It’s been a whale of a winter season so far in Canada, USA and Japan – with bucket loads of powder fresh from El Nina! (In fact they are getting DUMPED on right now!)
The EA Interns have completed their training, passed their exams, survived the exam celebration party and have started work as ski or snowboard instructors with their flash new uniforms! A big congratulations to all of them – Well done :)
Because everyone is having such an awesome time, we have dedicated this newsletter to the Freshest batch of 2011/12 Interns Course Diaries so they can share their epic stories.
We showcase 3 course diaries of typical EA Inters living the life:
Check out Jess’s second and Third course diaries. Its ok to be jealous!
“By the morning there was almost a foot of fresh snow in town… shredded the soft stuff all day…”
All the staff from were invited for a turkey dinner and drinks… Work-wise, in the run up to Christmas the ski school has been super busy …Oh and the new office is still looking awesome!”
“It now feels normal to have 30cms of fresh powder ready to ride in the mornings!”
“A benefit of being a ski instructor is that you know a large amount of the community and many of the people you meet are happy to buy you drinks.”
Conrad and Robbie – Japan Powder
Ja-pow update from EA interns Conrad and Robbie – check out the latest powder secrets.
Conrad and Robbie have had almost 2 meters in the last few days!!! Not to mention their EA staff accommodation situation at the bottom of the chair lift… AMAZING!
$500 off any EA ski course
If you want to fill your own diary with winter powder, parties and people then contact us about our current offer:
Save $500 off any ski course but only available during February – Dont miss out!
To validate this special offer email sstraining@educatingadventrues.com with ‘Save $500′ in the subject.
Jeffs third Revelstoke blog fresh from the good stuff in Canada. Revelstoke is known for its amazing powder, epic steeps, pillow runs, open bowls, and miles of tree runs.
However the EA Revelstoke crew are also finding the good times after the lifts close for the day..
New Year in Revy!
Our new years started with us having a social gathering in one of our groups apartments, music blaring and drinks flowing. But time flew by and when we decided to head out it was already 11 so we couldn’t all get in, meaning we headed separate ways, some people getting in and others spending new years out on the street.
Me, Frodo, Shona and Ryan got into the Drop which had a great atmosphere but if anything dancing next to the speakers was just too loud, however there was just something animalistic about the fact we had to dance.
Therefore we headed to the pool table and managed to stay on there winning for a far time despite being badly impaired. This was helped by a benefit of being a ski instructor is that you know a large amount of the community and many of the people you meet are happy to buy you drinks. So all in all most of the group ended up having a great night.
Stuff you wish wouldn’t happen
During our time here so far we have had a fair few injuries, from broken wrists to concussions and tendonitis to hurt shoulders, obviously some of them being more sever then others. However this was to be expected by all of us when you sign up to do a whole ski season. We have also had some problems with our gear such as many bent poles, broken boots and snapped skis. So all of us have either had to buy new gear or for the lucky few done it by choice. However we have come overcome these obstacles for our love of shredding!
The good stuff
We have been lucky to get some of the best snow conditions since we have been here, with it now feeling normal to have 30cms of fresh powder ready to ride in the mornings!
This has resulted in us all having an incredible time and getting to ride powder, drop cliffs and do tree runs that we hadn’t even dreamt about, along with turning everyone back into little children.
Its all about the powder in Japan right now, and the EA interns are over there soaking up the fluffy goodness.
Conrad and Robbie are on EA’s Instructor Internship in Japan and are getting more powder and sushi than they could every dream about.
They have had almost 2 meters in the last few days!!! Not to mention their EA staff accommodation situation at the bottom of the chair lift… AMAZING!
Conrad..
“The snow over here has been amazing! It just doesn’t stop coming down and has been for a few weeks now. The powder has been great but we have actually had too much snow over here so its getting kind of sketchy to ski in the back-country, but still pretty good fun overall.”
Robbie..
“Over the last few days we’ve had a TON of new powder, about a meter and a half to 2.
Great powder and had my first proper powder sesh on my day off on Saturday when i went back country at Hakuba Cortina ski resort, and had a go at some lovely powder skis. Loving it here, living right next to a main lift while getting plenty of snow.
Bright sunny day today with still quite a bit of powder all round meaning magnificent conditions.”
Naemie’s third Gap Year Ski Instructor course blog at Lake Louise Canada. Naemie passes her CSIA Level 1 (awesome effort!), parties it up at Lake Louise and starts work as a ski instructor.
