New Zealand instructor course takes a trip to Mount Olympus

With the real men tired from their night-skiing at broken river the night before and snowfall causing a bit of havoc on the mountains, we all agreed that it would be a great day for a road trip.

We jumped in the car and set out on the journey to Mount Olympus, made interesting by the snow-filled roads and stunning scenery. The drive was easily worth it from the moment we laid eyes on Mount Olympus, the playground of the gods. Even though the powder was a bit hard and tough to ski through, there was still stunning skiing in the steep chutes, small drops and open faces.
After an epic day's skiing, we decided to finish on the aptly-names shithouse run. Alice took the hint and preceded to straight-line the lower part of the steep run in order to take a jump. What unfolded next was truly beautiful to behold. Alice, bum on the back of her skis, went about 20 metres in the air, stabbing her pole into her bum. As if this were not enough, she continued to fly down the slope, through a sharp rock field before coming to an abrupt halt. On enquiring as to whether she was alright, I was greeted by a wall of hysterical laughter. Exaggerated? I think not.

Tuesday saw the start of ‘boot-camp’, the two week build up to our examinations. Jase upped the intensity, and we set to work writing up lessons, practicing our demo turns and improving our personal skiing. Under Jase’s guidance, we all improved leaps and bounds, getting prepared for the exams.

We still found time to teach real lessons, honing in on the soft skills required to teach enjoyable and productive lessons. Also on the agenda was a day teaching mock lessons at the pub, making fool of ourselves as we went around singing the famous bear-hunt song (a routine made up by the NonStop crew last year teaching kids to get familiar with skiing on the flat).

After an exhausting week, in which our skiing and teaching skills improved no-end, we were full value for a lazy weekend, although we still managed to find energy to play football and have several late nights. Jason even summoned up enough energy to go up to Porters and teach on Sunday, while everyone else was having a well deserved lie-in, well rested ahead of a tough final week before the exams.

Here's some footage of the crew honing their carving skills:



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