After knocking back some coffees and teas week 6 began like every other week with our students meeting their instructors outside the VCM.
The main vibe of this week was to really immerse themselves in to the level 2 teaching material and to get a good idea of what is expected of them.
Monday and Tuesday was spent riding increasingly difficult terrain focusing on adaption to variable terrain with our trainers demonstrating a typical level 2 lesson. This enables the students to really understand the format of how a lesson is taught and allow them to see the steps involved.
Wednesday or ‘freestyle Wednesday’ as it has now been dubbed is where the focus of the lessons takes a huge swing in the direction of the freestyle aspects of skiing and snowboarding. This meant plenty of practice on spins, grabs and flatland tricks under the ever watchful eye of the instructors who are there providing constant feedback. A few of the guys and girls decided it was a good idea to head out for some après ski in the evening and indulged in a few drinks along with some socializing. The remaining students stayed at home and had a few drinks in the hot tub to rest those aching muscles.
It obviously was not a heavy night out as everyone looked fresh faced Thursday morning. The snowboarders headed over to Gem Lake to take advantage of the varying terrain, which links back to their focus on adaption, whilst the skiers sessioned a few runs just off the Snow Ghost lift, working on short radius turns. The day ended with some video analysis and feedback sessions.
The end of the week arrived and they seem to be flying past quicker and quicker now. Fridays have been known to be a little bit more lighthearted however we are all here to learn so nothing is spared when out on the snow. It was a chance for everyone to work on his or her feedback from the video analysis session from the day before.
There were some hungry faces when we all rocked up to the Thai restaurant and not a single piece of food was left on their plates. They were big portions as well! The food was excellent and provided the perfect stomach lining for the beers to follow.
Another week down and the sad realisation that we are over the half way mark was starting to set in. Being positive we see the glass half full and on that note we still have 5 wonderful weeks to look forward to.