SAAS FEE 2020 – WEEKS 2 & 3: TRAINING

Time has flown by and somehow we find ourselves at the end of the first training block, our first exam starting imminently – the BASI Level one.

A 5 day course assessing the trainees’ teaching and skiing abilities. Although this seems like a long time for an exam, the extended structure is designed to take the pressure off, with continuous assessment throughout, allowing time to develop and for mistakes to be made.

BASI (British Association of Snowsport Instructors) is one of the world’s leading ski instructor organisations, with international recognition of their qualifications the world over. This gives our trainees the opportunity to move on to ski instructing jobs all over the globe, from Switzerland, to Japan, Canada and even OZ and New Zealand, during the southern hemisphere winter.

All our trainees are currently looking at jobs and further training opportunities for the upcoming winter and although COVID has created some uncertainty, a popular option has been to work and train for the season. We have our very own level 3 training program in Verbier which offers just this and we look forward to some of current trainees staying on for this.

As well as starting to plan the winter season, the trainees have been working incredibly hard over the past few weeks to prepare for the BASI Level 1. Thankfully we have been blessed with incredible snow conditions and quiet pistes. Here’s Freya perfecting her long turns up on the glacier last week.

The training time is split between both the teaching and technical skiing elements. Some days the trainees will practice teaching each other different skiing skills, other days we focus on improving their own skiing performances.

Off-snow, the trainees have also been making great progress in fitness training, speeding round the forest fitness circuit. The circuit involves short running intervals broken up with balancing or strength tasks. If you’re lucky, sometimes you’ll bump into one of the real locals….

In amongst all this hard work the trainees have also been enjoying their down time on the weekends. Fortunately the bars are still open, so there has been plenty of opportunity to unwind with a few Après beers. Another highlight was the high ropes course one weekend, always a favourite on the Saas Fee course…

That’s all for now but check back in soon for an update on how they all got on with the BASI exam. Don’t feel too sorry for them though, this was day one of the exam yesterday….