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It’s only the middle of October and we’re already skiing light and fluffy powder. Saas Fee has always been renowned for great pre-season snow but nobody was expecting conditions this good! In fact conditions are so good in Saas Fee at the moment that the Swiss, Russian, US, Canadian and Japanese national ski teams are all up on the glacier training for the forthcoming competition season.

We’re pretty sure that the international race teams aren’t having this much fun..

These awesome snow conditions couldn’t have come at a better time for the trainees. Over the past week the guys and girls have been taking their BASI level 1 exam. BASI 1 focuses on basic teaching techniques, the BASI central theme and a technical examination of the trainees skiing. Although at this stage the trainees’ skiing does not have to be technically perfect it’s important that they show considerable improvement over the week. It is also important that trainees are able to teach and ensure the safety of a group, and can demonstrate a full understanding of the BASI central theme.

Everybody hard a work mid-exam.

If the trainees thought they were nervous their nerves weren’t half as frayed as newly qualified BASI examiner and trainer Dave. Fresh from his BASI examiner training and shadowing this was Dave’s first job as a fully qualified BASI trainer. It goes without saying that Dave falling on his first morning of training instantly put at ease the trainees who realised at that moment that BASI trainers are only human!

Fortunately the guys have been training really hard for the past few weeks; keeping their heads in their books when the ever-present lure of European lager and Euro pop has been a short walk away. Thanks to this commitment everybody passed the level 1 exam, which is a massive achievement! A big shout-out must go to Matt who, it seems, waited to the last run of the course to show the BASI examiners that he could actually carve like a demon.

As you can probably imagine the group celebrated in style that night. After a visit to a local Pizzeria, where the waitress took a liking to some of the lads, it was off to session Saas Fee’s nightlife.  Even Bradford Sam managed to forget about his shrinking muscles for the night and donned a ‘not so tight’ T-Shirt and got involved!

As you can see Saas Fee’s nightclubs use only ‘state of the art’ lighting..

A big thank you must go to Derek and Dave who did a great job with the trainees over the past week.