Naemie is on EAs Instructor Internship – Ski Instructor course with guaranteed job offer
The 4 day exam started. We were all pretty nervous about doing it, but the exam followed the same structure as all our training weeks, so thankfully that made the whole experience relaxed and enjoyable. As the exam went on I felt my skiing improving, but I was not convinced I’d pass by any means.
D-Day arrived, and we all sat in anticipation while the examiners discussed the results. They then came in and announced that we’d all passed! I was in complete shock – I was so overwhelmed that I (embarrassingly) started crying, and then I couldn’t stop crying! I ended up going to the staff Christmas party that night with the world’s puffiest eyes and biggest grin on my face!
The Ski Staff Christmas party was held in the Ten Peaks Lodge – we had one beer and immediately felt extremely tipsy! I’m still not used to the altitude:drink ratio yet! Although it makes nights out much cheaper!!
My first day of work started the next day! I was the only one from the EA course down to work so it was pretty scary – but everyone was lovely – they helped me to find my way around and showed me what to do. I spent the morning shadowing. All in all, it was a really good day, and I knew I was going to enjoy my new job!
Christmas day was strange – it didn’t really feel like Christmas as we were all working, and we were also extremely hungover as Christmas Eve consisted of drinking games and a trip down to the Stables to play some pool. But we all spent the evening together swapping secret Santa presents and eating pizza!
EA Crew Secret Santa
We started to get lessons, my first one was terrifying, but after the first ten minutes it was going really well and I started to relax and enjoy it! Most of the lessons I’m assigned to is for Kid Ski, but I had my first adult lesson last week – I had to use a completely different style of teaching. It’s such an amazing feeling to see people improving in a lesson.
Jess’s third Ski Instructor course blog update from Banff – Free-Skiing on Christmas day, Instructor keg parties and epic powder days. Jess is making the most on her Ski instructor course in Banff Canada with style!
Since my last update loads has been going on; Christmas, New Years, my first lessons, powder days and new skis to name just a few.
Christmas day in Banff was awesome, it was my first ever white Christmas and the first time I’ve ever skied Christmas day. AND it snowed all day! Although I was technically working, nobody really seemed to want ski lessons on Christmas day so I spent the day free-skiing and chilling out in the day lodge. Good times.
For new year’s, the EA house decided to throw yet another house party. As usual it was crazy, and we all felt very Canadian drinking out of our red cups and playing beer pong! Luckily, teaching new year’s day was just as quiet as Christmas, and I managed to get away with sitting in the lodge for a good part of the day with a big cup of coffee.
Ski School Keg Party
So I’ve been teaching skiing for a month now, and it’s getting loads easier! We were definitely thrown in at the deep end, starting our careers as instructors over Christmas which is by far the busiest time of year for the ski school. Boxing day and the week following were crazily busy, but we all picked up teaching super quickly and as a group we’ve had some amazing feedback from clients. I’ve taught 3-year olds to 50-year olds, complete beginners to parallel skiers, and every combination in between!
Now that the Christmas rush has died down, the majority of our work is with kids from the surrounding areas who come up for school skiing programs. The programs kicked off last Saturday, with 400 kids arriving at Norquay at 10am.
Obviously it was pretty hectic, but with a lot of patience and hard work everything went well, and now we’re running a tight ship on the weekends!
As a thank you for such an awesome Christmas period and start to the school programs, Gord, our ski school director, arranged a party. Again, the EA house hosted (we seem to host a lot of parties) and Gord arranged for a keg of beer to be delivered to the house, which, for people from outside North America, is 58.7 litres! Clearly the night was a good one, and everyone was on less than full form at work the next day…
The snow has been epic over the past couple of days, and I’ve been enjoying riding my first ever pair of “sensible skis” – some stiff all mountain/carving skis, rather than the super flexible twin tips I’m used to. I’ve also taught my most memorable lesson this week; ripping up the powder on blue and black runs, going through the trees, off jumps and skiing moguls for two hours – we all had a blast! And the best part is that I’ve got the same kids every week for the next month or so!
Things to look forward to now include the new terrain park which has just opened, featuring a 45ft kicker! My aim is to hit it by the end of the season, so I’ll keep you posted. We also have the “cardboard sled derby” this Friday night, as well as night skiing at Norquay, plus tomorrow is Australia day. So it’s going to be a busy week!
