A ski instructor in Austria

maintenance of the skis

2006-04-24T21:44:45Z

The ski season is over.... the skis need to be waxed and the edges need to be sharp again... hopefully the skis will be used soon again.

waxing the skis in the garden, summer is coming...

Now the snow is melted in the alps, I will focus myself on sailing..... more in next blogs

Gran Paradiso (Italy)

2006-04-11T10:12:31Z

Last week I made a tour in the Grand Paradiso area in Italy area. This national park was originally the private hunting reserve of the ruling "House of Savoy". In 1856 King Vittorio Emmanuel 2 declared part of the hunting grounds as a protected area, so helping to save the ibex which is such an important animal for the park. About 3,000 of these powerful mountain goats now live in the Park.

itinerary:
Saterday March 25: Start at Cogne; skinning to "Rifugio Vitorio Sella"
Sunday: Vittorio Sella - to - Gran Serra 3550m - descent to Eaux Rousses, Valsavarenche, through the woods, 11 hours of climbing and skiing
Monday: taxi to Pont; skinning to "Rifugio Vittorio Emanuele"
Tuesday: Skinning to the top of Gran Paradis 4060 m (4,5 hours of snowstorm). Brighten up before the descent. Wonderful descent from 4015m, return to "Rifugio Vittorio Emanuele"

April Powder

2006-04-11T09:52:25Z

Who thinks that the season is at its end in April is definitely not right. In April it is still snowing.
Look at this outstanding snowconditions in Verbier.

Picture is taken on the unmarked skiroute "Stairway to Heaven", one of the legendary descents of Verbier (Switserland).

More snow.....

2006-03-09T15:16:04Z

Lots of snow is still falling out of the sky. Is it ever going to stop? The answer is: NO. Until next friday it will keep going on.
Last night it snowed among 70 to 100 cm of fresh snow. The avalanche danger is up to 4 today (scale 1 to 5). All the lifts were closed and the roads to st Anton are closed.

Quiz: Can you find my car?

Snow Snow snow, come to Austria!

2006-03-07T07:10:10Z

The snow conditions are amazing. The last week it snowed continuously. The tremendous snowfall caused a lot of inconvenience on the roads in Germany and France and a lot of tourist had trouble coming to their vacation destination. The winterstorms will keep on going until comming wednesday. Then it will brighten up, and we will have the advantage of all the heavy snowfall. The lifts will open again. The avalanche risk will drop.....I am looking forward! powder heaven!

Here the view from my appartment this morning

Ski instructor training

2006-02-24T20:19:40Z

Twice a week we have ski instructor training to improve the art of teaching and our personal abilities. With a group of about 7 instructors we take the last lift up together with a trainer to make the last descents of the day. We do exercises like: muggles skiing, off-piste skiing and schule-fahren skiing. (click on the links to see movies)

Since the ski training is at the end of the day most instructors are very energetic and lively and everybody is trying new tricks and is experimenting.

]]> Not only there is ski instructor training twice a week, but also every friday there is a downhill race training. This friday I was very lucky and able to join the racing training.

The red ski school

2006-02-20T08:26:50Z

“Competence on the snow with excellence!” is the slogan of our ski school. The “red ski school” is well-known as the high quality ski school of Arlberg.

]]> The team exists of around 25 local and international ski instructors. Most of the ski instructors that come to St Anton are here mainly for the ski sport and the majority of the ski instructors are very experienced. This builds a nice atmosphere among the ski instructors. After our lessons we ski a lot with each other and several times a week we have ski instructor training together, given by the staatlicher ski instructors of our school. This makes me very proud and glad to be one of the instructors within the "red skischool"!

office@skistanton.com

early morning descent

2006-02-13T21:53:43Z

Every morning I try to take the first lift up (Galzigbahn). It is realy beatiful and a good start of the day to ski the untouched black run down alone. The piste is groomed in the night and then I am the first one to leave the first tracks behind me. This morning was one of the those lucky mornings that the sunshine is there and and all the mountains around you welcome you.

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off piste skiing

2006-02-05T20:17:04Z

Arlberg is one of world's best known areas for off piste skiing. The weather is getting warmer and I'm starting to know the off piste areas and ski routes a lot better now.

