The Ski Instructor Podcast

Welcome to episode 67 of The Ski Instructor Podcast, this week featuring Jamie Kagan.  Jamie was on the pod recently with Derek Tate talking about the Professional Ski Instructors of Europe. This episode we chat about his ski school, training centre and retail shop based in Nendaz. We talked about Jamie's long and winding journey to making a life in Switzerland, building his various businesses, training ski instructors and IASI, PSIE and Interski. I did this interview in person with Jamie in Nendaz and I always think that chemistry shows in these in person interviews.  I very much enjoyed the coffee and chat with a like minded soul. You can find Jamie at https://www.sommet-et-neige.com/en https://www.instagram.com/sommet_et_neige/ https://www.instagram.com/nendaz_ski_school_es/?hl=en happy listening Dave dave@snow-pros.ski https://www.snow-pros.ski/clubs-courses music by www.bensound.com  

Welcome to episode 66 of The Ski Instructor Podcast, this week featuring Ali Gibb and Rachel Kerr of the Women's Mountain Club. The Women's Mountain Club is a year round club for women doing all sorts of mountain activities.  It originally started with skiing but has expanded in recent years to include hiking, biking, climbing and a bunch of other stuff too. I talk to Ali and Rach about their journey towards becoming fully certified instructors in France, how the WMC came about, cuckoo clocks, periods, gender differences in learning, why female only groups work and a whole bunch of other stuff. It's a great interview if I do say so myself and I think you'll really enjoy it. Find Women's Mountain Club here: https://www.womensmountainclub.com/ Find Ali here: https://thesnowinstitute.com/ski-instructors/#AliGibb Find Rachel here: https://www.rachelkerr.me/ happy listening Dave dave@snow-pros.ski www.snow-pros.ski/lessons   music by www.bensound.com  

Welcome to episode 65 of the Ski Instructor Podcast from a rainy Val-d'Illiez. This weeks episode features Stefano Carlin from Ski Zenit.  Ski Zenit aren't a traditional ski school in that they do a mix of normal ski school stuff in Saas Fee and Zinal in Valais, Switzerland, but they also do race coaching and camps over the summer in Saas Fee as well as ski coaching in more exotic places like China. We talked about Stefano, his long and roundabout journey to becoming a ski pro, how Ski Zenit came about, summer skiing and the future of glacier skiing, keeping healthy in the season, sparrows, dog chat in spanish and much more. It was a great chat and i loved Stefano's laid back and funny style.  You can find him at: www.skizenit.ch www.skiracingcamps.ch Happy listening Dave dave@snow-pros.ski www.snow-pros.ski/villars music by www.bensound.com  

Welcome to episode 64 of The Ski Instructor Podcast. One of my big regrets of all of the previous episodes that I have recorded was the poor sound quality on the original Tom Gellie episode.  So I got back in touch with Tom to have another long chat about skiing and the latest development and direction that he has gone with his business, Big Picture Skiing.  This is part 2 of a 2 part conversation and we did this in two different seasons, once in June 2023 before the Australian ski season and the second part in November 2023, just before the start of this winter. We had a great conversation (with decent sound!) and talked in this second part about how you know what you know to be true,  why rotational and lateral separation matters, monoboard racing, long skis in the bumps, snow types and the brain as a prediction machine. I love chatting with Tom and I think this really comes through in the podcast. If you want to find Tom, you can go to his website www.bigpictureskiing.com Happy listening Dave dave@sn

Welcome to episode 63 of The Ski Instructor Podcast, this week featuring Jamie Kagan and Derek Tate of the Professional Ski Instructors of Europe (PSIE). The PSIE is a sister organisation of the PSIC, Professional Ski Instructors of Canada and shares much of the same pathway and framework as that organisation.  There will be tweaks to the pathway for the PSIE that will make it compatible with European marketplace needs. We talk about what the guys are trying to do with the new association and how it aims to complement existing instructor associations in Europe.  We talk in depth about what it offers ski instructors and where it is recognised. To find out more about the PSIE, go to www.psie.pro I had a great time making this episode and I hope you enjoy listening. Dave dave@snow-pros.ski www.snow-pros.ski/lessons music by www.bensound.com  

Welcome to episode 62 of The Ski Instructor Podcast. One of my big regrets of all of the previous episodes that I have recorded was the poor sound quality on the original Tom Gellie episode.  So I got back in touch with Tom to have another long chat about skiing and the latest development and direction that he has gone with his business, Big Picture Skiing. This is part 1 of a 2 part conversation and we did this in two different seasons, once in June 2023 before the Australian ski season and the second part in November 2023, just before the start of this winter. We had a great conversation (with decent sound!) and talked about Tom's online ski coaching business, ski boots, telemark (again, sorry) and flow state.  I love chatting with Tom and I think this really comes through in the podcast. If you want to find Tom, you can go to his website www.bigpictureskiing.com Happy listening Dave dave@snow-pros.ski www.snow-pros.ski/lessons music by www.bensound.com

Welcome to Episode 61 of The Ski Instructor Podcast. This week my guest probably needs no introduction as you will have all seen Deb's YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/@DebArmstrongSkiStrong but you probably haven't read her bio on what an extraordinary athlete she was in the 70's and 80's, culminating in her greatest success, the GS women's gold medal in the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo in 1984. We had a great chat about all aspects of skiing.  How the channel came about and her early formative years of skiing that lead up to such amazing success. This was a great conversation with such good energy.  I hope you enjoy it. happy listening Dave dave@snow-pros.ski www.snow-pros.ski/resorts music by www.bensound.com    

