 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi
I am new here and also very new to skiing. I went on a school holiday far too many moons ago so I'm treating myself as a total beginner (which I probably am anyway).
I am between Chill Factor in Manchester and Snozone in Castleford and am a bit confused between the two. CF have ski instructors, this is what I'm used to, but Snozone have coaches which I have only come across for specialist areas like racing. Does this mean that they have different qualifications? I phoned and all I got from them was that all of their coaches are very experienced but they couldn't (wouldn't?) discuss qualifications. This made me a bit concerned. Snozone is slightly easier to get to but I want to learn properly from properly qualified instructors. Maybe I'm being a bit wary but my sister is an ice dancer and there are currently two different systems within skating, one is established and respected, the other, well, is neither. I want to start from the beginning but want to do it properly if I'm going to do it, I don't want too end up in some second class system which teaches completely differently to the norm (thinking about my sister's experience here, she had to move ice rink because of the 'new' system).
Thank you for your help in advance. Any other tips and tricks would be appreciated too. I'm hoping to get some lessons in over the summer so that I can go skiing with mates next year (eek!).
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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A curious distinction but they'll both be instructors in reality. "...a rose is still a rose.. " etc.
I had my first lessons at Castleford and they were good then but it's a few years ago. What I've observed at chillfactore appear very similar.
Welcome to snowheads. 
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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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@JDarls, welcome to snowHeads.
It's likely that the instructors/coaches at Castleford will have a range of qualifications from different national ski associations (eg British, Canadian, English, Irish, Austrian, etc) and at different levels (most systems have three or four levels of qualification), so the sales staff you spoke to on the phone wouldn't have access to the list of qualifications held by their long list of part-time instructors, and probably wouldn't know at that point which instructor was rostered for the ski lesson that you might have wanted to book. I don't think there is anything to be concerned about in that respect. It's also likely that it will be very similar for the instructors who teach for all the UK snowdomes, so no difference between Chill Factore and Snozone.
As for different teaching systems, there are no significant differences between the various national qualification systems so I don't think that should be a concern when you are thinking about booking a lesson.
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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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Welcome!
They've taken the decision to call them different things but both will be BASI qualified and that's what matters. I imagine that the person you spoke to in customer services just wasn't sure of qualifications they had rather than making a conscious decision not to tell you.
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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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Actually it looks like to call yourself a BASI Coach you have to take an extended training path...
So in theory, a BASI Coach holds a more advanced qualification than a BASI Instructor, but in the instance that @JDarls is referring to it's most likely a quirk of language.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Under the Snowsports England qualification scheme Level 1 and 2 are Instructors, but once you get to Level 3 and 4 you are called Coaches!
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