Naemie’s second Ski Instructor course blog straight from Lake Louise Canada. loads of ski improvement, and a tone of fun during and after the ski training.
The first part of my second week’s training was spent in agony with my still smashed up toes. My skiing seemed to be getting worse which was extremely annoying! However I’d had my boots adjusted, so at least my feet had stopped thrashing around in them so much. Customised insoles I highly recommend (even if they are on the pricey side at $130 a pair!!)! I also had the front straps changed, and had snowboard boot straps fitted to relieve the pressure on my ankles – so now they look cool as well as being comfier!
It was Kimmy’s Birthday on the Tuesday, so we celebrated on Monday night with lots of drinking and dancing. We started with a hall party, and then worked our way downstairs to the Stables bar (down stairs in the staff accommodation) for some crazy boogying! It was an awesome night! Although there were a few sore heads at training the next morning – oops!
Pat was our instructor for the 2nd and 3rd week of training; we tackled moguls, black runs, and worked a lot on the 3 competencies and 5 skills of skiing. I’ve had a fair few falls (or ‘stacks’ as the Aussies call them!); on the way down ‘Paradise Bowl’ I think I spent more time on my bum than I did on my skis! But luckily Pat and the rest of my group were there to help me up! Here’s Sambo and Pat in the gondola!
Our Third week of training started; Pat got us all boot skiing – it was very funny watching each other falling down the slope, as it’s not the easiest of exercises! We were all amazed at how fit Pat was as well – he pretty much ran back up to us after every demonstration – most of us had to crawl back up the hill – of course blaming altitude for being out of breath – not the beers we’d consumed the night before!
The next 3 days of training were indoor based, which was a complete shock to the system as we’d become so accustomed to being outside all day everyday! We learned all about Banff National Park, Safety on and off Piste and all about the Ski School and the Lake Louise Resort. So Friday was the final day of ski training, and then tomorrow our exam starts ……
Tom has completed his ski instructor level one training, passed his exam with style and is now living the ski instructors dream at Whistler including Fresh powder laps before the resort is open to the public!
“If there has been a dump of fresh powder during the night we get to ski the freshest of powder which is amazing.”
Over the past couple of days the temperature in Whistler has dropped well below zero which has made it somewhat difficult to ski and teach but it has been really good for the snow conditions.
In the mornings before the lifts are officially open to the public, the snow school instructors are allowed to upload early to check out the conditions and work on our technique with some of the most experienced pros in the Snow School. They are always a good laugh and if there has been a dump of fresh powder during the night we get to ski the freshest of powder which is amazing.
As you probably know already, making your own fresh tracks in powder is overwhelming. The morning sessions usually mean we are awake before the sun comes up and are skiing when the sun is rising.
On clear days the view of the sun rising up over the mountain range is spectacular.
One great thing about Whistler Blackcomb is the size. It has the largest skiable terrain in the whole of North America meaning there is always a part of the mountains you haven’t yet skied. This makes days off all the more fun to be able to explore the mountains to their potential!
“We found out the results of the exam which most people were delighted to become Snow School Professionals! We followed the results with an EA group meal which ultimately ended with a night out of celebrations.”
We started the exam quite nervous about being assessed but luckily it turned out to be fairly relaxed. The assessors were mostly the instructors we had for our training but switched around so we didn’t have the same ones. We had one instructor for two days and another for the remaining two. For the first couple of days the main focus was our own skiing technique and the final two were mainly focused on our teaching ability.
We found out the results of the exam on the final days’ evening, during which most people were delighted to become Snow School Professionals!
We followed the results with an EA group meal which ultimately ended with a night out of celebrations. After our partying we had a couple of days off and had one day to shadow a lesson to get a feel for teaching genuine clients.
We were then thrown into the deep end to take lessons for ourselves. This was quite daunting to start with but we soon got in to the flow of things. Teaching has been a great experience so far; it is so satisfying seeing the results of our instruction in our clients’ skiing.
A regular occurrence during the high season in Whistler is the Fire and Ice show they host on Sunday evenings. This comprises of fireworks, fire spinners and Whistler’s best skiers and riders, including Whistler Blackcomb Snow School’s finest hitting a big air jump through a blazing ring of fire. Check out the video I’ve included of some of the evenings events.
