BASI1 - Participants' Stories

A snowHead

I've just completed the 5 day BASI 1 course. Here's my summary of the week (spread over two weekends).
It would be great to hear others experiences, so please add to this thread if you've been there too.

Why?
I felt my skiing had plateaued and I needed a new challenge. I've seen several other people go through the BASI system and all have visibly improved from the experience. I spoke to a couple of instructors who I've worked with who gave me an honest appraisal of my performance. Whilst I wasn't confident that my skiing was good enough to secure a pass, I felt comfortable enough with my technique that I knew I would benefit from the week.

When & Where?
I'd used up all of my holiday allowance so taking a week off wasn't an option, even less going out to the mountains. I live and work in Hertfordshire so Hemel was the obvious choice and I knew that they sometimes run the course split over two weekends. The only date advertised was over the first two weekends of August. So that was when I was going to do it.

Preparation:
Having made the decision to do the course and knowing that I was not going to be the strongest candidate (I started skiing in 2008 and while I have done a lot of courses and practice I'm not a natural athlete), I went into overdrive at HH. I reckon I clocked up 40 hours of skiing in July including both technical training and practice hours. Many of the staff now recognise me Embarassed

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Who takes the course?
There were ten candidates. I was slightly surprised how many were under 25 as I thought the weekend course would be packed out with wage slaves. However school/uni holidays aren't really that long and even teenagers have responsibilities. In the introductions it became clear that the majority of the older candidates had plans to use the qualification immediately for teaching the younger ones were looking to strengthen UCAS applications, keep up with their peers and had more immediate educational priorities.

How was it?
Really good. The group gelled quite well and we appreciated each others strengths. The course covers teaching and technical performance which needs a variety of approaches. I learned to ski as an adult so I had a better understanding of some of the theory and more recent experience of learning than many of the group. Others had a background in racing, had amazing balance from freestyle or had done some teaching already. Everybody contributed and noone was left on the sidelines. Much of this was due to the inclusive attitude of the trainer. Seeing everyone develop was fantastic and gave all of us the opportunity to observe each others technique and learn how to recognise some of the more common faults and how to overcome these. Eight out of the got a full pass and two passed the teaching criteria but need a technical resit.

How did I do?
I achieved my primary objective, which was to improve my skiing and to learn more about the BASI method. I didn't achieve my secondary objective which was to pass the whole course. This was a fair assessment of my performance over the weekend and, having seen the video, I wouldn't have passed me either. I do know what I need to do to meet that objective and it is a realistic goal.

Next Steps:
Keep on keeping on.

Thanks:
My sincere thanks to anyone and everyone who has offered me encouragement and support over the last couple of months. You all helped to put me in a better place and started to shorten the odds.

Congratulations:
To the other two snowHeads on the course who I hope I'll be seeing a lot more of over the upcoming few months as they complete their shadowing hours. Congratulations to you both Cool

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A snowHead

There was a photo (FB?) and I thought I spotted you! Well done on achieving goal 1. That's far better than I would have done. Who passed?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

little ms spock,

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little ms spock, Well done on committing to the course and good look for the "keep on keeping on", not that you'll need it. My only advice would be to be sure to enjoy the whole process. Smile

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

holidayloverxx, Pedantica, don't underrate yourselves. Willingness to change is key. I just about met the 16 weeks on snow criteria, if you include snowdome practice.
holidayloverxx, I'll let them identify themselves, if they so wish. Both are reasonably regular posters here.

AndAnotherThing.., thank you. I'm trying not to take this too seriously. I'm slightly disappointed, but I'm determined.

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little ms spock,

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

little ms spock, Really pleased you enjoyed the course, keep going.

