Welcome to Peak Leaders

Zermatt – Busy times for the PL instructors!
26/02/2010

This past week has been quite an eventful one. Not only did we help out the ski school as part time employees, but our skiing also came together. Everyone’s carving looked very sharp and fundamentally sound. Kasper continues to make sure that our off-time is well spent.

For anyone serious about their skiing or about pursuing a snow sports career, Peak Leaders in Zermatt is a must.
Lukas

Zermatt – Red jackets and underpants....
18/02/2010

This week began with shadowing groups in the Swiss Ski School, our first experience of teaching a group. We all found it very useful as we hadn't had much of an idea of what to expect from groups of kids up to that point. We learnt lots of teaching styles and got lots of helpful advice from the insructors we met.

On Thursday we went back to training with Brendon, which we had all missed a lot during the last couple of weeks. Training has got slightly more intensive now that we're doing BASI 2, and we're all having to work much harder during our time on the mountain.

Thursday also saw the biggest night out so far in Zermatt...Super hero night at Schnee Wittchen. Much time was spent carefully selecting costumes, ending up with Superman, Batman, Captain underpants, and for some reason a couple of ipods.. And finally, training resumed on Friday and Saturday where we all made some more improvements to our technique.

Sunday was a day off, used for rest and recuperation :)
 

By Rosie

Zermatt – Avalanche training...freestyle... and POWDER!
12/02/2010

Last week on the Peak Leaders BASI Instructor course it was an eventful week for all.....we had just finished the BASI Level 1.

So, the week began with the group chilling and partying, to celebrate being qualified instructors! The group had a nice few days off at the beginning of the week to have relaxed skiing and nights out in Zermatt, enjoying the clubs. we were then shown on Wednesday a back-country and avalanche training day where we learnt about snow conditions, and when to expect the risk of avalanches. We had the chance to practice using some of the avalanche equipment, which meant the group was able to search for buried items under the snow using trackers and the correct techniques of shovelling, which is not to tiring. Our mountain guide demonstrated a compression test in the snow and showed us the layers that form from different snowfalls and showed us how easily sometimes snow can slide away from the underlying layers.

On Thursday the group was down to four people (some people had to go home for a bit)/  We had a freestyle day learning the basics in the park and what can be done on a piste like switch skiing, 180, 360 and air time jumps. In the park we did big kickers....we were able to attempt grab tricks and spins..... with variable degrees of success! Lastly we were shown rails and all of us attempted the rails and had some success in learning and being able to stay on them and landing off at the other end.

Finally on friday Zermatt showed us why it is an amazing resort.......we had about 40-50cm of snow and the whole of Zermatt was covered!Saturday was an amazing powder day and the group got to see the best bits of skiing in Zermatt with amazing knee deep powder skiing and variable lines across the mountain and a perfect day to have but not use the knowledge we had acquired from our back country and freestyle days. In conclusion another great week in Zermatt with lovely skiing, amazing scenery and exciting activities.

From Gus Persson
 

Zermatt – Goodbye Comfort.... hello BASI Level 1!
08/02/2010

Last week was the most serious week we’ve had so far, we had to say good bye to the comforting skiing compliments of Brenden and start are BASI Level 1 exams! Although, as with any exams, I didn’t find it the most exciting thing in the world, we all grew into the challenge and by Friday the hard work paid off and we had all passed.

The new Ski Instructors!!

Success on the slopes lead to success in the town – a two o’clock start to a two am finish in Zermatt’s diverse bars was a tremendous effort by anyone’s standards!

Our first aid course over the weekend had arrived just in time for some, and was actually much more fun than anyone expected. Flora, who took charge of us was really cool and managed to balance our jokey mood after Friday with some much more important life skills. All in all last week was a great week, and despite it being minus 30 at the top, we are all only warming to Zermatt more and more.

First Aid time

Jamie

Zermatt – SNOW & SAND
08/02/2010

Two weeks into the course and everyone is settled in and making massive improvements thanks to Brendan, our trainer. We are all looking forward to making our first serious step towards our final qualification with our BASI Level 1 assessment next week, starting tomorrow.

On Thursday we all took a leap into the unknown by attending a huge beach party at the local club - only 100m from our hotel! The club made a proper effort, bringing up 10 tonnes of actual sand to cover the floor. I went as a lifeguard, whilst Lukas (a fellow course
member) went in shorts and Ray Bans!

Today a few of us went to the newly finished jump park in Zermatt, with a huge halfpipe. We all tried grinding a couple of rails for the first time ever - all of us failing miserably! This evening, coming back from skiing, we were shown how skis are serviced at a local ski shop which proved very interesting.

Looking forward to starting our BASI Level 1 tomorrow!

by Maxi Ducam-Davies