Rules for Skiing and Snowboarding

I broke one of the most important rules of snowboarding yesterday.
The rule is no new tricks on the last run. I think I sprained my knee trying a frontside 360 on the way back to the village. I'm still able to ride though. I'll slap a brace on it tomorrow.


Here is the movie from the big kicker day. The first is me doing a straight air with indie grab. The second movie is of our instructor Boris doing a nose grab.

How to create an explosion

The three ingredients needed to create and explosion are fuel, oxygen, and ignition source.

Now check out Ollie's hair. The guys have set his hair on fire twice this season.

That's Jake in the background (his mom likes Elvis Costello too).

The Big Kicker

Boris (our new instructor) took us to the park today. We have been working on our freestyle riding all week. The morning was spent in the halfpipe doing some straight runs. The afternoon was spent on the big kicker. This was the biggest kicker I have ever attempted. It was really important that we had enough speed to the run up. If you went too slow, you would not hit the landing propperly. After a few nice straight airs, I decided to straight line the run from the top to get as much speed as possible. The end result was a massive air with an indie grab. Kaspar started calling me the blue rocket. Hamish was able to throw a mute grab and a 360 attempt. Boris had a nice nose grab with a lot of air. Overall it was a beautful day with a nice view of the mountain from the park.

A little bit of info about Boris. He is a third generation ski/snowboard instructor in Zermatt. He has a very retro style to him. He wears these old black frame Ray Bans just like the ones Roy Orbison wore in the 60s and his grandfathers original ski instructor sweater. Style aside, he has crazy skills on both snowboard and skis. I'm really looking forward to snowboarding with him again later on.

Pablo watch 2/18- Pablo ran over Duddley at the end of the day. This is the second time this season. Kaspar had a talk with him after dinner. I don't think he is going to listen, but we'll see.

Pictures are of me, Boris (red jacket), and Hamish

Movies to come.

Snowlis

Jane and the rest of the skiers had the opportunity to teach this week. Apparently the ski school overbooked due to the school holiday. The only twist is they all recieved the red jacket from the ski school. This is a big deal because the red ski school was the first school founded in 1929. The jacket carries a lot of respect in the resort. Unfortunately for Jane, Emma, and Lorna, they had to teach snowli kids. This is the side of being a snow instructor no one tells you about. However, everyone needs to experience the snowli kids at least once in their teaching carreer. The Snowli kids are 2-4 years old. Vitually all of them have never been on Skis. At first, the snowboarders were jealous because of the jackets (red jackets eat for free), then we found out that they had to wipe the snowli's butt after they go to the toilet. I'm not jealous anymore. Imagine Izzy and Sarah in their worst temper tantrum and having eight of them. Then when you think things can't get worse, take them to lunch.

Also, Jibber (Matt) had to dress up as Snowli. He basically had to dress up in a giant rabbit suit and play with the kids. Not all of the skiers had the snowli kids. Erica and Liam were lucky enough had private lessons. Liam did have to hold up a kid at the urinal so he could pee. Speaking a second language is a must. There are only two english speaking red jackets here (both are Brits). All of the other ski/snowboard instructors speak at least three different languages.

I think the snowboarders get to wear red jackets next week.

Shadowing The Level 1 Snowboard Class

Part of the BASI certification is shadowing ski /snowboard instructors during their class. We are required to have 70 hours of shadowing to receive the BASI level 2 certification. This week I shadowed the level 1 class. The beginner snowboarder is normally older than 6 years old. We also had adults taking classes as well. Since this was the start of the European school holidays, the classes were jam packed with beginners. Now the bad news. The red ski school had two out of five level 1 instructors out sick. So we had to actually help teach the beginners. It was total carnage for the first two days. We lost six out of 30 students due to injuries. One accident was so bad that we called in the helicoptor to take them to the hospital. Most injuries were broken wrists from falls and one girl had a runaway snowboard hit her in the back.

Teaching was really rewarding. About 90% of the students were able to link turns really well within the first two days. It was great seeing the improvement from beginning to end. Next week, I should be shadowing level 2 students. These students should be able to do standard turns and should have confidence riding steeps.

Nothing new to add to Pablo watch, but I think something good will happen today since we are going to the park. BIG KICKER DAY!!!!!!

Pablo Update

Okay. There are so many Pablo events that I can't even list all of them.
Summary for this week:
1. Pablo finally sorted out his boot situation. He has been complaining about his boots for the past 4 weeks (either too small or too large). He finally bought a pair on Monday which were molded to his feet. He is now complaining that they are too small.
Sam's Input: Why does it take four weeks to find boots that fit when you know you are going to spend the season snowboarding.

2. He was shadowing Denise (Red Snowboard instructor) who is in charge of the level 4 group (4 out of 6). After telling the students to watch uphill before crossing to the kicker, Pablo just went and almost took out a skier.
Sam's Input: Pablo just doesn't know when to apply the breaks.

3. Pablo asked where the Blauherd station was located on Monday. We spent nearly the first three weeks eating lunch at Blauherd.
Sam's Input: he is just a retard!

I'll add more by the end of the week I'm sure

Kids are alright

I'm sure some of you want to know a little about the kids I'm with in the program. All come from a variety of backgrounds. Only Duddley, Jane, Erica, and I are older than 20. Some kids have their programs paid for by their parents. Others have been working to save the money to go. Hopefully the ones who want a job in this industry will get one and then I will have contacts all over the world. I've attached pictures of some of the kids.

Pictures in order:

1. Hamish and Emma (Jacko. We have two Emmas in the group)

2. Lorna, Jane, and Erica

3. Me and the lovely Rowena

4. Jake, Ollie, Rowe, James, Niall during the toga party

5. James and Pablo (No, Pablo doesn't have a crazy eye, but I like that picture!)

6. Jake, James, and Niall during Corona night

7. Duddley and Kaspar