 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi,
I'm 18 and fresh out of college. I'm heading to Kitzbuhel (Austria) next year for an intensive german language and ski instructor course. The course is Sept-Dec so alot of the skiing is gonna be on the glacier first. then on the local slopes, and hopefully by xmas I will be a qualified, employed instructor. But I am now trying to work out which type of skis I should get. I would really like a pair of twin-tips for the park, but i dont think they will be practical for the lessons or the job. so maybe i should get a couple of pairs 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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seeing as you live in dorchester, it might be worth heading to snowtrax in christchurch
www.snowtrax.eu
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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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your instructor course provider should be able to give you an idea, who is it? twin tips are generallya no-no as they throw up a tail and prevent your class seeing what you're doing! somthing all-mountain with a 65-90 ish waist is probably what you're looking for.
S'pose you should also check if you instructor-licence-issuing body (BASI or whoever) has any regulations for exams......
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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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| Quote: |
twin tips are generallya no-no as they throw up a tail and prevent your class seeing what you're doing!
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Whatever, been teaching on twins for years!
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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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| BiG_tYrOnE wrote: |
seeing as you live in dorchester, it might be worth heading to snowtrax in christchurch
www.snowtrax.eu |
I've been to Dorset Snow Sports Centre quite a few times, its a bit nearer to me than christchurch, but i might check it out some time, thanks for the tip.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| gilo wrote: |
your instructor course provider should be able to give you an idea, who is it? twin tips are generallya no-no as they throw up a tail and prevent your class seeing what you're doing! somthing all-mountain with a 65-90 ish waist is probably what you're looking for.
S'pose you should also check if you instructor-licence-issuing body (BASI or whoever) has any regulations for exams...... |
and I'm not quite sure about my course provider. Its 4 days a week german and 3 days a week skiing (all taught in german). Its 12 weeks and run by a language school, with the skiing seemingly sub-contracted to a ski school, I'm a little unsure. I have seen courses which are better for skiing, but I really want to develop my german language skills. So I would like to ask the austrian ski authority, but my german isnt good enough quite yet, I might email them the question, but I'm sure that the snowheads have better answers.
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| the_doc wrote: |
Whatever, been teaching on twins for years! |
thats cool, do most people approve of that, or is it frowned on?
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nosnowindorch, if you're following somebody in close formation the rooster tail can be annoying, but other than that who cares? Are you confident that twin tips won't disadvantage you when you come to take your instructor exams?
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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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The twin tips will most definately leave you at a disadvantage doing your exams. During most of the exams Ive done they are looking to examine not only teaching ability but your own personal performance, this is where they will probably let you down.
In the real world however, I find a decent twin like Whitedots One is the ideal ski to teach on day to day as its comfortable and able to dabble in a bit of everything, on that type of ski you should be able to carve, hit bumps, park and snowplough better than most any client you end up teaching, no matter what ski they are on. Not a very high percentage of instructors ever teach people at such a level where discipline specific skis are required.
Good luck with your course, would be interesting to know who was running the ski side of it. What accreditation you will end up with at the end and where that will enable you to work in the future. Might be worth writing that email to them.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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gilo, I've taught on my 196 pow skis a fair bit this year!
Obviously, I'd never train or take an exam on them. You can pass exams on twins but it just means you have to ski to a higher standard to compensate for your poor choice of equipment for the job at hand.
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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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DaveC, as have I and in the right setting I make no apologies for it! But the OP was looking for a ski to undertake an intensive ski-instructor course resulting in him being qualified to teach in Kitzbuhel by december, IMHO a pair of park twin tips as he suggests will be, at best, unhelpful.
Clearly we can all agree that what he really needs is a 4-ski quiver of pow, park, piste performance and teaching skis but if he is looking to buy one set..........
Oh, and he'll need a board, some blades and one of those bike things 
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Buy some boring shortish second hand pistey skis if you'll be mainly on glacier but get them tuned - when you've done your course you'll have a better idea what floats your bost
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You know it makes sense.
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| Quote: |
do most people approve of that, or is it frowned on?
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I find that if I'm enjoying myself skiing then it helps the class along, even if it comes down to teaching the kids to jib the piste. Working in Tahoe I found 90% of instructors under 40 were on twins for teaching...just make sure its the right one's, ie something with some piste performance rather than say a pair of Line Afterbangs!! You'll also want something to have fun on after the lesson is over...so not a piste ski for me then
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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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Maybe as fatbob says get some 2nd hand boring piste skis for the exams?? Some of the guys on my course were chatting up the local rental shop for a cheap deal just for the instructor course itself!
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Poster: A snowHead
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You'll be doing the Anwarter exam, and you'll be fine on twins - plenty of my mates passed on twins, and the only skis we were advised against using were stiff race skis. The only demos you do are low level stuff, up to parallel (which is what you can teach with it).
If you can get two skis, get a cheater GS for piste days, and a pair of 100+ for offpiste fun on your days off. If you can only afford one pair, I'd probably look to a set of 90mm ish twins that are stiff enough (tortionally as well as longitudionally) to hold a good edge on piste.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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personally would have a look at the classic do it all twin tips like, scott punishers, line chronic kyptonites, Atomic snoops etc, they will be great for the overall skiing of the mountain, however may not be the best for exams (depending on what the ski school are looking for)
best thing to do is drop them an e-mail and see what sort of thing they allow! swallow tails out the back of the skis in some places is a no no.
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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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They replied: Twin tipped skis are "trick" skis which enable you to do mad things on snow - the student should get proper carvers which will definitely last a season.
So I guess I might get a pair of each maybe
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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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Who said that?
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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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somebody passed their European Speed Test on a set of twin tips
BASI loaned us a set of twin tips for the park day of my L3 technical, I bought them cheap of BASI and used them as my piste teaching skis till they wore out
BASI have specific requirements in terms of sidecut radius for some of their higher level courses
Might be best to wait & gauge the politics when you arrive. From sound of email you might not be viewed as 'serious' on twin tips
Otherwise, go with clarky999
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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UPDATE:
Finally booked onto the course. Been shopping
Bought a pair of 'Rossignol Zenith Z7.5 Ti Oversize' from my local(ish) ski shop; snowtraxx in bournemouth, who i highly recommend!
And I've budgeted for a pair of twin-tips too. but might not buy them til i get there.... not sure
stoked. cant wait.
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| BiG_tYrOnE wrote: |
seeing as you live in dorchester, it might be worth heading to snowtrax in christchurch
www.snowtrax.eu |
I went to snowtrax and the guy there was incredibly helpful. I spent about 2 and a half hours there and walked out with boots and skis and thermals and gloves and socks and a ski bag. I'm gonna go back again and maybe buy the rest of the stuff I need, everything seems fairly well priced and they are so helpful
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nosnowindorch, Nice one! Keeps us up to date, so many people come on here ask an interesting question and then we never hear from them again. 
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FAQ
and there was me just being unhelpful for no reason 
