Monday 1st February
This was the week of our CASI snowboard level 1 exams and everyone was as keen as mustard to get them started. Our instructor was Dom who would take us for two days before our three day assessment, Wednesday to Friday. One of the sickest riders I’d seen and he was set on pushing us so that we would annihilate the course with no problems. I completely understand now when I was told by NothinButSnow how they would be over train us for success. Being a level 1 assessor he knew what to look for in our riding and teaching and that made everyone feel more relaxed as the feedback was all good.
Tuesday 2nd February
Today we spent pretty much the whole day at Happy Valley going over our teaches so that the QuickRide (CASI Snowboard Bible) came off the tongue with ,ease. Everyone was teaching really well and I had to pretend to teach a Japanese class which meant no speaking English which was challenging, but really good practice. That night we all headed back for a quick revision session and hot tub with beers to settle the nerves.
Wednesday 3rd February
The day of reckoning had come and everyone was at the VCM early doors at 8:30 to get started on the course. We were assigned to evaluators Fraser and Mike to assess us over the next three days, which was really good as they are both really relaxed, so settled all our unnecessary nerves. For the first part of the day we just rode the mountain and went through the different competencies and skills which are fundamental to CASI’s required riding standard. This was not only really fun but actually very useful because the exam isn’t as much of an exam but a course where you learn and are assessed on what you have retained. For the rest of the afternoon we were in Happy Valley where Fraser went over the teaching material and communication that was required to pass.
Thursday 4th February
This morning Fraser went through a few more example teaches designed to progress beginner riders before it was our turn to teach. Everyone did really solid teaches going through each of the steps in CASI QuickRide which relaxed everyone as the first teach of three teaches was over. We then went and rode for the rest of the day so Fraser could have another look at our techniques.
Friday 5th February
Today was the final day of our assessments and we all headed down to Happy Valley for our last two teaches which were scenarios, for example a group of basketball players wanting to learn to snowboard and then our final teach which was teaching children. It was a long day down there giving everyone enough time to show how well they knew the material, but after lunch it was all finished and everyone was absolutely buzzing. We all headed back and got showered and changed before heading up to Sams for our results. This was going to be one of the biggest nights of the season and with a 100% pass rate everyone was smashing back the beers and bouncing off the walls as we could finally call ourselves snowboard and ski instructors! It was an incredible night.
Saturday 6th February
An early wake up call with four hours sleep to watch England versus Scotland rugby. That called for a beer to top up from the night before which progressed onto a full crew house party at our apartment followed by shots at Sams and another house party that evening. A super hectic day of continuing our celebrations.
Sunday 7th February
Everyone was feeling like zombies and pretty sorry for ourselves so we all went to the market and got comfort food before binging all day on food on the sofa watching disney movies trying to regain a pulse. Level 2 started the next day so were all trying to get amped to up the level of riding and start to push ourselves even more! The best part of this amazing first month in Canada with NBS was that we still had another 2 months to go!
Marcus