touring in France and the rest of the world. Pow pow anyone!!

La Tour Delivers!

La Tour was on fab form today, I hooked up with a good ski buddy Phil Ingle for a good blast around. First up we skied a line neither of us have skied before, down the South facing slopes of the Aiguille Posettes. It was a nice pitch that leads back down to the car park. There was a little fresh snow from the previous nights snowfall but it still felt a wee bit sketchy underfoot. For the rest of the day we stayed around the back of La Tour where we expected to find some better conditions. We certainly weren’t disapointed and found some spectacular fresh turns over the back side, a five min walk gets you into some amazing terrain. Boot to knee deep goodness!

Can you guess where this creep avalanche is?

Phil in the starting gate, but no rush its all our’s!

Chamonix in superb conditions

Wow what a few days. Blue skies and fresh snow, what can I say thats what it’s all about eh. A few of the Profeet staff hit town this weekend for a short break from all the boot fitting. I had a super fun time showing then around the valley, what a perfect weekend to visit the valley.

Me in classic pose pointing out the GM to Mike on a quick lap around to the ‘Hotel face’ at Brevent.

Mike and Garth enjoying some more Brevent Powder near the Cornu chair.

Observer runs a mention

Join the pros

Professional skiers are usually split between the athletes who appear in photoshoots, and instructors, who have spent years getting the qualifications to teach. Chris Fecher is one of the very few Britons who has moved from one camp to the other, graduating from Chamonix ski bum to sponsored pro to fully qualified instructor. He’s running the “Head Skis Autumn Ski Clincs” on indoor slopes – on 10/11 October in Hemel Hempstead, 17/18 October in Milton Keynes and 24/25 in Tamworth. The full-day courses cost £125 and are designed to prepare keen parallel skiers so they are ready to improve as soon as they reach the slopes proper.

Fall Line Skiing magazine new site

http://www.fall-line.co.uk/news/features

Check out Fall Line Skiing mag’s new web site, I wrote a wee feature for them this week on how to slash a lip. You can find it in the features section, there should be some nice images taken by my wife Sarah.

More snow today in Chamonix

Snowing on the valley floor this morning, a good 15cm already and more expected today.

Chamonix knee deep in the forest

Skiing has been pretty epic for the last few days, knee deep and light as you like. I haven’t skied the Dream Forest much over the last few years. Back in the day it was our training ground on a flat light or storm riding day. I got up the hill kind of late and the hill was looking pretty skied out, so I thought a few runs in the old Dream Forest would be a good call. I wasn’t disappointed, knee deep snow and super quiet with nothing but the sound of my skis gliding through the snow and the birds a twittering. It’s bigger than you think once you get to know it, you can always find a few turns even at the busy times. This run has some really distinct character, like the gnarly old trees which just look amazing as the afternoon light peers through the forest from the West, faint views of a snow dusted Chamonix town in the distance and fat plumped pillows of snow slouched on every rock and feature. It’s a special place thats for sure and to ski a fast flowing line you need to know the forest, yourself and the conditions well especially early season when it’s on the lean side. I’ve included a couple of images from the last couple of days skiing up at GM below.

IKAR 2009 Mountain Rescue congress in Zermatt

This clip is a 20-minute video that features the highlights of the recent IKAR – CISA Mountain Rescue congress in Zermatt, Switzerland in September of 2009. It has been produced by Topograph Media for educational purposes in order to help mountain rescue teams around the world to effectively carry out rescue missions to those in need of help in the mountains.

Head Vector 120’s with Profeet foams

A quick mission to Profeet on my way to Chamonix for some boot fitting magic, from the hands of Profeet owner and boot fitting guru Hamish Wolfenden. The boots I’ve gone for this winter are the  Head Vector 120 with a comformable race custom foam liner. Boots have been fantastic during the last couple of weeks skiing, the 120 has a nice forward flex with plenty of spring, lateral flex is stiff and offers heaps of feel and performance.

Head 2010 Magnum supershape