Exam week for our New Zealand Ski Instructors

It's been a while since we've heard from our New Zealand instructor trainees, but it's been a busy time! On top of taking level 1 exams, Jase (our instructor) and his wife Beth were expecting a very special delivery and to top everything off, New Zealand was hit by a grade 7.1 earthquake! More on the Earthquake in the next blog (coming soon), but for the time being, here's how the exams went down, and how Jack Porter Collins came to be...


Week 8 mainly involved some pretty intense preparation for the following week’s exams, working on personal skiing, demo turns and doing mock lessons etc. We still managed to find time for a few other activities, such as real live teaching with real live kids. Jason decided it would be fun to walk halfway down the steepest run on the mountain, Bluff Face, after his ski had had enough and abandoned him. They set their merry ways, with the ski sliding down to the bottom of the mountain and Jason walking down the mountain. Jason B that was.

On Thursday, I had my first ever white birthday. Normally when my birthday comes around, I would be sitting outside basking in the glorious sunshine (well, as sunny as England ever gets in August) so it felt quite surreal to be heading out skiing. Somebody up there must like me, as we were blessed with an awesome powder day. Sophia even decided to join in the festivities by creating another divot in Bluff Face. Between the five of us, we have terrorised the poor run with all of our head butts into the mountain. After bluff, we ventured down an amazing run of Dome Ridge, a gem off the side of the mountain. Even an idiotic case of vertigo on my behalf could not ruin what turned out to be an amazing run in perfect conditions.

The evening saw a triple celebration of joy: a house-warming party for some of the staff at Porters, my birthday and another member of staff’s birthday. Some visitors from Franz Josef – the guides for our glacier trip during the first week– introduced us to an evil drinking game, guaranteed to get anyone foolish enough to take part well into the party spirit!

Suddenly that was it. The preparation was over and the nerves started to set in (for me at least). The exams were upon us! They started off gently with an introduction on Sunday evening in Methven.  Most of the candidates seemed to be still at school – even Alice felt old, and as for Andrew….

Monday and Tuesday involved further guidance from the examiners on our personal skiing, plus a full recap of the lesson progressions. We managed to do all of this while trying not to be killed by errant, out of control riders that frequent Mount Hutt.  Sophia decided that if you can’t fight them; join them, so she decided to fall over in front of all the examiners and the entire delegation. When I say fall, what I actually mean is that she simply stopped and plonked herself on top of some poor unsuspecting member of her group.

Fortunately, the weather was holding up quite nicely and as Wednesday approached, things started to get serious as we were assessed on personal skiing and wedge demo turns.  And then on Thursday it was the main event – the teaching assessment.  The restaurant was the scene for some bizarre rituals as people were nervously going over their lessons, making sure nothing had been missed out. Mount Hutt decided to have the last laugh and we had to teach in howling winds and heavy snow.

As the morning progressed, the weather took a turn for the worse and the later classes were held in near blizzard conditions.  Just to add to that, Jason had a few minutes of mild panic when his skis went missing.  They were eventually located in the ski rental shop where some kid had “returned” them.

By 2 pm, everyone had finished and we adjourned to Methven for a few beers while we awaited thepresentation of results in the evening.. We all passed and there was even top marks in the teaching for Sophia and Alice; testament to them and Jase’s fantastic guidance, as these were the only tens in the entire exam. We were joined by a few of the staff from Porters and so we had a few more beers to celebrate!

All this time, with Beth due to give birth at any moment, Jase was never far from the phone, receiving regular updates.  During the evening, he was told to stay away but, at about 11 pm, things changed and so we all piled into the bus for a rapid drive back home.  Rumours that this scuppered Andrew’s plans for the evening may be slightly exaggerated.

Back in the Springfield Hotel, Jason decided that he should uphold the tradition of the new instructors’ nude run.  Fortunately, the pub was closed and none of us were awake to see this (he probably wasn’t fully cognisant either) but his clothes were found abandoned in the hallway – and we won’t mention what he did for an encore.

Friday, and indeed most of the weekend, was spent recovering and waiting for news from Jase.  After a long labour, Jack Porter Collins was born at 6 pm.  Congratulations to Jase and Beth – and to all of us.  What an awesome week!

Stay tuned for the next blog, coming soon...

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