 Poster: A snowHead
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BigMacB93, I can't speak for your nearest club, but the one I am involved with has members aged from 8 to 66. We usually have a few folk navigating BASI or SSE badges as well, so you should find someone to talk too.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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BigMacB93, Bracknell's race club (officially known as "Berkshire Race Squad") is adults+kids and is currently quite young - lots of early- and pre-teens - having most of their older ones to uni/moved away etc. in the last few years. So you may well be one of the oldest, but also one of the better ones - but I'm sure Linda would love to see you. Alternatively, we at Aldershot have separate kids and adults clubs. At 19 you would be too old to join the juniors (although that may be a blessing in disguise as they are are currently extremely good), but would be welcome to join our "old fogeys" club (18+) - I'm the Chairman for my sins. We do have a couple of student members, although we are mostly aged 40+, and cover a wide range of abilities - a number being parents of kids in the juniors who have long ago given up pretending they can keep up (although we have one or two who can still hold their own). We train 07:45-09:30 on Saturday mornings, with typically about 20 of our 40-odd members turning up each week - and there is also a session (run by the slope, rather than as part of our club) 20:00-21:45 on a Wednesday evening. And one final bit of "sales pitch" - dry slope is fairly hard on ski bases, but Dendix (what we have at Aldershot) is much less damaging than Permasnow (what they have at Bracknell)....and much less unpleasant to ski on (although it's still not snow  ). Drop me a PM if you want any more info.
BTW: if you're going to get skis for dry-slope race training, they really need to be 155cm long - 165 is really too long even if you're a beanpole.
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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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| ski wrote: |
| BigMacB93, I can't speak for your nearest club, but the one I am involved with has members aged from 8 to 66. We usually have a few folk navigating BASI or SSE badges as well, so you should find someone to talk too. |
Thanks been very helpful, in talks now with Cynic so hopefully will have myself a set of race ski's in no time! 
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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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Tim M,
To answer your original query as the thread seems to have gone off on one a bit...
I trained with Ski Instructor Academy in Kaprun, Austria 3 years ago and they were brilliant, so professional and friendly and their courses include a job afterwards for the season. I worked in Kaprun the first season (although they found jobs for people on the course all over Austria) and have worked every winter season since with the Anwaerter licence, I even did a summer season in New Zealand with it last year too which was AMAZING!
It sounds like a lot of money but I researched A LOT, and I found them to be much cheaper than the other companies offering the same style course with Austrian licence, BASI, Canadian etc. I think their prices have gone up a bit but I know the courses are longer now and have language course too now I think. I still speak to them on Facebook so I can check but I would just send them an email or ring them, speak to Gary, he's really helpful (shame he's a Geordie though).
Don't listen to peoples opinions who don't know them as they haven't got a clue, I went through them and they were great, have recommended loads of people to them and they all say the same thing as me. If I had to go back I would definitely use them again! She will love it.
Soups 
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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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Hi Soups,
Thank you so much for sharing. A quick question - are the lessons taught mostly in German at the Ski Instructor Academy, Austria? My worry is - if it is, then I would seriously struggle to learn since I do not understand a word of German beyond "danke" and "auf weidersein".
Many thanks for your clarification.
Brgs,
Snowblades
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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soups
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Don't listen to peoples opinions who don't know them as they haven't got a clue,
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A rather arrogant statement for a newbie! If you bother to read back through the whole thread you will see that there have been a variety of comments from some very well qualified people offering a number of options. If you are still only an Anwärter after three seasons in Austria and a season down under, why have you not gone for Landeslehrer or even Staatlich geprüfte Skilehrer if the courses are so good? Surely working your way up the ladder is a good idea if this is your career. 
Snowblades, You will need German and some of the providers offer a specialised crash course of German for those with little or none. Look for a blog on here by flangesax as he did his Anwärter 2 seasons back and was provided with all the German he needed in advance. Allowences are made for non-German speakers in some areas but by no means all. He and another snowHead, espri both did their Anwärter course fairly recently and they both wrote excellent accounts of their experiences. The vast majority of the foreigners who take the Anwärter exams pass easily on the on skiing but fail on language. It means you can teach but you need to return at the end of the season and pass that component.
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Hi Samerberg Sue,
Thank you so much for your clarification. It is daunting enough to prepare for an exam, without having to worry about learning and passing a language exam. I have come across yet another ski instructor school - Ski Academy Switzerland (SAS):
http://www.skiacademyswitzerland.com/gap_year.php that specialises in conducting PSIA and ISIA qualification courses.
The PSIA level 1 & 2 courses are based in Wengen, Switzerland this year.
Do you know of anyone with PSIA qualifications or willing to share his/her experiences with SAS no matter how recent or in the distant past?
Many thanks in advance.
Brgds,
Snowblades
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For those that want to try and work in Austria have a read what the author of the thepistepanther.com did, he's a BRIT who has worked in the Ski Welt area for many years and is now settled there. He went as a teenager and spoke little or no German. I'm sure he can throw some light on the subject for those who would consider Austria as there place of choice.
Failing that usefull and interesting tips for the beginners and others heading out to the Ski Welt area this winter.
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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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Hi Scarlet Fez,
Thank you so much for the pointers. I have looked at the pistepanther.com website as suggested and have noticed that the duration of the Antwarter (level 1) instructor course is 10 days as opposed to the average of 40 days on the Ski Academy Austria website:http://www.siaaustria.com/programmes/item/ski-instructor-anwarter-course/
I wonder if the course has been prolonged to aid (german) language building?
On another note, I have ventured to learn some german online. I have found this free website particularly useful:http://www.deutschakademie.de/online-deutschkurs/audio-course/German-audio-course-2-3 and the Learn German - 3400 words with Wlingua (iPad app) addictive.
Do you know what is the required level of proficiency in German for the Anwarter course e.g. GER/CEFR level B1/2 or C1/2?
http://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/lon/lrn/stf/enindex.htm
Many thanks for any ideas/suggestions/advice.
Brgds,
Snowblades
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You should be OK with a level about B1/B2. The C1/C2 levels are advanced levels and although desirable are probably beyoond most people's level unless they live in a German speaking country or are/have studied it to uni level. Even coming out of a uni course I found I was struggling when I moved out here to actually speak and hold conversations with normal people though. 
As long s you are relaxed about making mistakes, you should be able to get by quite well, and of course the practise will help you also to improve all the time.
Scarlet Fez, pistepanther is not the only Brit living and working out here. I referenced 2 who are both did their Anwärter more recently, one in Salzburg and one in the Tirol. There are many, many native Brits who have worked out here for a long time but do not make a song and dance about it.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Samerburg Sue I appreciate there's Likely to be a few other Brits who are lucky enough to be in the same boat. As for 'song and dance about it'. Excuse me for trying to be helpful as I thought it might be relevant to some in relation to this topic.
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