snow in the cairngorms
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Hey Greg ye I've had a look at that. Suppose my main downfall might be short turns and carving, as I rarely do those when free skiing anymore! Mostly try stick to tricky steep stuff, or anything that's a challenge, preferably with about 15cm of fresh snow 😀 .
I can carve and do short turns on my Lines, haven't had a BASI 4 look at my skiing in a looong time though!
Hi if anyone has a probe, transceiver and snow shovel for sale can you get in touch with me please!
mbydmt, thanks.
Obviously legal is the only route I'd look for. Just wondered if anyone knew of anywhere doing freebies. I know that some manufacturers give away films sometimes, like the great one I got a while back from TNF;
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Radicals[/url]
Michael, maybe give BASI a shout or ask the school where you're doing the training for their input?
Has anyone seen Claim? Sitting in the airport waiting for my flight to LA. No lounge. Not impressed! However, found a bar that does decent beer and has free wifi and just found this trailer;
Looks awesome! Some serious, seeeeerious stoke-age! 🙂
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depth pow![/url]
Just been reading Gregg's BASI link - that's a lot of stuff! How much does a ski instructor get paid then?
How much does a ski instructor get paid then?
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😉
That's not enough!
Flashy - if you like Claim give Push a watch too. Made by the same Matchstick production guys and is another cracker to get you in the mood for the white stuff.
We used to watch them both on the bus to the uni ski trip as we came off the motorway and on to the mountain road, got everyone buzzing to arrive in resort!
Yep, Matchstick make some great stuff. I'll check out Push as well! Thanks!
Has anyone seen Claim?
Yeah Claim was my favourite ski film until recent years where even more impressive ones came out, like Eye Trip. And if you like snorkel deep powder then check out Retallack!
And if you want a slight throw back to some old school, (well 2004 ish) then check out MSP's Focused which was my favourite ski film for long time!! Half the skiers are dead in it now which makes it kinda special. CR Johnson, Sarah Burke, and Shane McConkey - all gone! 🙁 . Pretty sure Claim was McConkeys last movie.
And ye I will do Greg, cheers.
And I'm sure level 4 ski instructors get well paid. They certainly seem to have a lot of perks to the job anyway! I'm hoping to be level 3 soonish, but I doubt anyone does it for the money.
However I was talking to a ski patroller over in Canada and he was saying how we (ski instructors) start out on much higher pay than them!
😉They certainly seem to have a lot of perks to the job anyway!
For a change, I'm not going to book in advance this year and I'm going to leave it until the last minute before having a look. I've got the leave in and booked so I'm wondering if anyone has any examples of what any last minute deals were last year? Going 12th of Jan and looking at Austria/Switzerland.
Ski instructors get paid the grand some of eff all. Even the "perks" were off set by having to deal with certain organisations. 🙄
Top-level independent instructor in France = €300 per day (minimum, often a lot more!)
Top-level instructor in French ski-school = up to around €40 / hour (but varies a lot)
Entry-level instructor in French ski-school = about €20 / hr
French instructors are probably the best paid there are though. Other countries, lessons cost about the same, but the instructor sees a lot less of it.
Ski instructors get paid the grand some of eff all
*Sorry, british entry level instructors.
picked up some ski socks today in tk maxx for 6.99, bridgedale merino lightweight fitted ones, seem ok.
good merino socks are expensive, was trying to find some reduced smartwool or teko ones than arnt near £20
also picked up some oneil 8k wp/8k br pants for £40 fit great hope they work ok
still on the hunt for good cheap glasses and gloves, hopefully tk maxx will sort the gloves eventually
My tacky maxx bargain - quicksilver premium range gore tex pro shell jkt. Ticket price 585 for 155. Happy days. Had 2 left after I got mine in the silver burn branch. No ski trip booked yet but hopefully will get plenty in this season.
was trying to find some reduced smartwool or teko ones than arnt near £20
Icebreaker ones on sportpursuit at the moment, I think about £30 for three pairs, can't remember exactly.
However I was talking to a ski patroller over in Canada and he was saying how we (ski instructors) start out on much higher pay than them!
In most resorts most of the patrollers start out by volunteering part-time, sometimes for a number of years, until a paid role becomes available.
What do all you other ski instructors do during the summer? Just curious.
TackyMax bargain for me some years ago - Masses of Patagucci merino for £10 an item! Bought all they had!
We asked the instructor on my first week's skiing (ESF - Alpe d'Huez). He didn't work but went out to Thailand to sail his yacht around all summer - very low cost of living.
The next holiday (Ellmau) the instructor just instructed during his holidays. His permanent job was corporate finance analyst for the Dutch telecom company (KPN I think). His GF was a permanent instructor there for the whole winter.
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pistes! [/url]
😆
Unable to view, devo 🙁 .
Devo?
What do all you other ski instructors do during the summer? Just curious.
I work looking after race boats and sailing for a living. Another great lifestyle choice but thankfully pays a bit more than ski instructing!
I love it when people talk about the French instructors and how much they earn!! A very small percentile of instructors earn anywhere near that.
Michael, where do you teach?
Devo?
