 Poster: A snowHead
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Any suggestions for racing camps, ski schools (preferably in the 3 Valleys or nearby) or tips on how to learn skiing through gates (slalom or GS) ?
I am starting to think about learning gate skiing as next years challenge and any advice would be greatfully received
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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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If you live close to a dry slope, try joining the race club.
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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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skimottaret, iblair is right - join a local dry slope club and the coaches there will give you help and guidance on a regular basis and you can then take part in dry slope (and possibly snow) races.
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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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iblair, Derek Jackson, I am planning on doing some dry slope training in the autumn but am also thinking about on snow as well, my local has a good race coach but i hate falling on plastic as my thumbs go real easily (twice so far this year on plastic) so am a bit leary....
dg3, thanks for the links i will have a look at all of them
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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easiski, thanks and fair point on waiting  why put off more recreation eh? i am fortunate to have three more weeks on snow this year and then will start learning about how to race as next years challenge....
At this point i am thinking of a week or two as a taster session as opposed to a full race camp, I will have a look at Phil Smith and Pierre-Alain as they sound ideal. thanks again
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I've done the Phil Smith/Snoworks race training course a few times. It's a pre-season activity because that's the only time that the race lanes are available on the Grand Motte. Standard varies from keen recreational skier having a bit of fun, BASI 3 standard skiers learning about gates for the first time, through to serious instructors training for their Eurotest. I think it's a great introduction to GS gates, and a fairly sobering experience when you realise how poor your technique is!
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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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Checkout Phil's web site www.snoworks.co.uk
Courses are also available in the summer/ may be available late season this year.
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skimottaret, Western Counties Ski Club have a training camp in Italy, leaving I think this coming Saturday. What more could you want!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Derek Jackson, sounds tempting but i just got back on sunday so that would be pushing it with her indoors.....
rob@rar, stewart woodward, i will have a look at the snow works site and i am in no doubt about how humbling it will be having never run a gate in my life.
all, thanks for all the links and tips this has given me plenty to look into. cheers 
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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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skimottaret,
Take it easy, I ended up with spine compression, MRI scans & 5 months of Physio, last time I skied gates. Caught a tip and did a backward somersault landing on my head.
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You know it makes sense.
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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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Derek Jackson, Good shout Derek - that's where I'm headed on Sunday - can't wait
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Poster: A snowHead
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skimottaret, get shin guards too - they will teach you to hit the gates (& even stubbies) and they bruise your shins. If you don't wear the guards it is tricky to take the line the instructor is teaching you on without bruises.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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skimottaret, You won't need shin guards for a while unless you're a complete natural
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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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| rpft wrote: |
| skimottaret, get shin guards too - they will teach you to hit the gates (& even stubbies) and they bruise your shins. If you don't wear the guards it is tricky to take the line the instructor is teaching you on without bruises. |
For running GS gates? Arm protectors are probably more useful for GS.
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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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Yep, definitely no shin guards needed for GS!
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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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rob@rar, sorry, didn't see the gs bit - head bit funny from sodding dentist. However, if you do slalom!!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| rpft wrote: |
| head bit funny from sodding dentist. |
Whatever turns you on. 
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laundryman, not funny - very painful & expensive. 
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rpft, my commiserations - I hate visiting the dentist - and he's one of best skiing buddies!
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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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laundryman, thank you, 2 fillings, £230 & he kept asking me questions about my ski holiday! how the f**k are you supposed to answer with someone else's fist in your gob? no, on 2nd thoughts, don't answer that!! ask your friend will you, is it a big dentist joke? sorry - have hijacked thread, will go away now.
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It takes years of training and practice to be able to understand. Some tooth menders will put a sheet of latex over your gob to make the challenge even harder, that needs even more training to comprehend the utterences from beneath.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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skimottaret, a couple of guys from our club are also going on that Western Counties week. I'm interested to hear their reports when they get back. I assume you're closest to Brentwood, who seem to have a few decent skiers, so do give their training sessions a try. Not sure whether they stage membership thoughout the year, but you may well see different styles of training in different seasons. The plastic training programs on plastic tend to fit in around the racing season, which is throughout the summer (start late April, finish late Sept). At our club, the kids training sessions in the autumn (Oct-Dec) are all basic technique, with lots of snowploughing and no gates involved. They restart through gates around Xmas, then get progressively more racecourse oriented as April approaches. As our adults' group is less high-powered, we're a bit more laissez faire about it, but tend to a similar pattern.
As for the injury problem, another club member broke her hand last year in a race (at Bassingbourne IIRC), and has since trained in boxing gloves - she now swears by them as the best protection she's come across. I also use shinguards even if there are no poles about, as they do a really good job of protecting the knees too. (I had a couple of biggish falls onto my knee the summer before last and it's still a bit sensitive to additional knocks. As I've improved I fall much less now, but the falls are potentially bigger and the protection the guards offer is very welcome).
I also went on one of Phil's GS courses last year. The tuition was excellent. I'd say it was heavily biassed towards the Eurotest though - this does seem to be the main customer base for these courses (which is probably the main commercial driver), and I guess that's why you tend to see more GS courses advertised than SL (certainly to the British market). There were quite a few who'd never been through gates before and they had mixed reactions. One or two really only wanted some performance coaching and had no interest in racing per se and so were a bit unmpressed by the whole thing - they would probably have been better off on a different course. Others though really took to the idea and had a great time. I've also had a few days with Pierre-Alain at LDA. It's probably unfair to make a direct comparison, as Phil's course was a full week's programme (although that week the weather only allowed us about half a week's skiing), whereas we were just joining in Pierre-Alain's class for a few days, but I felt Phil was a lot more structured about addressing technical points, both collectively and with each skier individually (you get detailed - some find it too detailed - video feedback on your skiing pretty much every day). Pierre-Alain's class was immense fun, but I felt I got a lot more out of Phil's. It's just a shame he doesn't do a Slalom course.