Jess’s second Ski Instructor course blog update fresh from Banff – Instructor training course, parties, hangovers, shotskis, Turkey at the Christmas work do, starting work as an insturctor. Living the dream?
“Tomorrow is my first official day teaching… Oh and the new office is still looking awesome!”
Loads has happened since my last update! The second week of training went well, and after a much-needed day off we embarked upon the four-day CSIA Level One course. The first two days focused on ski improvement, and the last two helped us develop our teaching technique. We all had to be on top form, and by the end I think everyone was suffering from alcohol withdrawal symptoms. It was worth it, though, when the whole group passed! We’re now all officially qualified ski instructors!
To celebrate, we held a small civilised gathering at our house. Highlights include an intense beer pong tournament and overuse of our newly acquired “shot ski”. Everyone was in high spirits and loads of the Norquay ski school staff came along to help us celebrate.
The following few days were spent catching up on sleep and recovering from our epic hangovers.
Excitingly, we had our first powder day of the season this week! I arrived home at about 2am on Saturday evening to heavy rain, but by the morning there was almost a foot of fresh snow in town! Needless to say, we all headed straight up to the mountain and shredded the soft stuff all day. The atmosphere was amazing; everyone was in a great mood and the skiing was incredible.
Work-wise, in the run up to Christmas the ski school has been super busy. This coincided nicely with our first days shadowing lessons; the demand was so high that some lucky new instructors jumped straight into teaching! I spent my day shadowing a four-hour “Disco”, a discovery lesson for someone who has never tried skiing before. It was a private lesson for a four-year-old boy, so I spent most of the day playing hide and seek, with a bit of skiing thrown in.
Today is Christmas Eve, and it’s been quiet as we’re recovering from the epic staff party at Norquay yesterday. All the staff from the entire mountain were invited for a turkey dinner and drinks in the day lodge, and afterwards we had a choice of house parties to go to!
Tomorrow is my first official day teaching, so it’s going to be a strange Christmas but definitely a great one. Oh and the new office is still looking awesome. (see photo above)
This is Rosie’s second Canada Snowboard instructor training course blog update, including Snowboard Instructor Training, passing CASI level one exam, and starting work for Revelstoke Mountain Resort.
“The good news is that I have pasted the level one snowboard instructor course!!! Today I picked up my new uniform”
Revelstoke has by far become the best place I’ve ever boarded at and I’m sold that I will be returning next season! After our 10 days of training up the hill with our instructor Justin (fastest man on skis in CANADA!!) We then had two days to practice to prepare for our three day exam for CASI (Canadian Association of snowboard instructing). Day one was for us to show our ability and show we can demonstrate skills that a learner can copy. Days 2-3 were days for us to take turns at teaching mock lessons with different situations, Private lessons or groups with either young children or adults. We needed to be very familiar with all the content and be able to turn the boarding lingo into understandable terms for learners. The best part was coming up with games to help kids have fun while learning new skills.
The good news is that I have pasted the level one snowboard instructor course!!! Today I picked up my new uniform ………..It’s a bright orange jacket……..we all look like funny oompa loompas on the slopes hahaa. I filled out all the paper work so I can start getting paid and my first day is tomorrow, I’m a little nervous to take my first lesson but excited to get into the swing of teaching this awesome fun sport were you can create your own adrenaline.
Living with the rest of the EA team has been a blast and we have all made friends who we will travel with in the future, unfortunately some sad goodbyes at the moment for the people who just signed up for the 4 week course and we wish them all the best and hope they visit us before the season is over.
Thanks to EA we have had a few celebration meals at a local pub with everyone which always turns out to be a fun night full of great memories and hilarious moments thankfully captured on camera!!
We have now moved into our permanent apartments as they needed some repair work due to unfortunate flooding……fortunate for us though as we spent the month in Powder Springs Hotel with many perks to go with it! But glad to be settled in and have our own kitchen and living area. Also a bonus is that we are only a 2 minute walk to the shuttle stop which is free for us as staff of the resort.
Lucky for me I’ve managed to get a second job at the Sutton Place Hotel which is a ski in ski out hotel at the base of the mountain just 10 steps from the first gondola! This is great for me as it is all within the same company as the ski school and I can stay here for the summer with a job after the winter season has melted away.
I’ll be keeping very busy with work, and in the new year those with the level one CASI will start there level two training and so the adventures will continue………….. Oh and we even got to be a part of the Christmas parade!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
