Ski instructor course New Zealand diary week four - Going solo!
Another week's gone past for our New Zealand ski instructor course our NONSTOP crew have been teaching their own lessons already! Here's the latest update from James Nunn and Andrew Massey...
MONDAY
We woke up at our normal time, which I think is getting harder and harder to do. After breakfast Jason told us we would be working on Level 2 progressions,
which involved learning advanced wedge turns. We worked on the Level 2 progression for the majority of the morning until lunch and then the winds picked up to the point of blowing 2 kids into the fence and scoring a chopper for an airlift out (all was well – it was just precautionary). With winds becoming severe gale in strength, Jason then decided to teach us the Russian dance called the “fkovski” which involved skiing to the van and bailing.
TUESDAY
When we arrived we were given our Porters ski instructor jackets and name badges making us very proud and feeling more a part of the staff. We were quickly thrown into the thick of it, helping kids get their boots on and other equipment, before heading up to the beginner slope with our classes. Except for James who had the opportunity to take two brothers for a Level 2 class, which progressions we just started to learn. Slightly nervous upon leaving, James returned one hour later telling us that he “thought it went quite well”, little did he know that he would be requested again for a continuation of his lesson. After a morning of shadowing lessons and getting some hands on, we were eager for some personal skiing and training. We began after lunch with the crew of six slowly expanding as we gathered the other ski instructors around Porters who all came to learn some sage advice from Jase.
WEDNESDAY
Nerves were higher than Matt the lifty as we contemplated our first solo lessons of the season. We started the morning the same as Tuesday, helping out with the ski equipment before heading up to start our own lessons. We were in groups of two at first but split apart as we felt it was easier to manage small groups ourselves. Remembering back to our Level 1 progressions we all powered through the lessons, with Jack having the best conclusion for his kids. After lunch we decided to reward our efforts and hit up Pete's Gut with Jason's Dad, where we came to discover who he inherited the gift of the gab from. Traversing across Big Mama on our way to Pete's Gut, Zoe fell and lost a ski, Both skier and ski proceeded to slide before Jason managed to catch up and stop both skier and ski, this was clearly a sign of things to come. Coming to the end of the run where you negotiate a few rocks before heading down towards the road Zoe fell sliding 5-10 metres towards the road before managing to spin around and pull herself up a mere 1 metre before the drop to the road. Surely she must gain the dedication award for the season!
THURSDAY
The morning started much like the others with some personal skiing development. Jason proceeded to bend our ears with technical information for a good few hours before letting up and allowing us some free skiing time to hone our newly learnt skills while he skied with us giving tips and pointers never really letting up on the teaching. Moving down the field as the day progressed we ended up at the Porters community park to try our hand at jumping, after a small description of what to do Jason gave us a demonstration and left us to our own devices. Some of us also trying some basic tricks like 180's and 360's but with varying degrees of success.
FRIDAY
The free-ski day which everyone was happy for after a week of teaching and learning. Jack and Andrew managed to get up to T3 to lay some fresh tracks for a couple of runs, before getting followed by the rest of Porters. With T3 crowded and getting worse, we built a nasty kicker over a belt of rocks that would have otherwise rendered the run unskiable. We did one run over it with the final crew member being Jamie who nearly fell victim to the jagged rocks of Porters. We quickly decided wordlessly that it would be best to abandon the jump. Later that evening a few of the NONSTOP crew were selected to represent the skiers in the prestigious “Skiers vs Firemen pool competition” it was a hard fought battle with the skiers coming up with the cookies. Showing the kind of determination and ability to maintain one’s cool under pressure, required to be a top notch ski instructor.
SATURDAY
Saturday morning we were greeted with the rumble of a WW2 fighter doing some aerial acrobatics over Springfield diving in and out of the low clouds, then later that evening the band “The Brothers Grimm” played live in the pub much to the enjoyment of ourselves and the locals.
SUNDAY
Was our day of rest from the night before for most of us anyway, one of the NONSTOP crew went into Christchurch to get 10% of his body inked resulting in a corresponding 10% increase in his hardness of character.
