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BASI Level 1 -- Hintertux or Hemel Snowdome

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
So, this is a bit of a follow-up to a thread I started a couple of months back ....

I'm just back from my last ski trip of the season in Val D'Isere, during which I had a couple of private lessons with one of thr Brit Ski Schools. At the end of my final lesson the instructor asked me what I wanted to do with my skiing and if I'd considered doing the Level 1 course. I hadn't mentioned to him that this was something I was interested in - so it was quite reassuring that he thought I should go for it, and has prompted me to look into this properly.

I realise that most do the level 1 in a snowdome, but noticed that Basi do some courses in Hintertux over the summer - so I wondered if anyone had any experience of doing the course here? Also, any pro/cons of doing it this way (other than getting out into the mountains, rather than stuck indoors)?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
abj, Cost aside, I'd suggest to do it in a mountain environment. You'll be presented with more varied terrain so you should get more from the course from the point of view of your technical skiing.
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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?
I did my level 1 in a snowdome and would definitely advocate that.
We did not spend much time on our technical skiing in the week, we were only assessed on longs and shorts. Maybe this was due to the setting but I don't think that played much of a part. The main emphasis is on teaching and your demonstrations.

As the first step in a costly process I think it makes sense to do the level 1 in the UK. It also means you have links with the snowdome and can then organise shadowing easily.
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abj, The summer courses can be fun in Tux but I have also heard of people skiing sheet ice in the am and rivers in the pm... for me it depends what you want out of it, if you want to focus more on personal performance development or harbour ambitions of going onto L2 taking the course in the mountains is a better bet imv.

not to sell you anything but we are launching an Instructor FastTrack programme that combines indoor and outside training which may suit. (Just off the phone with Admin and an advert is going live next week so I am not spamming mods snowHead )
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
abj, Hemel have an Instructor Academy program on a Tuesday night for those that want to do their Level 1, it would give you a good grounding as to what the L1 is about should you wish to do it at Hemel or training should you go for Tux
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Spyderman wrote:
abj, Hemel have an Instructor Academy program on a Tuesday night for those that want to do their Level 1, it would give you a good grounding as to what the L1 is about should you wish to do it at Hemel or training should you go for Tux

I've started going to this fairly regularly and can highly recommend the instructor. I was chatting to her on Tuesday this week and she's looking to expand the instructor training to weekends and would like to offer an L1 course spread out over a number of weeks, leading up to an assessment spread over two weekends. That would work well for me as I can't (realistically) take another full week off over the summer (I've already used up my holiday allocation on ski holidays Embarassed). If anyone else would be interested in doing this let me know.

If the dates work for me I may well do the Inside Out course with skimottaret & rob@rar too.

Ideally I'd love to do courses in proper mountains but I can't justify the cost and the time. For Level 1 it's realistic to do this in the UK and it would give me the opportunity to build up a network of local instructors (some of whom have very good connections around Europe and beyond). Anything beyond the L1 is, by necessity, a trip out to the hills.
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Quote:

I was chatting to her on Tuesday this week and she's looking to expand the instructor training to weekends and would like to offer an L1 course spread out over a number of weeks, leading up to an assessment spread over two weekends. That would work well for me as I can't (realistically) take another full week off over the summer (I've already used up my holiday allocation on ski holidays ). If anyone else would be interested in doing this let me know.


I'm interested. At the moment I'm hoping I can complete my SSE L2 and then convert it to a BASI L1, but if that doesn't come to fruition I'll need to do the BASI course in full, and being able to do it at weekends would be far more convenient than taking a week off work.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
little ms spock, I was talking to someone at the bash who might be interested, but Hemel is probably too far for them to come regularly. Like you they have used all of their leave on ski holidays.
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Hemel did at least one course spread over a couple of weekends last year, They also did an IASA L1 (Irish) over several evenings.

My daughter was going to do L1 at Hintertux last summer but it never ran due to lack of numbers. Looking at the BASI website they have 2 scheduled for Hintertux, one is quite full, the other the previous week currently has no takers. She did her's at Hemel last summer in the end. It was very busy though, I think there were 5 courses (3 x alpine, 1 snowboard and 1 adaptive) that week as well as other non BASI events. It was fine though.
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Thanks for the feedback.

A course run over a number of weekends in a snowdome sounds like a good idea and something I'd be interested in.

I also take skimottaret's point about the conditions during the summer on a glacier.

