 Poster: A snowHead
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I don't know of anyone running dedicated off-piste courses for groups, both PDS Academy and Avoriaz Alpine Ski School offer off-piste lessons, but it would get expensive unless you could get a group together. Worth giving them a call to see what they can do. Plenty of BASI courses with BASS, PDS, maybe others. You could even think about joining Classe 4 or Classe Competition of ESF Avoriaz adult group-lessons some weeks - they go off-piste if the conditions are good, you get french language practice, and much cheapness 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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If I was a powder hound already there'd be no question. I think right now I wouldn't get the most out of it
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In what way do you mean?
If you are an intermediate skier of course you might not be able to ski all the lines in a North American resort, but the same would also be true for euro resorts?
In terms of learning to ski off piste and powder North America would be my first choice. Controlled off piste gives you lots of opportunities without the hassle of worrying about avalanches, partners, route-finding etc.
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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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I participated in a 12 week gap course in Banff. I did a lot or research before partaking in the course and found SnowSkool (www.snowskool.com) to be the cheapest and offered the most bang for my buck. I believe they run 2 courses in Canada, 1 in France and one in NZ. Def worth a look if you are thinking about it. I had the 12 best 12 weeks of my life and ive been chasing the snow dragon ever since.
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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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If I was a powder hound already there'd be no question. I think right now I wouldn't get the most out of it unless I did one of the instructor courses
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How do you hope to become a proficient powder skier (powder hound)?
You need: powder (duh!), instruction on how to ski powder, practice on powder. Then more: powder, more instruction on how to deal with more difficult powder, more practice on powder... Rinse and repeat.
Powder: Japan has the advantage
Instruction: you can get instruction in Europe or North America or Japan. North America has the advantage of native English speaker. And you also has a high potential of hooking up with locals to go powder hunting with.
Practice: you can pay for guides in Europe to go off-piste. Or you can use that money to buy beer to celebrate it after you ski inbound powder in north America!
Instructor courses? I'm sure you'll learn a lot in those. But those courses don't focus on powder. You'll be a better skier overall. But it may or may not make you a proficient powder skier. That, takes practice. Lots of practice. Maybe that's not your goal (be a proficient powder hound). But if it is, instructor courses are the round about ways to get there.
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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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| abc wrote: |
| Instructor courses? I'm sure you'll learn a lot in those. But those courses don't focus on powder. You'll be a better skier overall. But it may or may not make you a proficient powder skier. That, takes practice. Lots of practice. Maybe that's not your goal (be a proficient powder hound). But if it is, instructor courses are the round about ways to get there. |
I suppose I was aiming to be a better skier overall. I was looking at the nonstop off-piste courses and they use the CSIA exam to focus on basic technique for the first four weeks or so before going off-piste. Most of the off-piste instruction I've had has had an element of this, I mean obviously I'm not that good at it yet and that may be why they do that 
Anyway, when I was in Gressoney on the gnarbug and we skied down from Indren to Alagna, I can assure you it wasn't the powder that was the problem and there was plenty of it. I mean, fun as it was, and I do look forward to floating down that effortlessly some day, I look forward more to getting the kind of survival skills that would help me deal with the rutted, icy, mogulled, tree filled, narrow roller coaster from hell that was the run out. 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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focus on basic technique for the first four weeks or so before going off-piste.
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I doubt it's true. I really can't imagine them making you all ski pistes on a big powder day. If it is true it seems like a great reason to not go on that course.
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I look forward more to getting the kind of survival skills that would help me deal with the rutted, icy, mogulled, tree filled, narrow roller coaster from hell that was the run out |
Of course instruction has a role to play. However assuming you are a reasonable skier already the best way to get better at skiing variable conditions/terrain (trees, ruts, ice, powder etc.) is to practice skiing variable conditions/terrain (obvious right?). For that you can't beat controlled off piste in n America. Of course off piste in Europe is also possible but a lot more complicated (guides, avy equipment, finding partners etc.). If you want to focus mainly on powder skiing Japan is the obvious choice, followed by north america, Europe just doesn't get as much snow in a normal year.
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Choose a resort(s) in a snow sure area / country which isn't renowned for its powder terrain.
This means that the race to first tracks is diminished which allows you to warm up properly on piste - physically, mentally & technically - before venturing into the powder off the groomed runs.
Far more likelihood you'll ski the powder better this way compared with just getting on the lift and diving in straight away.
If it's not quite clicking, back to the piste to work on technique safe in the knowledge there will be powder for you to ski throughout the day.
Add in frequent lessons and feedback and you should see remarkable improvement.
Where are these resorts I hear you ask?
