My time on NONSTOP's three week snowboard instructor course
Three years ago I was lucky enough to take part in NONSTOP’s three week instructor course in Fernie. I guess that doesn’t make this the most timely blog, but it would be good for those who are anxiously awaiting the up-coming course (13th March – 3rd April).
I left NONSTOP’s course feeling amazing, it really was the best time that I’d had on snow. Since then, over the last three years, I’ve had plenty more incredible experiences, but I look back on my time in Canada with the rosiest tint. It really was a turning point for my snowboarding. My technique was ripped apart and put back together again, which allowed me to ride far more challenging terrain, while having far more fun! The stuff I’m hitting now in Chamonix is a dream when you’ve got that solid Canadian style.
I haven’t been back to Canada since that course unfortunately, but I know I can’t hold off much longer before I return. I’ve had a LOT of time on the snow, but I’ve truly miss the way things were in Fernie. The whole mountain is your playground there. They have more snow than I’ve ever seen in Europe, and there’s a fraction of the amount of people to track it out! It seemed to dump constantly while I was there, every day was a powder day, and the clouds didn’t get in the way of your riding because those perfectly spaced trees just ate it all right up and allowed you to see perfectly... [sigh]... those were the days!
When I chose to do an instructor course, I didn’t really have any intention to teach, at least not straight away, but I did want to have it in my quiver. I knew that the course would do wonders for my riding (which it did), would be a hell of a lot of fun (which it was) and would teach me some pretty handy skills (which it has). Although I haven’t taken the plunge into the instructing industry yet, I’ve still taught a fair amount of friends and I can tell you – my CASI skills really worked, and the results were extremely rewarding.
So, enough of the aftermath and onto the course itself. NONSTOP really is an appropriate name for this company; it was a full-on three weeks! That suited me just fine though, I love snowboarding and I’ve always wanted to squeeze in as much as possible into my time on the Mountains. Going into the course, my only minor concern was that the theory of things might get a little boring and get in the way of riding. Those worries were brushed away within the first 20 minutes! The first run on the first day started with riding maybe 100 yards on a groomed cat-track, before watching our instructor (Glen) launch off into a beautiful powder bowl. After watching us stumble a few times down that run, Glen spent 10 minutes giving each of us something to work on during the next descent. This pattern continued over the course of the next three weeks. We got taken to some of the best areas of the mountain – the places the Glen and Ryan wanted to go themselves – all the while having our technique refined and moulded with the most chilled out, pressure-free instructional style.
Towards the end of the 3 weeks a little more seriousness was brought into the course as we were prepared for our Level 1. By this point all of our technique was pretty sound and we just had to learn how to pass that on to others. Thankfully we’d been on the receiving end of excellent teaching for a couple of weeks, so learning to do it ourselves was less of a challenge than you’d imagine. It was just a matter of remembering the techniques for taking beginner and novice snowboarders through each stage of the development process. Learning those techniques was actually quite a bitter experience, as I realised that my own experiences as a beginner, a few years back, were un-necessarily painful and complicated! CASI aims to get beginners having a great time from when they first step on a board, and their techniques really do make it easy for people to learn.
The exam day is quite scary, but that whole process really doesn’t get in the way of the fun that you want to be having on the mountain – you still get plenty of amazing riding time in.
Thankfully I passed, as did everyone else on the course. It’s amazing to see that a couple of the folk that I was riding beside then went on to gain their Level 2s and are currently working as instructors in Canada... I’m not jealous... honest. Good on them though. It goes to show, whatever your motivation, you can get a lot out of an instructor course. They wanted to become instructors and there was a very clear path for them. I got just as much out of the course even though I didn’t share their plans – I’ve got some life-long skills and a completely different outlook on mountain riding.
It’s not too late to take part in the same instructor course this year. There are still places in Fernie from (13th March – 3rd April). Go and check out the details of the CASI snowboard instructor course here, or the CSIA ski instructor course here. You can also combine it with a 2 week improver course to get started (making it 5 weeks in total)... but obviously get on that ASAP because time’s running out!
If you want to know more about my time in Canada, I wrote an article for Whitelines snowboard magazine at the time, which you can read here (under "Zero to Hero").
And here's what I'm up to now.