After all it is free

little ms spock, congratulations! Seriously, one small hurdle to go - everything else is there (and much of it is probably above the level too!). Your attitude rocks and you'll be an awesome instructor xx

little ms spock, Soooo, you gonna post the vid?? Little Angel

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ALQ, I don't have it. Although I did ask for it. Unfortunately everything was shot in one piece so, even if I do get the footage, it would be difficult to get my performance separated out from the rest of the group and I wouldn't want to post anything up without everyone's agreement.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Trainers don't usually let candidates take a copy of their video IME.

little ms spock, keep at it, things will fall in to place.

snow reports

I was one of the other snowheads on the course! (really needs some dramatic stepping-out-of-the-shadows sound effect there)

In the spirit of little ms spock's original post, here are my thoughts:

I went into this already holding an instructor qualification, so my goals were slightly different: I wanted to get the BASI perspective on teaching beginners, to improve my own teaching and skiing through a week's training with a top instructor, and ideally pass so I could then go on to do the BASI L2. Happily I achieved all three.

I have done a lot of Snow Sports England-based training (currently working on my SSE L2) so I already have a strong background on the technical aspects, central theme, and how to deliver a good demonstration of snowplough etc. I also have hundreds of hours of dry-slope teaching under my belt. Before the course skimottaret and others assessed me as "at or above the level required". Given that, I would have been somewhat surprised if I didn't make the BASI L1 grade.

Was it easy though? No. Even with my background there were things I needed to improve on during the week, and the trainer kept the pressure on to develop my skiing and demonstrations further. This was a good thing as I often find it hard to get really critical feedback on how to improve, and there was no shortage of this.

Was it fun? Yes! As little ms spock said, we had a nice group dynamic and I really enjoyed working with everyone else. We all had different strengths and were able to help each other through the course.

I was pleasantly surprised that the course contained a fair bit of content on teaching - I had the misconception that BASI L1 was more about personal performance. However, I think in the assessment as to who passed a lot more weight was given to the personal performance in long and short turns than the quality of the teaching and demonstrations of snowplough and so on. This is, in my opinion, a shame as to me that is where a good instructor needs to excel. There is kind of an assumption that the instructors will just pick all this up during the shadowing hours, which might work OK for some. I think/hope that this is one of the biggest differences for the BASI L2 where the demonstrations would need to be a lot better.

It was great having little ms spock on the course, both as a friendly face that I already knew, and to introduce me to all the other snowheads working/skiing there during the week.

i was thinking of taking the course to teach in my spare time, was wondering if anyone works in chill factore,
i know they work on a no hours contract, how many hours are available? what s the rate of pay?

You know it makes sense.

I was the third snowhead. I will write a proper post when I have the time but I agree with all of the above. However, I would like to say that IMO little ms spock achieved a deferred pass.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Elston, well done you too Very Happy

A snowHead

A snowHead

skimottaret, he is being kind (it was in his humble opinion)

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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couldnt agree more Elston, I just wanted to check BASI hasn't changed something... snowHead

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Good luck for the resit little ms spock!

I sat my basi 1 in Tux last week, 7 out of the 10 passed, all passed the teaching so the 3 have to do a one day technical resit, thankfully I passed Very Happy

I really enjoyed it, I mainly did it to improve my own skiing and got some really good and focused feedback, more than I have had from other instructors, even on week long courses so I was happy with that side of it. I really enjoyed the teaching and technical discussion side of it as well and would now like to do my L2 although I'm not at the standard yet.

I think if you want to improve your skiing then the L1 is a good idea, everyone in my group had things to work on during the week and it is as much about having the ability to change your skiing and do exactly what is required. I think people who have skied for a long time might find it more difficult to change their skiing style and so might find the L1 tougher than they imagined. I found it a pretty tough week, physically and mentally. We skied from 9-1.30 or 2pm each day then had about 2 hours of performance review and teaching after that. Every bit of skiing we did was focused, the only freesking we did was the last 500m before the lift as we ended each day. We were constantly doing drills, or trying to ski a particular way and any lazy skiing was picked up and pointed out by the trainer wink

there wasn't really any of piste but the pistes were pretty churned up and soft most days and we had a few runs through a mogul field which was fun. It was certainly tougher than a normal ski holiday where a bit of lazy skiing usually creeps in as the day goes on. I thought our trainer was great, he was really good at explaining things, good at giving feedback and keeping everyone in the group working on what we needed to improve our own skiing despite the big differences in ability and style.

