A ski instructor in Austria

maintenance of the skis

Mon, 24 Apr 2006 22:44:45 +0100

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)

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 11:12:31 +0100

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

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 10:52:25 +0100

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.....

Thu, 09 Mar 2006 16:16:04 +0100

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!

Tue, 07 Mar 2006 08:10:10 +0100

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

Fri, 24 Feb 2006 21:19:40 +0100

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.

The red ski school

Mon, 20 Feb 2006 09:26:50 +0100

“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.

early morning descent

Mon, 13 Feb 2006 22:53:43 +0100

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.

off piste skiing

Sun, 05 Feb 2006 21:17:04 +0100

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.

First week in Arlberg

Thu, 05 Jan 2006 22:33:15 +0100

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.

First days in st Anton

Thu, 05 Jan 2006 22:26:58 +0100

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....

Anwärter final exam accomplished

Sat, 24 Dec 2005 09:03:44 +0100

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....

Training week Kaprun

Fri, 16 Dec 2005 16:20:06 +0100

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...

First ski training

Fri, 25 Nov 2005 13:04:04 +0100

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.

Introduction

Tue, 08 Nov 2005 20:05:36 +0100

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.