Category — csia

The exams are officially over!!

What a surreal experience.  From day 1 of the exams it seems to have just flown by. 

From the first ski off run I can say that it has definitely been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had on snow.

How do you rate success?

Is success on the level 4 measured by whether or not you pass?  Having been unsuccessful at passing on my first try I think I can say ‘No,’ after all only 1 person out of the 29 people on the course actually passed their teaching and skiing. 

To date approximately 629 people have passed their level 4 since about 1939, which makes up approximately 0.03% of the 20,000 member CSIA population. 

This week has been a test, not only in terms of skiing and teaching abilities, but your ability to cope.  I think that I managed quite well, since at the end of the exams all I can say is I had a great time teaching.  The experience was further enhanced by all the wonderful people that I met, particularly my new friends that flew over from Andorra.

Would I go again?

Had you asked me yesterday if I ever wanted to put myself through that experience again, the answer would have been a definitive No.  But after seeing Phil, having some sleep (not necessarily a good night’s sleep) I think that I would like to go back again.  With a little more training, both in terms of my skiing and teaching, I think I can have success.  Regardless I’m addicted to skiing and I want to be a part of the sport, as a teacher, as an athlete and as a supporter.

Today was one of those epic ski days; knee deep fresh powder, a moderate temperature and you could see.  We met up top again around 9:30am again and went over to where the Bumps exam would be, on La S.  La S is this super steep, super gnarly run covered in massive bumps.

About half of us wiped out!

They asked us for excitement and to give them everything we had, so we did.  The result, with all the heavy deep snow about half of us had major wipe outs on our ski off runs.  I wiped out twice; I did a face plant after my ski was buried during my long terms in the bumps and I did a double ejection flip on my last turn in my second run of the bumps. 

Our morning concluded with wedge turns down to the gondola.  The groomer had just passed when we started so it was perfect terrain.  Overall I felt great in the bumps and in my wedge, regardless of the result I had a lot of fun skiing this morning.

Bumps again all afternoon

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I’m sitting back at my condo now looking outside and its snowing – we are expecting anywhere between 20 and 35cm tonight.  Already there is about 10cm of the freshy, white, fluffy stuff on the ground.

This morning we had to move the race up by about half an hour.  Looking over the north side of the mountain, across the valley, you could see the snowstorm coming right at us.  Again the examiners knew there would be more success if started the race earlier and try to finish before the snow came.

I like going fast!! 

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No matter how you spin it, Day #1 was a success.  It was sunny, it was warm and I was skiing – you cannot really ask for more.

The exams started at 8:30am at the Mont Sainte Anne ski school.  We registered and were told to meet at the top of the mountain at 9:30am. 

Like the CSIA preaches, we were all set up for success.

We started our morning with free skiing with the examiners.  In groups of four we headed off with an examiner and were introduced to the terrain we would use for 5 of the 9 ski off runs; parallel with traverse, intermediate parallel, advanced parallel, mixed radius and short radius.  After leaving us with a little confidence we headed in for lunch.

5 Ski Off Runs later…

In the afternoon we were told that we would be doing 5 of the 9 ski off runs (when usually you might only do 3).  With a snowy weather front coming the examiners knew they would have better success with us if we did as many ski off runs as possible today.

After having a beer with most of the candidates we headed down to a conference room in the Chateaux Mont Ste Anne.  We were given both our teaching assignments and the race draw.

Tomorrow morning is the race followed by an afternoon of teaching exams. 

Sun or snow I’m looking forward to going fast.

Here I am in Mont Ste Anne for the third time this season. 

After much contemplation over the past two weeks (and a lot of work by some of the people at the CSIA office) I have decided to register and take the level 4 exams which comprise of 9 ski and 2 teaching exams.

I flew out of Toronto early this morning to arrive in Quebec City - unfortunately my skis did not.  I was relieved to find them on the next flight, along with a friend who was also taking the exams. Ben & I hoped into a taxi and $115 later and we were on the hill with sunshine.

After meeting up with friends from Alpine (Anik and Phil McAllen), I skied for a couple of hours.  I free skied and made myself comfortable and at home on the hill.

Tomorrow exams start at 8:30am and continue for the next four days.  I’m going in with an open mind with little expectations while looking to have fun and learn something from the experience.

I’ll keep you updated over the next four days….

In a good year we can expect about 60cm of base at Blue Mountain in Collingwood, Ontario which usually means they can push around enough snow to have a few runs open until Easter or early April (which ever comes first).

After another 30-50cm of fresh snow pummeled southern Ontario this past weekend, we are now up to a remarkable average base of 150cm! This is actually more than double what Tremblant is reporting in Quebec!

Over the last two weekends I’ve been teaching & course conducting a Level 1 CSIA Ski instructor course at Mount St. Louis Moonstone.  This past Sunday was exam day where students were assessed one last time on both their teaching and skiing abilities to see if they had achieved the Level 1 standard.  After a few warm up runs I decided to take the class over to the Moonstone side where we found untracked runs all around us.

Needless to say we extended our warm up a few more runs.

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The past week has been a great experience.

We were lucky to have not only a fun group, but a talented one too.

For the first time I really understand our new learning methodology (AICRCv) and how it applies to different skiers who are at different stages of incorporating changes into their own skiing. I’m looking forward to applying what I’ve learned to our sessions at Alpine for the balance of this season and going forward.

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Our day, and course, finished on the ‘S;’ a gnarly, steep bump run covered in fluffy snow down skiers right on the south face of the mountain.  As a group we charged down the run, all feeling super confident and charged at the end.

Again today we were guided by Emerson Brooks.  His relaxed, efficient style was even more evident today.  He kicked off our day with a top to bottom cruiser; today there was no messing around!  It was going to be a maximum vertical day.

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Today was a typical Quebec ski day; -20C, a haze of clouds, and a thick frost on your windshield.

We were on snow at Le Massif by 9:00am with our new course conductor, Emerson Brooks.  Originally from Montreal, Emerson moved to Lake Louise 18 years ago.  He is your typical west coast skier, extremely relaxed and fluid, but his performance in this relaxed mode is matched by few. 

For the past four days he has been skiing in short bursts, usually about 100ft of vertical at a time.  What he didn’t realize was how energized our group was.

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What an awesome day on snow.

We woke up this morning to a couple of light flurries and grey skies.  With the unfortunate injury of course conductor, Donald LaCasse, we wondered who would fill his boots.  Our whole group secretly wished that it would be J.F. Beaulieu and our wish came true. 

Today was one of the best instructional days we’ve ever had.  Not only was it great individual ski improvement, but his instruction was also about how to teach a great lesson.

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