 Poster: A snowHead
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@Rogerdodger, most people take at least 5 years to achieve top-level instructor certification! 2 years is just the start.
Nevertheless, reaching the top level does generally allow a lucrative career and a great lifestyle which more than compensates for the time, effort and expense of getting qualified.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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After lots of (generally unanswered) emails to local clubs to try and find some form of GS training for adults proved pretty unsuccessful, around a month ago I happened to be in a lift queue next to a coach from WSV Hippach, so I asked him if he spoke any English and asked about adult race training. Turns out he's the head coach of the club and is also English!
No luck with the club, however, he suggested I spoke to a guy that runs a ski race shop in Kaltenbach. I eventually got round to going in to speak to him on New Years Eve and he gave me the name of a local guy that trains SL and GS up in Kaltenbach.
Anyway, fast forward to this weekend and i've now got a bunch of guys to train with. It's completely free and the guy that runs it does so just because he loves racing and there's no clubs for adults. Age range is from early 30's up to 74 so a real mix! They're up there every weekend training, unless there's a Tirol Masters race on.
And on the Tirol Masters races, the first one is next weekend, and as long as I can sort out membership with WSV Hippach quickly enough, i'll be signing up to take my last place finish 
Here's how it looks after weekend 1. Lots to work on and improve, but hopefully i'll find some improvements by the end of the season, and then i'll consider if it's worth bothering with a speedtest yet this season or not.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@swskier, Looking good. That bloke you were talking to , I know him very well. He was my coach for a number of years and is a top man. He's also fantastic at the strength and conditioning side of things, keep in touch with him and tell him I said hello 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@briand6868, small world!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Body shape looking decent, but your skis are set up to go a bit sideways there.
Great photo I must say, that camera angle is a really good coaching aid....note that your skis are on a different line to the well defined lovely rounded (and fastest) turnshape from other skiers.
Book that Speedtest!
I have trained with a lot of Eurotest candidates, and the observation I would make is that the ones who passed were not the tidiest skiers.
In fact the ones that passed were usually the ones who failed to stay in the course for a lot of their training runs...they were right on the edge! In order to pass you have to be open to spectacular failure...crashes, blowing out of the course.
Control means slower.
BTW I was old enough to be their dad(!) and only on the same course as a favour from the trainers and as a tool to being a better skier...it worked for a while but I think I have regressed 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@rungsp, It's a good angle from where it's taken. That turn is at the bottom of the steep top section just before a flatter section before it drops off again.
This view gives you an idea (not the same course set up as this is from Saturday)
I struggle on the steeper stuff, I can't currently ski a particularly clean turn, a lot of stivot, although less on Sunday than Saturday, an improvement after just one day. I can keep the arc clean though on the flatter stuff, so it's clear where I need to focus my time. From the timings yesterday, I was 8 seconds slower than the top guy there. He's a similar age to me, but born and bred Austrian skiing/racing all his life. I'd say he'd easily pass a speedtest, but that would still put me some way off.
On crashing and blowing out of courses, I did exactly that 10 seconds after the first picture
And the arms have definitely taken a hammering whacking the gates!
There's a test running in Germany in March, and my mate I met at the Zermatt speedtest in April will be there, so may give that a go depending on how the next 4-6 weeks go.
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Ouch!
You need one of those armored ski racing undershirt things.
They have a special name that has gone right out of my head.
Rather expensive for an utter punter like me, but money well worth spending for you.
I was a cheapskate and used football shinguards and duct tape 
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| rungsp wrote: |
Ouch!
You need one of those armored ski racing undershirt things.
They have a special name that has gone right out of my head.
Rather expensive for an utter punter like me, but money well worth spending for you.
I was a cheapskate and used football shinguards and duct tape |
I bought forearm guards and proper race gloves after Saturday.
I know the body armour type tops you mean. A few wore them on the dry slope. My cat suit has foam padding in it, but it makes little difference!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I'd say book the speedtest and thereby get a really well evidenced marker of where you stand, how much time you need to find.
8 seconds may not tell you much...that guy might pass with an 0.01 marking or a 7.5 margin so don't benchmark to him.
When I ran a proper Eurotest pre-test the coach remarked that he didn't have an accurate time because all the sand had run through the hourglass he was using as I was rather slow.
That was my best ever run and I was convinced, absolutely convinced (!), that This Time was THE Time!
It was actually rather funny the way he said it and all I could do was smile.
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Good to see the progress, good luck with your ambitions. I guess you wont be in the summer race league now again this year.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@swskier, I'm just reading a case in the Lyon appeal court involving a British ski instructor with a L4 qualification. He applied for a professional card in France. The prefect rejected his application, the Grenoble administrative court upheld the rejection and the Lyon appeal court upheld the decision by the Grenoble court.
I'll link to the case below so snowheads can draw their own conclusions but this caught my eye in the court's rejection of the appeal where both the complanants nationality is mentioned.
" it is clear from the documents in the file that the United Kingdom does not regulate access to the activity of ski instructor, nor does it regulate training. Mr A.'s declaration of freedom of establishment was therefore subject, for the purposes of its examination, to the provisions of 2° of article R. 212-90 of the French Sports Code, as referred to above. However, if Mr A.. provides evidence that he holds a training qualification issued by the competent authority in the United Kingdom attesting to his preparation to work as a ski instructor, in this case a 'Level 4 Alpine Diploma' issued in March 2014 by the Irish Association of Snowsport Instructors (IASI), a qualification whose authenticity the Prefect, in his statement of defence at first instance does not dispute the authenticity of this qualification, the applicant does not prove that he has practised this activity full-time for one year or part-time for an equivalent total period over the previous ten years, in a Member State of the European Union or in another State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area that does not regulate access to the activity or the exercise thereof. Therefore, Mr A... could not be considered to meet the requirements of the provisions of 2° of article R. 212-90 of the French Sports Code in order to be issued with a sports instructor's professional card."
I don't know whether to read too much into this. It appears that they believe IASI L4 is not sufficient in itself to establish in France without the applicant having 1 years full time practice in another EU state - could be on mats in the UK. Obviously if he had the CTT all would be golden but at nearly 60 the application doesn't stand much chance of that.
https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/ceta/id/CETATEXT000049375194?init=true&page=8&query=&searchField=ALL&tab_selection=cetat
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