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lynseyf, congratulations to you too! snowHead

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Massive thanks for sharing your experiences little ms spock, and all others.

I always read BASI threads with interest, trying to work out if it's something I want to do. I have no interest in teaching, but I really like the idea of structured levels to mark progression (I used to do martial arts, so compare it to belts).

The comments about the changes in skiing style, improvements etc are really interesting - any ideas how many people do it for this rather than wanting to be an instructor?

And for people moving to L2 - does anyone do that purely for personal interest? And if so, how onerous is it to do the shadowing hours?

(I have 2 friends here btw who have done Level 1, and at least one has now completed her hours - but both want to teach someday. And one was so horribly beaten down and demoralised after because of the (what sounded quite harsh) critique of her skiing that it really put me off)

After all it is free

lynseyf, Congratulations!
Unsurprisingly (apart from the terrain) that all sounds very familiar. We even had a mini-mogul field (which Elston had a lot of fun with).

Our trainer commented that it was possible to get more skiing done in the snowdome environment as a lot less time is spent on lifts. Being able to go straight back out on the snow after watching and discussing videos has some advantages in terms of immediacy. Considering how much I need to work on my technique I think that the indoor course was the right choice for me at this stage. Whether splitting the course over two weekends was an effective approach I'm not so sure.

fixx, I'm also curious about how many candidates just use BASI1 as a training tool. There must be stats on how many people pass the course and how many actually complete the full qualification. As for the critique, I got the full feedback today and it doesn't pull any punches. despite (or perhaps because of this) my long term goal is now to do the L2. This will need a lot of dedication but I'm quite goal orientated so I need something to aim for. I'm getting a huge amount of support from all sorts of people now and that's a great motivator.

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little ms spock, I passed my L1 first time and failed my L2, the L2 is a MASSIVE step up from L1, much bigger than I was expecting or had prepared for, and I cannot understate the huge step up required. In hindsight I should have delayed my L2 one year and got more L2 specific Alpine training..

snow reports

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Claude B, interesting, and yes I agree it's very stressful!!

A snowHead

So kitenski what was it you found stressful - was it also being critiqued or was it the (self imposed) pressure & desire to pass the assessment? Wondering whether the pressure to pass can inhibit the other desired outcome which is to learn and develop. I guess its always a challenge when learning and assessment are combined in one package.

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

abd, I think it's the fact I've always just skied for the fun of it, prior to doing my L1, so it's a combination of always being assessed, whilst making changes to your skiing and having to plan/run lessons during the week...........

then the L2 ramps up the stress levels even more, especially if you have an area you know you are failing at!!

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Most do BASI as a level 1/2 GAP course experience and never do anything with it subsequently. last stats I saw about 500 active level 1, 2500 level 2, 150 level 3 and 300 odd level 4. No issue doing it as a training experience but many susbsequently find the instructing side very personally rewarding. It can be intense. Bsst to get checked out by a trainer before so that you know you are at the level or be open to the experience and change. Most people who have issues lack self-awareness and are resistant to change.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Congratulations to kieranm, and Elston, snowHead

little ms spock, Congratulations on what you've already achieved.
Personally, although I am committed to ongoing coaching and development in my skiing, I am loathe to subject myself to a situation that involves assessment/grading/testing against external criteria designed to recognize achievement and award qualifications in a professional area. I therefore really admire your dedication and determination, both of which I know will get you to where you want to be in the end Very Happy

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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

I should point out my friend did a course over here in the Alps, and nothing to do with anyone on SnowHeads (to the best of my knowledge!)

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BASI1 - Participants' Stories

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