]]> On the picture you can see a nice route (called Schongraben) from the Kapall mountain (2330 m) to Nasserein. It goes through a very narrow valley with on both sites high rocks. It is pretty steep and it features a lot of muggles. Later on I will upload the route on everytrail, so everybody can see the route and the pictures on google earth.

First week in Arlberg

2006-01-05T21:33:15Z

So I worked for one week now and slowly everything starts to get familiar. Last friday I got a the day off and a very experienced ski instructor (>12 years of being a ski instructor) showed me all the cool off piste areas of the St Anton and Stuben.

]]> In the weekend of New Year's Eve I could explore the area further on. (You can imagine that the interested in taking ski lessons was below average on New Year's Day.) We found some real steep descents through out the woods with amazing snow conditions. Later on I will record all these slopes on www.everytrail.net so everyone can come to Arlberg and fully enjoy these fantastic off piste possibilities.

First days in st Anton

2006-01-05T21:26:58Z

On saterday afternoon I arrived in st Anton and checked in within the Skischule "St Anton". Everything was arranged very smoothly: signed my contract, received my ski instructor suit, and got the key of my appartment. The next morning I had to start right away....

]]> Without having the chance to explore the ski area I had to start right away. Luckly the guest in my first private lesson was a beginner and we could start with the nearest easy piste. The second day I got a private lesson with a intermediate guest, still hadn't got a chance to explore the area. With the ski area map in my pocket I managed to find the right slopes. (except that one time that I skied down a closed piste)...

Hopefully I will get some free time the next days to find my way around in st Anton.Arlberg ski area. to be continued....

Anwärter final exam accomplished

2005-12-24T08:03:44Z

This week I took part in the Austrian Anwärter exam to become a ski Austrian instructor.
In accordance with the Austrian ski teaching concept this was a week of improving my Alpine basic position, schussing, snowplow, turning, edging, drifting and carving techniques. I took notice that the Austrian Wiener ski verband
has a high standard, and the anwärter exam wasn't that easy at all....

]]> Only 30% of the participants full filled the tests. Luckly enough, I was one of them!
This means that everything is set that to start with my new job.
The endless slopes of untouched and ungroomed powder snow in Arlberg are waiting for me,
Arlberg here we come!

Training week Kaprun

2005-12-16T15:20:06Z

So everything went well... I bought a small van, moved all my stuff out of my appartment in Amsterdam, and left for the Alps. The first stop is Kaprun were I will have an off-piste (Freeride) training from mountainguide Wolfgang Hackel which is an excellent ski trainer...

]]> Kaprun is a perfect area for ski training. The snow conditions are almost always perfect (whole year round) and the slopes are perfect for the improvement of your technique. This week we focussed on the basic techniques (fahr verhalten), buckels, off piste and a little bit of freestyle. Hopefully this training will be sufficient to complete my ski instructor exam next week.

First ski training

2005-11-25T12:04:04Z

The first step is taken. Last week I accomplished the first necessary ski instructor training in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands? Yes in the Netherlands…...the ski training was at an indoor ski piste.

]]> Quite a strange feeling to be in the snow all day without having the real mountain experience around you. Although the indoor ski pistes have real snow, it still is not the same feeling. It feels a bit like locking yourself up in a giant freezer for a week, having strip light instead of sunshine. Nevertheless it was a fun week and sufficient enough for a good training.

Examen by Staatliche geprüfte ski instructors from Austria

The moment I'm writing this it is go-live date on my current project. Another three days to go and my leave of absence will start. Right now it's hard to imaging that my working life will end in three days. Wonder how it will feel, without issues, politics, deadlines, demanding clients, traffic jams and filthy coffee.

Introduction

2005-11-08T19:05:36Z

Hello everybody,

In this blog spot you can read the story of how a hard working Consultant will transform into a passionate skier. Everybody who is thinking of making skiing his daily activity should definitely read this blog.

]]> I will make my wildest dream come true. Coming winter I will move to Austria and spend my days in the snow and mountains. The plan is to become a ski instructor and during this period I will try extend my mountain skills by doing ski instructor courses, avalanche trainings, and a tour ski instructor training.