Beware with racing though - if the bug bites, it bites fairly hard!
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GrahamN,
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| It's just a shame he doesn't do a Slalom course. |
Phil/Emma do a slalom course in the autumn. The details are under Proffessional courses.
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You know it makes sense.
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GrahamN, I don't know about structured, but in the summer Pierre-Alain does a fair bit of technical work before moving into the gates. Some days he does sl some days he does gs - depends who's there. With you guys he thought you just wanted to race poles - so that's what you got! Of course Phil is more structured, but then he's more than twice as expensive. Nothing against Phil you understand, but cost is also a factor.
Get to LDA, join P-A for a week - cheap S/C - cheap flights ..... Main diff I think: Phil is a ski teacher and P-A is a race trainer (they tell you what's wrong and expect you to fix it) ski teachers will tell you how to fix it. Courses all summer - no problem with lanes - he's No 1 here. 
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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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| stewart woodward wrote: |
| Phil/Emma do a slalom course in the autumn. The details are under Proffessional courses. |
Veeery interesting. Shame Emma made no mention of that when I was talking to her last year. Unfortunately (in snowHeadsLand) it seems to clash regularly with the PSB - and this year I'm committed elsewhere that week anyway.
easiski, very probably true, and I did say it was probably an unfair comparison - particularly as he told me I should make it a full week next year and we could then go through more technical training. Unfortunately it looks like that's not going to happen this year . (I think you're overstating the price differential a bit too - £160 for 5 days training + video feedback is not that much more than P-A)
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Poster: A snowHead
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GrahamN, Brentwood is my local plastic hill and we are fortunate to have a very good race coach who has done training at a high level. Current commitments dont allow me to train at the moment but the spring may be the right time for me.
Interesting tip on the boxing gloves, may look weird but if they work who cares... I will check that out...I played competitive volleyball for many years and had to quit due to thumb and finger damage. My thumbs particularily dislocated very easily now and two very mild falls on plastic have resluted in bad sprains so i am quite leary about racing (and i am assuming falling regularly) on plastic. defo will get some shin guards as the knees are shot as well.
GS probably is for me at the moment and i really liked having video analysis done this year and prefer highly critical analysis. I am keen to select a school or group that i can work with over the coming years as opposed to an indivdual so am leaning towards snoworks. I had never seen myself ski before and the video slo mo was great to hammer home tips from the day. £160/week seems a total bargain, is that correct?
dg3, Dave Morris seems a bit hard core for me at the moment, are the courses purely focused on Eurotest prep?
easiski, how is dave morris "hit and miss" is the standard of skiers poor?
Anyone come across http://www.ski-coaching.com/index.html before? I was taught this year by Blair Aitken and i learned a lot from him...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| skimottaret wrote: |
| £160/week seems a total bargain, is that correct? |
Their rate for recreational skiers was £240 this season, but I think if you have a BASI qualification you can opt for the Eurotest training at a reduced rate of £160.
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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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Otherwise known as The Development Centre in Val d'Isere. R21 is run by Dougie Cleland and specialises in Eurotest training. They often have the next lane to Snoworks so I've seen them around on the Grand Motte from time to time. I suspect it's not a good place to start gates training if you're a recreational skier, but they have a good reputation for high level performance.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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rob@rar, that is interesting about R21, at this point i am just interested in a toe in the water so may not be right for me as you say.
£240 or 160 still sounds like a good deal to me for 5 days of training, how big are the classes typically?
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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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| skimottaret wrote: |
| £240 or 160 still sounds like a good deal to me for 5 days of training, how big are the classes typically? |
Training is three hours per day. For the GS course a maximum of 10 I think (although the three times I've done the course it's been no more than 8 ). Ten students might seem quite large for a group, but when you are running laps the group gets spread out around the course and the uplift, so often you feel as if you're skiing by yourself. You will get some immediate feedback from your instructor who will be stationed either midway down or at the bottom of the gates, then video feedback most evenings. Outside of the gates any drills and exercises are mostly done as a group, often at high speed, so no sense of waiting around while other classmates get observed.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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skimottaret, I skied with Blair Aitken for a day in Tignes last November.
His group was doing slalom though, not GS.
A fair number of people seem to start Eurotest training without having skied gates before, so I would expect each of the training companies to be set up to cope with a range of experience.
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rob@rar, tah any recreational skiing available that time of year to fill the day or is 3 hours too knackering to consider more skiing?
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| skimottaret wrote: |
| rob@rar, tah any recreational skiing available that time of year to fill the day or is 3 hours too knackering to consider more skiing? |
Not much available terrain on the Grand Motte, and a large proportion of what's there is taken up by GS and slalom lanes until lunchtime or shortly after. I never do much more than the training itself (which can often run for more than three hours if the instructor doesn't have another class to teach); maybe a few runs to play with a particular aspect of GS technique or a little bit of social skiing with classmates. I find the whole week to be quite intense, physically and mentally, so not much left in the tank for recreational skiing (but I'm chronically unfit so YMMV). If you're going to ski gates as quick as you can you are on the edge of your ability, much more so than recreational skiing I find, so three or four hours per day is plenty IMO 
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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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rob@rar, thats what i figured would be the case
rjs, interesting to hear someone would go straight in to Eurotest training without any knowledge of gates...
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| skimottaret wrote: |
| rjs, interesting to hear someone would go straight in to Eurotest training without any knowledge of gates... |
Presumably they would be at BASI 3 or BASI 2, so reasonably competent skiers otherwise why would they think they had any chance of passing the Eurotest?
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FAQ
