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Learning to ski can depend on you choosing a good instructor says Colin Nicholson.
Back at the chalet a girl is in floods of tears- tears of
frustration at not understanding the instructor's poor English,
difficulty keeping up with the group and endless falls.
It's a common story on the pistes when those first few days that
are so critical to confidence go pear- shaped. Yet, in many cases, such
scenes are avoidable.
Beginner and intermediate skiers and snowboarders are inadvertently
enrolling themselves for second-rate tuition when first-rate courses
are available.
Many first time skiers find their British package operator has
enrolled them in an "official" ski school, rather than one of the
newer, more innovative courses.
In France, for instance, most instructors at the national ski
school are excellent skiers- but this does not necessarily make them
good teachers. The 15,400 instructors of the Ecole du Ski Francais are
not recruited by individual schools. They automatically qualify for
work if they pass tests which emphasize their own skiing ability, such
as completing a race in a certain time.
But many of the English-language ski schools springing up
throughout the Alps put the emphasis firmly on coaching skills. They
mix a touchy-feely approach- undoing your boots to find a natural
stance- with an explanation of the physics of skiing, learned by say,
balancing on one ski. They also use visualizations- maybe suggesting to
someone whose boarding is particularly leaden to board like a monkey-
and film you on the slopes so you can see what is going wrong.
The weird and wonderful excercises are a stark contrast to
traditional-style lessons that have you trying to copy the instructor
as you follow the group down the slope.
So why don't big British tour operators book more people into the
independent ski schools? Privately, chalet staff will tell you that
some resorts demand operators send a proportion of their customers to
the official ski school. And the independent schools are usually more
expensive.
There is a simple way around this problem. You can research ski
schools on the net and book online or when you arrive. If a tour
operator offers a package bundling equipment rental and lessons at a
good price, check which ski school the lessons are with.
New Generation has won awards for its coaching and has schools in
many French resorts. If you already have a resort in mind check the
school's specific to your resort. Les Deux Alpes' European Ski and
Snowboard school (www.europeanskischool.co.uk)
is excellent, not just for beginners and intermediates, but also for
advanced lessons, which many new ski schools specialize in.
One of the freshest additions to the slopes, freeride specialists Base Camp Group (www.basecampgroup.com)
has started part-time instructor training courses, so you too may be
able to contribute to the ski coaching renaissance in the Alps.
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