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So you love snowboarding but you never seem to spend enough time in the mountains to take your riding to the next level and you can’t entertain the thought of taking two months away from real life to complete a snowboard instructor course. Peak Leaders understand that not everybody wants to qualify as an instructor so we’ve developed a course with Argentine snowboard legend Marki Green that will give you the skills and confidence to ride terrain and throw tricks you previously thought impossible. The next time you go riding with your friends you’ll leave them scratching their heads in disbelief!
Riding with a good crew of motivated riders is always a bonus!
This 3-week course is based at South America’s largest Ski Resort, Cerro Cathedral, and is run by Marki Green an experienced snowboard coach and former pro snowboarder. Marki is a fantastic coach that knows the backcountry around Bariloche better than anybody; but don’t worry you won’t be dropping-in to a narrow couloir or 10m kicker on your first day!
During your 3 weeks in Argentina Marki will start by ensuring you can ride the whole mountain with a strong technique, he will then hone both your freeride and freestyle skills. Progression over the 3-week period, and giving you the skills and understanding to keep progressing your riding long after the course has finished, are the main aims of this course.
Coach Marki Green throwing his signature BS Rodeo 7!
Below is an outline of the course:
Week 1 – During this week you’ll work on the fundamentals of snowboarding (posture, balance, rotation, edge-control, line and movement) and perfecting the basics of freestyle snowboarding and jibbing (speed, setup, pop, timing, transition, flow, switch riding, rotation, landing and spacial awareness).
Week 2 – Over the second week you’ll spend more time in the park and off-piste. Marki will focus on your freeride skills, including; an introduction to Avalanche safety; how to ride steeper terrain, how to choose a line and how to manage slough. In the park you’ll work on rotating off kickers and riding rails.
Week 3 – Week 3 is when everything you’ve learnt over the previous two weeks is pulled together. In short, you’ll take the knowledge you’ve learned in the park and in the off-piste to the backcountry. Marki will take you on some fairly challenging tours around Cerro Catedral’s backcountry and will also teach you how to build and ride a backcountry kicker.
Throughout the course you can expect to see lots of footage of your riding filmed by the Peak Leaders course leader.
Whilst on the course you’ll stay at the beautiful Hotel Retorno where you’ll share a large en suite room, have free Wi Fi and be provided with breakfast every morning and dinner and lunch five days a week. As this course runs alongside our instructor course you’ll also be included in any extra-curricular activities and trips that they do.
Marki will have you throwing methods off of backcountry booters in no time!
HOTEL AND FOOD
Whilst in Bariloche you'll stay at the beautiful El Retorno Hotel which sits on the banks of Lago Gutierrez (see photos) a short drive from Cerro Catedral and the centre of Bariloche. Breakfast and dinner is served in the hotel's restaurant. There's a bar, free Wi Fi & Internet Services and a big lounge area for you to 'chill' in with you fellow snowboarders. Below is the view from the hotel!
An Argentine welcome is like no other. After travelling from the airport through stunning scenery of mountains and lakes, the group is given a welcome meeting and their first taste of the legendary Argentine Asado (BBQ).
For the past 8 years Peak Leaders have used the 3* El Retorno hotel; it has an ideal location, the hotel is very comfortable and the staff couldn't be more friendly and helpful. During your stay you'll share an en-suite room with one or two other trainees, rest assured that rooms where three trainees share are much larger. All of the rooms have plenty of storage space.
It is possible for trainees to pay an additional supplement fee to have a room to themselves. Please contact the office for more details.
On days off the Peak Leaders guys and girls either hang-out at the hotel to relax after coaching, have a glass or two of Merlot, go to Bariloche shopping, or if you're feeling active, go exploring on the hotel’s mountain bikes.
FOOD
Included in the cost is breakfast (7 days) and dinner 5 days per week and lunch 5 days. Breakfast is continental with croissants, ham, cheese, fruit, yogurt and cereal. Lunch is included on coaching days up the mountain. It usually consists of freshly cooked hot foods, salads and pudding. Once you get back the hotel you can start all over again! Another reason to choose our course! Feedback from previous courses showed that our clients preferred the flexibility of eating out at the weekend. You can work your way through the list of excellent restaurants in Bariloche, of which there are many!
THE RESORT
The ski area at Cerro Catedral is the largest in South America with 67 km of trails and 27 major lifts with a capacity of 20,000 skiers per hour. The top of the mountain is 2050m and the vertical drop is 1000m. When the snow is good Cerro Catedral and the surrounding mountains is one of the best places in the Southern Hemisphere for freeriders. Here you can blast your way through thigh-deep powder in one of Cerro's long backcountry chutes, spend an afternoon shredding the jumps and rails and take in the stunning views across Lake Nahuel Huapi and the surrounding Andes Mountains. Lower down the mountain you can expect off-piste runs through some of best tree and bamboo covered slopes of South America and plenty of natural features to jib!