I guess the third-way (to coin a phrase) would be a course in the mountains during the winter. I know there are number if GAP courses - but I haven't spotted any standalone Level 1 courses. Puzzled
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abj, I suspect they're just not scheduled yet. They'll show on the BASI website when they are.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Ice ran at least one l1 in Val disere last December, suspect similar courses would run next season
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
abj, numbers permitting we will be trying to organise an L1 in the Three Valleys to bolt onto our performance training week in January, if you like we can add you to our mailing list
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
abj, the BASI1 over 2 weekends is now up on the HH website. It's over the 1st two weekends in August. I'm seriously thinking about it, but I'm not quite there yet. There is likely to be another option coming up soon which will be the equivalent Irish qualification (IASI1) running over a series of weekday evenings culminating in a weekend assessment course. Details will be up for that in a week or two. I'll postpone my final decision on whether and what to sign up for until that appears. This will need a minimum number of people to be a viable course so if I can evidence that there is a market for it that would help. Also any honest feedback as to whether either of these would be a complete waste of my time/money appreciated (by PM so as not to derail this thread). I'm currently doing as many of the Tuesday sessions at HH as I can and will be keeping an eye on the Inside Out page for appropriate courses on weekends that I can actually do.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
I did my level 1 on cairngorm a couple of years ago and I thought that was ideal, just the right terrain required and a lot more interesting than in the snow dome. Even got a few typical scottish 100mph days. I'd never dream of doing it in hintertux, its just not necessary as you only do a couple of runs of piste performance and the rest is central theme which is easily done indoors and you'd save a fair few hundred quid to put towards your level 2.

I did my level 2 at hintertux indeed on ice and in rivers at some cost. It was amazing fun. Well worth it.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Okay ... so looking at the Hemel website I can't find the Tues night instructor academy, or the 2 x weekend BASI course. Probably just me being thick - but can someone give me a pointer?
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abj, http://www.thesnowcentre.com/lessons/become-an-instructor

No midweek ones on there but training is.
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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?
abj, check your messages. I've come to appreciate the care with which they hide these courses from all but the discerning few. If you follow the breadcrumb trail I've left you will find both.


Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Wed 8-05-13 13:43; edited 1 time in total
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Claude B, that page (helpfully) doesn't link directly to the bookings system.
To get to the right page you need to step through the following pages...
Book Online -> Adult Group Ski lessons -> Ski Instructor Training
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
The organisation of my daughter's course was pretty poor too at first!
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abj, I did my L1 in Val d'Isere. Got pushed considerably beyond what is possible indoors and I felt that helped a lot for when I did my L2 10 weeks later in Les Gets. I suppose it depends on what you are looking for in the L1 course - if it's to quickly and cheaply get the qualification then doing it at Hemel is a great idea. But if you are using the L1 as personal skiing development or as the foundation for going on to higher level qualifications then doing it in the mountains might be a more effective use of your time.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
I did my L1 indoors, I wished I'd done it outdoors as I suspect they would have spotted something which made me fail my L2 which wasn't picked up indoor. I suspect that had I known about the issue I would have corrected it prior to my L2.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
rob@rar, good point. I'm looking at this as a casual punter trying to raise my game and dip my toe in the water with a bit of teaching experience. If I was serioiusly looking at a career change then every moment on the mountain would be worth the sacrifice, as it would lead to faster and better progression in more challenging conditions. If I was looking to quickly move up to L2 then I know where my time and money would be going.
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little ms spock, thanks. Will check my messages!

Quote:

if you are using the L1 as personal skiing development or as the foundation for going on to higher level qualifications then doing it in the mountains might be a more effective use of your time


Definitely the first, and quite possibly (depending how the L1 course went) the latter.
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little ms spock, forgot to ask - how busy are the Tues evening sessions at Hemel?
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abj, small group on a quiet slope at present
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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.
abj, ^+1^
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
nice little video from a BBC journo who took his L1 and his reasons why
http://youtube.com/v/EZ1C-oEdX44#!
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
been thinking of doing L1 myself at some point in the future.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
For anyone who might be interested Hemel have just put up the dates for the equivalent Irish qualification the IASI L1. The booking system makes this look like the most expensive 2.5 hour lesson EVER!, but it's actually a course running every Wednesday evening between 26th June and 4th September. Assessment days, First Aid etc. will be included.

This is now on my expanding list of options to consider alongside the BASI weekend course in August and the Inside Out instructor fast track sessions (rob@rar, skimottaret, I haven't forgotten you Toofy Grin).
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
FWIW I did my BASI level 1 in verbier and from about day 2 we were mixing in some level 2 stuff as we pottered about. Of course it will depend on the group but I think the trainer will always try to push you once they are confident you are "at the level". there is clearly greater scope for that in the mountains.

but of course the cost is ridiculous.......unless you're on a Gap course.......
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gilo wrote:
but of course the cost is ridiculous
Which bit is expensive?
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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?
little ms spock, get yourself booked onto the inside out instructor training inc the jan trip so it goes ahead Smile
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