 Poster: A snowHead
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I'm looking for a performance-focused coaching course or bootcamp or similar, and wondering if folks here have any particular recommendations for ones to do (or not to do). I'm looking to improve from a fairly advanced level (like: I'm a good recreational skier), and thrive on detailed feedback and goal-setting (and -attainment!). I enjoyed three days' of advanced group instruction (from Rab from NewGen) with the SCGB in Tignes earlier this season; I've also done a couple of off-piste guided weeks this year, which were great, but what I'm looking for is a piste-focused development week. I imagine it would involve video analysis (not because I'm set on it, but because it's a good way of illustrating things I can't see because I'm doing them).
My motivation: I want to be able to get down more challenging conditions in more control at (appropriate) speed; ideally more stylishly. While I'm not looking for a specifically off-piste focused week of on-piste coaching, I also hope that doing more work on the pistes on technique will translate into a better and more appropriate technical repertoire to use away from the pistes. I'm in my early 40s, pretty fit. So far I've had something of a tendency to let strength and stamina compensate for technique that, while mostly sound, is definitely not expert. I'm conscious that I'm ageing, and while I intend to maintain my fitness for as long as I can, I want a higher technical level to keep me doing the skiing I want as my body ages (here I'm thinking about joints, eyes, reaction times as well as stamina).
So: does anyone have any particular recommendations? Or is it mostly a matter of committing to doing something, on the grounds that I'll get out of it what I put into it? Things on my radar are Warren Smith, Inside Out, Snowcamps, some of the SCGB's offerings. Ideally I'd want a group thing, but I'm not utterly opposed to going a solo or self-organized small-group trip. Of these I have very good feelings about Inside Out's offerings (but unless next year's courses a later in the spring than they were this year the dates will pose problems, as I'm very limited in my availability from late January to late March). I have less good feelings about Snowcamps, for what it's worth (because when I asked about the coaching approach and syllabus the response I got told me more about the après evenings, which gave me a distinct sense that it's probably not my scene).
Is the PiPAU what I'm looking for? If so, is there anywhere I can find out about the coaching, instructors, approaches, groups? If so, that'd be amazing, because this is a rare winter where work commitments mean that I'm very likely to be able to make the dates.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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My browser history suggests so, although I'd not remembered them! Is that a recommendation, and if so, above any/all of those I mentioned?
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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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I did the Inside Out off-piste course in January and found it very good, including evening video analysis. Looks like this year their most relevant week for you was 18-25 March - perhaps ask @skimottaret what the dates are looking like for next year.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I went on the WSSA in Jan, for context I previously was a instructor (BASI and NZSIA) albeit a long time ago. I got loads out of the week, absolutely transformed my skiing and the coaching was top notch, couldn't fault it. I'm sure there are others but I would go back again for sure.
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@orange,
What's that? A link might be helpful.
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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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| Hurtle wrote: |
@orange,
What's that? A link might be helpful. |
Warren Smith Ski Academy one presumes
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I can definitely recommend Pete and his company:
https://alpinecoaching.eu/
I did my L2 instructor exam alongside his coaching holidays and had a great time, with a lovely bunch. I also skied a day with them a couple of weeks back.
I can also recommend Warren Smith as you mentioned, if Switzerland is on your radar.
This past month i've skied with Rob, Jordan, Meg and Ola who all work at Warren Smith and can tell you they're all great people and skiers.
What you're looking for is the exact mantra of WSSA, so will definitely tick your boxes.
Ultimately it'll come down to where you want to go, and how the dates align with your availability.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| jmr59 wrote: |
| Is the PiPAU what I'm looking for? |
I'd say it probably is, yes.
For a start, it came about initially, when instructors on the Spring Off Piste Bash observed that there were snowHeads who, while competent enough to survive the SOPiB safely, would actually be better served by a week of primarily on-piste training, to advance core technique first. This would appear to be just what you described you were looking for.