CERRO CATEDRAL FOR BOARDERS
Cerro Catedral is a world class resort and attracts snowboarders from every corner of the globe. For years numerous well-known American riders have been running week-long camps at Cerro Catedral, which is testament to the amazing terrain. Cerro is also a popular spot for famous pro riders to visit for photo-shoots over the summer. Cerro Catedral's park is the biggest and best in Argentina with a good kicker line ranging from 2m to 20m and numerous boxes and rails.
Although the park is good it's the backcountry terrain that snowboarders come to Cerro Catedral for and nobody knows this area like head coach Marki Green!
Bariloche is the main ski resort town in Northern Patagonia and is the winter sports capital of South America. The town is also a favourite party destination for students from Buenos Aires and Peak Leaders' trainees as well as being an adventure sports' town.
Located in the western area of the Province of Río Negro, Bariloche is in the heart of the Nahuel Huapi National Park. Not only is San Carlos de Bariloche a 'rite of passage' destination for students on graduation, but it also welcomes visitors from all over the world who come to one of the main ski resorts in South America: Cerro Catedral.
There is a wide range of activities for visitors to do. During the summer, adventure tours are popular: rafting, hiking, mountain biking, horse-riding and fly fishing excursions. In winter it is all about snow sports.
Likewise, lake excursions across the Nahuel Huapi provide access to spots that are unique in the world, such as the Myrtle Forest and Victoria Island.
Beautiful Lake Nahuel Huapi
ARGENTINE CULTURE & TRIPS
During your time with Peak Leaders in Argentina, there are trips organised where you'll experience the richness and fun of South American culture. You'll go from the Atlantic to the Andes, ride through the foothills of the Andes on horseback with local gauchos, see the soaring condors of Patagonia and stay in bustling Buenos Aires for a couple of nights. In BA you can watch the Tango danced in the streets ( have a go maybe...), visit Evita's house and the thriving area 'La Boca', eat in fantastic restaurants then party the night (and following morning) away! Life, happily, will never be the same again.
ARGENTINE CULTURE
You will spend two evenings in Buenos Aires on the return trip. Some of our local contacts will show you and your fellow snowboarders some highlights of the city. Buenos Aires is famous for it's 24 hour party culture, its amazing restaurants, South American flair, rich history, and two of the biggest football clubs in South America (Boca Juniors and River Plate). Here’s what Lucie Archer, one of our Course Leaders, had to say about BA:
“[The day] consisted of a walk through the city to see the sights. We visited Recoleta, where there is an amazing cemetery (Evita is buried here), and then had a coffee stop (or for some a breakfast stop). Café con leche and dulce de leche ice cream were the order of the day. This was followed by a walk through the city past Teatro Colon (a very famous theatre) and on to Plaza de Mayo. We then headed to La Boca (the mouth), which is the old docks area of the city and renowned for the place that the tango was created! It is a very colourful part of the city – literally, as all the buildings are painted in yellow, red, blue, green..... Some of the group ate here for lunch and watched the tango, some of the group even danced the tango. The evening saw us all eventually (with the help of Mel’s linguistic skills) make it to a small Flamenco restaurant for tapas…The Flamenco was fantastic to watch, sitting very close to the action, it was a mesmerising performance.”
MATE
You will be introduced to the rituals of Mate (pronounced ma-tay). Many of the locals drink Mate like the British drink tea. Yerba Mate is a species of holly native to subtropical South America. The infusion made from the plant is called Mate and is prepared by steeping dry leaves (and twigs) of yerba mate in hot water, rather than in boiling water like black tea or coffee. It is a slightly less potent stimulant than coffee and much gentler on the stomach. Drinking mate with friends from a shared hollow gourd with a metal straw is an extremely common social practice in Argentina. As you can imagine there are many unwritten laws about how to drink Mate in a social situation!
QUALIFICATIONS AND CERTS...
On our Argentina Freestyle and Freeride course we don't offer any formal qualifications. This course is purely about improving your snowboarding both in the park and in the backcountry. As part of the course you will partake in an Avalanche Awareness course and you will be introduced to Cerro's amazing backcountry.
AVALANCHE AWARENESS
You will learn to recognise the conditions under which avalanches take place and how to avoid them! You also learn what to do in an emergency situation if an avalanche occurs. This gives the essential knowledge and skills to feel confident with a guide in the backcountry away from marked trails and patrolled areas. This module provides essential training for powder-hungry riders and covers avalanche theory, snow stability and search and rescue techniques. There will be classroom sessions and practical work on the mountain.
BACKCOUNTRY INTRODUCTION
You will be shown how to bring together the skills you have learned on the avalanche awareness course and will be introduced to navigation and route selection with a view to backcountry travel. You will learn about risk assessment, using a beacon, shovel and probe, avalanche dangers, snow conditions and building shelters.
SPANISH CLASSES
Whatever level you are, lessons can be arranged. Evening classes focus on spoken Spanish and are conducted by qualified teachers. The aim is to give people the basic technical vocabulary for an understanding of mountain safety and for day to day living in a Spanish speaking society.