They're either marketed as family resorts in the brochures, or not in the brochures at all.
e.g. in Eastern BC you'd go to Kimberley instead of Fernie.
In Montana you'd go to Whitefish Resort (formerly Big Mountain) instead of Big Sky
In Colorado you'd go to Monarch instead of Telluride
In Idaho/Wyoming, Grand Targhee instead of Jackson Hole
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| boarder2020 wrote: |
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focus on basic technique for the first four weeks or so before going off-piste.
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I doubt it's true. I really can't imagine them making you all ski pistes on a big powder day. If it is true it seems like a great reason to not go on that course. |
Depends on how long the course is. In a 9 week course, it's not unreasonable to focus on basics the first 4 weeks.
That said, I think the "before going off-piste" part maybe inaccurate? There's no reason to be mutually exclusive between refining the basic vs getting some practice off-piste. Good basic technique should work well off-piste. It doesn't need to be one or the other. The notion of "off-piste technique" is actually a misconception. Off-piste is still skiing. It demands the consistent execution of good technique in an inconsistent environment. Hence more challenging.
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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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| Dmitri wrote: |
| I look forward more to getting the kind of survival skills that would help me deal with the rutted, icy, mogulled, tree filled, narrow roller coaster from hell that was the run out. |
Newsflash - that's runouts the world over, all survivable to a greater or lesser extent but never fun nor quite free of the "poo-poo could go sideways quickly" sort of fear.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@abc, I can only go on what they say on the site. The focus seems to be on the CSIA 1 exam (for what is actually 5 weeks out of 11!), I suppose I assumed that would be like BASI 1 but it could be there's different elements.
So if I wasn't going to do a course, and take a road trip instead, it does seem like I would need to do a lot of organisation....and in a place I've never seen... and actually there's not really that much time till the white stuff is afalling
....but if I was going to do a course in Canada I'd want to do maybe a six week one where I spend the whole time enjoying it to the fullest and had already got my skiing really solid.
So yes it's a powder tomorrow story and that always sounds worse than a powder today story but I guess I'm still going to get some awesome conditions over the season in Europe even if they aren't quite as sublime.
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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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As already said about instructor courses. You will spend a lot of time learning how to teach students, which is not always the same as improving your own skiing - which would be a different course not featuring csia exam.
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So if I wasn't going to do a course, and take a road trip instead, it does seem like I would need to do a lot of organisation....and in a place I've never seen... and actually there's not really that much time till the white stuff is afalling
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You could get it all booked in less than an hour. You just need flights, lift pass, and hire car - all easily booked online. Accomodation you can just do as you go. It's not like there is even a language barrier to deal with.
If your goal is to become a better skier north America is a better choice than Europe. I don't know what advantages Europe is really giving you.
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Just to add my experience for the OP:
I signed up for a BASI L1 + L2 Gap course in France about 9 years ago (wow time flies...) for 10 weeks. I was an intermediate with poor technique, my main aim was to improve my skiing and have a fun ski season with lots of apres etc. I saw passing the BASI L2 as a good goal to aim for. I had a great time, my skiing improved considerably and I really enjoyed the teaching side of things which I hadn't really expected. A couple of weeks teaching schoolkids at Interski in Aosta were a really fun end to the season. The Gap course cost about £7k so it's obviously pretty expensive.
Having sparked my interest in instructing, I then took a BASI L3 / ISIA training course the following season and my skiing improved a great deal more.
The first season was great but not at all off-piste focused. We skied more off-piste the following season but almost zero powder (it was 2011, we went something like 8 weeks with no snowfall mid-season!)
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You know it makes sense.
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| Dmitri wrote: |
| So if I wasn't going to do a course, and take a road trip instead, it does seem like I would need to do a lot of organisation....and in a place I've never seen... and actually there's not really that much time till the white stuff is afalling |
That's a different consideration.
You may want to clarify to yourself what you want to achieve, realistically. And the how part will be considerably narrowed as an outcome. So far, I've notice you HAD 2 (or 3) different goals: improve your skiing generally and/or learn/improve a language. And maybe learn to teach (as the 3rd goal).
People come along and suggested 2 more, which you found interesting: a road trip to ski a different continent; and learn to enjoy powder.
So figure out the order of priority of those goal will help narrow down your choices.
As for planning for a road trip (for north America), you need 1) source a multi-resort pass, 2) decide on the first stop, which should be the one you plan to stay the a good while to get some lessons to improve your skiing. After you settle down and had some ski/lesson, you can start planning the rest of the road trip to hit mountains that suits your taste (which by the way will change once your skiing improves).
Don't over think it. Whatever you do, you'll come out a better skiing and had tons of fun.
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FAQ