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| If so, is there anywhere I can find out about the coaching, instructors, approaches, groups? |
What do you need to know? In theory, everything should be in the first post of the thread linked to by the word PiPAU. There were 6 x groups of 6 last year but, given they sold out in just 14hrs, feedback was almost disconcertingly positive so I'm going to need to try to add at least a couple of extra groups this year. Our current team of instructors set the bar particularly high though so I have to be very choosy about who I take on.
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| If so, that'd be amazing, because this is a rare winter where work commitments mean that I'm very likely to be able to make the dates. |
Dates should be confirmed soon but I'm expecting 2nd week of Dec as usual. Keep an eye on the 'Forthcoming snowHeads Events' thread and have your buttons-pressing finger primed 
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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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| admin wrote: |
| What do you need to know? In theory, everything should be in the first post of the thread linked to by the word PiPAU. |
Need? Nothing, now that you've told me it corresponds (or is designed to correspond) to what I'm looking for. I did have queries as to the extent that it was a specifically coaching set-up ('five days of group lessons' could mean quite a wide range of different things), but now I'm thinking, given how quickly it sold out, that the less information you give the better, lest it become even more popular and my button-pressing fingers aren't quick enough to cope with any increased demand! Let's hope they're quick enough regardless.
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I've had good experiences with Inside Out and - though long ago - Snoworks.
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You know it makes sense.
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@jmr59, take a look at ICESI https://www.icesi.org/ski-performance-course.asp. We did the 4 week all terrain performance course with them back in 2016, but each week can be taken separately and as a standalone course. The instruction was the best I have ever had, with lots of video feedback, and a clear depth of teaching skill which meant that if one suggestion didn't work for you, another would be suggested to bring about the same change. Great guys too!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Lots of good recommendations here. I have personal experience of ICE and Snoworks and would be very happy to do either again. The latter organise accommodation too so you stay with other people on the course. That worked well for me because I was attending solo.
Did my thing with ICE a long time ago but they were very good instructors and I’ve no reason to think that’s changed
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Poster: A snowHead
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Thanks everyone for the advice. The main conclusion I draw from it is that there are a lot of very good options out there that fit what I think I'm looking for: while I'm sure they're not all exactly the same, my strong sense is that my skiing will improve greatly from many of them; I'll make the decision based on what's available when and where next season.
In particular, I've had a good look at the Snoworks offerings and some of the things that Phil Smith writes on their blog about coaching, development, and the transition from command-style instruction to self-teaching: this is something I find hugely attractive, and which fits very well with my own approach to education, which is a large part of my day job (albeit in a very, very different field). While this isn't, for me, the most important or the decisive factor in choosing which course to do (and I'm all too aware that a commitment to a particular way of thinking about education doesn't necessarily translate 1:1 into an effective educational approach), it has altered how I think about ski technique and skills--and certainly reinforced my sense that when it comes to what I get out of any such course (and from skiing development more generally), the most important variable--what I put into it--is to a great extent under my own control.
Thanks again, all.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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@jmr59, as a left field view, the BASI L1 instructor training could well be interesting and would improve your skiing....you would have to do some teaching as part of the week........and you could do it indoors and be (hopefully) "better" by next season...
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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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Thanks, @kitenski: I've occasionally thought about instructor training and mostly (but not quite definitively) ruled out the idea. (If I ever opt to do a mid-life(-crisis) season it's something I'll consider; similarly, if I lived near a fridge I'd think about doing it over a summer or two (I still might if the one promised in Merthyr ever opens, but I'm not holding my breath)--but Tamworth is just too far to consider other than for the odd very occasional trip.)
But for the moment, what I'm interested in is high-level skills and technique coaching rather than in learning to teach something else. I know there's some overlap there, and also that learning to teach something opens up interesting routes to reflect on and adapt one's own performance: I think a good part of what I'm looking for is an experience based on the client-coach relationship.
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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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@jmr59, Derek Tait at Bass Chamonix/ St Gervais could be worth looking at. We’ve had great coaching from him, albeit on offpiste performance. Good guy, great communicator/ coach and v experienced at high levels (yet can cope with us well too)
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