SAAS FEE 2017 – WEEK 1

Week1

And we’re back! Peak Leaders 2017 in Saas Fee is now one week old! The Peak Leaders arrived the weekend before the course to settle in and acclimatise to Saas Fee. Training started on Monday morning with experienced coaches Emma and Jake and the group headed up to the Glacier to start their BASI adventure! Conditions on the first day were awesome, some fresh snow fell overnight and there were blue skies all day. The snow was in perfect condition as the new trainees had the ideal start to get used to their new surroundings.

Saas Fee is a packed course and week one is probably the most full on. Everyone has to get to know one another very quickly, turn their attention to skiing hard each day and then each afternoon there are lots of fun activities to do … playing football is always a popular choice and there are fitness sessions each week with Jake.

An aprés ski game of football ⚽️#apresski #football #saasfee #peakleaders #mountainlife

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This week it was about building an aerobic base so everyone went running around Saas Fee and taking in the amazing scenery in preparation for working on strength and power later in the course. Saas Fee is the perfect place to train in the autumn and September still feels like summer is just holding on. The weather will change in the coming months when the snow arrives and temperatures drop rapidly.

The Peak Leaders have video analysis twice a week with the coaches to go through their skiing performance from that day and really see what they look like. This is an important tool for the trainees as it a great way of allowing people to think about their own skiing and how they can make vital changes.

Each week we have two group leaders. They are responsible for the weather reports, organising fun activities, plus any other important information the group may need. And the big event they are responsible for too … the weekly pub quiz! This proved to already be very competitive …

The first group leaders, Tom and Nelson, took to this like a fish to water and judging but the intricate quiz had obviously spent a while on the questions. They set the bar high so we’re looking forward to lots more excellent quizzes throughout the course.

On the weekends there is no official training but the trainees are free to go skiing if they want to and most people did on Saturday. Sunday was a rest day but we took the opportunity to go and play crazy Golf just up by the lift in town. It was a hard fought battle with some tough holes but in the end Hector prevailed and holds the Peak Leaders course record. For now…

In Saas Fee they have a lot of public BBQs with fire pits, chopped wood and some grills. All you have to do is bring some food along and build a fire. So this is exactly how we spent the rest of the weekend, which was awesome fun!

Epic BBQ skills from the boys! #sunny #saasfee #bbq #thisisthelife #apresski #peakleaders ⛷🍗🇨🇭

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Nelson looks on in awe of Hector’s fire making skills! Having a BBQ at the foot of the glacier was a great way to finish the first of 10 hectic weeks. Of course we had a bat and ball too!