"De Video" innit? 😀
What do all you other ski instructors do during the summer? Just curious.
I used to know an IT consultant type that basically took lucrative six-nine month contracts during the summer then went out to teach for the season.
Teaching money was just to break even with bar bills, food, rent etc.
Devo?
Devastated 😉 .
Gregg - I spent the whole of last season just gone teaching in Whistler for Whistler kids, have spent one broken up season teaching in Pila including a couple weeks in Switzerland, and one season doing my level 1 and 2 which was also in Pila!
I'd like to make decent money from teaching some day, that should be easier if I get my level 3. It is more of a lifestyle choice though I suppose! 🙂
What do all you other ski instructors do during the summer? Just curious.
Ride bikes!
Snowboard instruction is not my main income in the winter. I run a chalet business, which is what pays the bills. Being a snowboard instructor probably costs me money! I do the odd week for Interski and use my IML+BASI quals to do some avalanche safety training, but otherwise, since I live in France, I can't teach at the moment.
If I pass my L3, it's not a million miles from there to ISTD Snowboard, so I can see a day where I leave more of the chalet business to my other half and make some money from teaching snowboarding. Would be nice to have some income independent from the business too, in case it all goes pear-shaped one day!
Devo?
Devastated .
I'm clearly not down wiv da yoot enuff, blud;
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LOL!!
Also, came across a cool group on facebook called British Backcountry- all about backcountry skiing and snowboarding in the UK, funnily enough 😉 .
Anyone here got any UK backcountry experience? Its not something I was aware went on. Some impressive looking stuff on it though!
Pfffft. It's all about the slackcountry this season.
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Note he's leaving the off-piste area behind him. AKA, South of the Moat.
michaelmcc
You going back to Whistler? I'm at Cypress so down the road! Nice to live in the city and be in the mountains all in the same day! Will do as many trips to Whis as possible, need to get to Mt Baker too.
I'd like to go back and teach for a couple months but have to find out what the current visa situation is. I have a feeling it uses up a year visa even if you only go there for a couple months.
I've heard really good things about Revelstoke too, I'd say thats def worth a visit! Whis was all I skid there, hardly much of a bad thing though 😉 .
You would have to use a full years visa even if you only went for a couple of months, the other option is sponsorship but I believe Whistler don't do too much of that! As far as I'm aware you only get two chances to have a working holiday visa so probably better to save it if you plan on going for longer.
I would love to get into the interior a bit and do some of the hills there, I have a friend who works at Big White so might road trip to see him this year and do a few others while we're at it.
You doing some interski this winter? I did a bit earlier this year in Courmayer and Pila, bit of fun.
Ski Allenheads have opened membership for the year:
http://www.ski-allenheads.co.uk/Membership.htm 😉
Greg - Ye it kinda sucks that visa situation. It'd prob too late to apply for sponsorship but I'll take a look into it.
And yes gonna try do a few weeks with Interski, such a fun company to work for! Only ever done Pila, can't fault it though to may aswell go back there (it is slightly on the small side but can't have everything I guess).
Graham - Me and a mate stayed in Allenheads for the night on our C2C a few weeks ago, such a small tiny random place, hard to believe there's a skiing community there lol!
Spring skiing in Les Gets again for us. 6 year old and 21 month old equals Ski Famille and warmer weather - hopefully with as much snow as the last few times we've been there.
That said, Les Gets isn't exactly a hardship.
Our problem is that our elder son is already faster on skis than his mum on her snowboard and dad isn't that much faster.
I think a few lessons to speed us up might be in order.
michaelmcc - this is me a few years ago:
A bit hesitant as the snow was rotten and the top layers were peeling off with every turn!
michaelmcc - this is me a few years ago:
Wow, repect! Bit of a gnarly looking line with no room for error. No way I could have done that myself back in 07. One of the sketchiest things I've ever skid was the entrance into Sapphire bowl on Blackcomb and that now looks tame after watching this. I'll put up a link for it. Not me in the vid and the snow was way deeper when we did it so only a tiny bit of the rock in the middle was sticking up. The visibility was much worse too though.
You tempted to try it again when the snow's a bit better? Or does it get much better than that there?
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a THIRD new lift getting put in at Jasná. This time a tram type thing at Biela Put:
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Can't believe how fast that place is growing. If anyone is looking for a good place to invest in ski property...
Yeah, I'd love to go back and do it in better conditions. When I did it, I couldn't really get into a rhythm with my turns because there was always this big, heavy, wet sluff coming after me. Either in just-turned spring snow or with a wee bit of powder, it would be awesome.
I'm a much better rider now than I was then too (5 seasons in the Alps tends to do that...)
Bit of a rhetorical question but - why do all piste skis have terrible graphics? Well this years Rossignol and Atomic ones do anyway, IMO. I liked the graphics on the Head skis last year but they seem to look a lot more pansy-ish this year. 🙁
Guess I just like to enjoy the look of my skis as well as the feeling of skiing them, probably gonna have to get a piste ski for my L3.
Greg - how do you rate Cypress for the skiing? What part of Vancouver you living in? I'd be tempted to try work teaching there for a season.