Welcome to episode 60 of The Ski Instructor Podcast, this week featuring an avalanche awareness special with Julian Griffiths of European Snowsports. Julian's ski school has lost two instructors free skiing in the last three years to avalanches and this episode is a summary of the police investigation report in to the most recent one, in which Joel and his friend Joel, were taken. Julian is going around giving this talk to any organisation that would like to hear it and you can contact me to be connected to Julian dave@snow-pros.ski This episode covers the the report and also we talk about how modern media glamourises avalanche risk, as well as how social media encourages risk for attention. I hope you you get some useful knowledge from this episode. Dave www.snow-pros.ski music by www.bensound.com  

Hey everyone, welcome to episode 59 of The Ski Instructor Podcast. For this episode, I had long and interesting conversation with John Eames, Director of The Off Piste and Telemark Ski Company and former telemark director for BASI. This conversation is quite telemark centric and covers John's skiing background, the rise and fall of telemark skiing, evolution of equipment and technique versus alpine. You can find more info about John's company here: https://www.facebook.com/TheTelemarkSkiCompany Happy listening Dave dave@snow-pros.ski/lessons music by www.bensound.com

Welcome to episode 58 of the podcast and an interview I did with Perry and Jeff from the new Canadian ski instructor association, The Professional Ski Instructors of Canada, PSIC. We had a great wide ranging chat, talking mostly about the new organisation and their objectives but also chatting other things like Interski, attracting new people into snowsports and Perry and Jeff themselves. You can find out more about PSIC here:  www.psic.pro Happy listening Dave dave@snow-pros.ski www.snow-pros.ski/lessons music by www.bensound.com  

Welcome to episode 57 of The Ski Instructor Podcast, this week featuring a return to the pod for Jon and Tom. Jon and Tom have gone in a new direction with their own ski instructor training company, Level Up Ski Coaching.  You can find them here: www.levelupskicoaching.com Insta and FB @levelupskicoaching In this episode we chat all things to do with their new venture, ski instructor cars and accommodation, off season training and skiing robots. On the day that we recorded this it was about 33 degrees in Le Châble and we had a fan on in the background so that is what the background white noise is. I hope that you enjoy the episode as much as I did making it. Dave dave@snow-pros.ski www.snow-pros.ski music by www.bensound.com

Welcome to episode 56 of The Ski Instructor Podcast and finally, I get round to doing the Q+A episode that I promised you all so long ago. I was on a week long motorbike tour with Phil Brown of Impulse Racing and we had a chance to sit down one evening overlooking Lake Como and go through the questions that you all sent in. I want to thank you for taking the time to send them in. Happy listening Dave dave@snow-pros.ski https://www.snow-pros.ski/snowboarding   music by www.bensound.com  

Welcome to episode 55 of The Ski Instructor Podcast and part 2 of my chat with Darren Turner.   I travelled to Aosta in the autumn to chat with Darren about his life in skiing, his career as an instructor and his subsequent changes of direction after skiing. Darren grew up skiing in the UK and Europe, eventually becoming an independent instructor in Serre Chevalier in France. In this episode we chat about his transition to making film, the development of the app and his philosophy for technical skiing and teaching. You can get in touch with Darren through his website http://insightski.com/ or find him on facebook @darrenturnerskiing Dave Burrows dave@snow-pros.ski https://www.snow-pros.ski/english-ski-school-aosta-valley-italy music by www.bensound.com  

Welcome to episode 54 of The Ski Instructor Podcast.     I travelled to Aosta in the autumn to chat with Darren Turner about his life in skiing, his career as an instructor and his subsequent changes of direction after skiing. Darren grew up skiing in the UK and Europe, eventually becoming an independent instructor in Serre Chevalier in France. As well as this, he created the wildly successful Ski School app and now splits his time between video production and ski teaching.  We talk more about that in part 2. You can get in touch with Darren through his website http://insightski.com/ or find him on facebook @darrenturnerskiing I really enjoyed the conversation that I had making this podcast and I hope you enjoy listening to it. Dave Burrows dave@snow-pros.ski https://www.snow-pros.ski/english-ski-school-courmayeur   music by www.bensound.com  

Welcome to episode 53 of The Ski Instructor Podcast. This week I have an Interski Review Podcast for you with Derek Tate.  Derek went to Interski 2023 in Levi in Finalnd and reports back on some of the seminars and on snow practical sessions that he attended.   The theme at this years' Interski was the 'Guest Experience' which as many of you know by now, is a topic close to my heart. In the episode we talked about Derek's Interski report, which you can read here: https://books2read.com/Interski2023CongressReport You can find Derek's other books, including the one he gave me a copy of here: https://www.paralleldreams.co.uk/derekntateauthor Lastly, you can find and book Derek for skiing here: www.basschamonix.com Happy listening Dave dave@snow-pros.ski https://www.snow-pros.ski/english-ski-school-aosta-valley-italy music by www.bensound.com    

Welcome to episode 52 of the podcast.   This week I have the second part of a 2 part interview I did in the autumn with Stuart Bernard of Ski Focus. Stuart splits his time between working in the snow domes in the UK and skiing with clients in Tignes. We chatted about the value of indoor practice, bumps, marketing and more on bad backs and mental approaches to skiing. You can find Stuart at www.skifocus.co.uk Also on Instagram @skifocus @stuartjbernard Happy listening Dave dave@snow-pros.ski www.snowpros-snowboarding.com music by www.bensound.com  

Welcome to episode 51 of the podcast.   This episode I have the first part of a 2 part interview I did in the autumn with Stuart Bernard of Ski Focus. Stuart splits his time between working in the snow domes in the UK and skiing with clients in Tignes. We had a wide reaching chat talking about Stuart's journey to becoming an instructor, ski philosophy, mindset and technique.  I found Stuart to be an excellent guest, thoughtful, thorough and interesting.  You can find Stuart at www.skifocus.co.uk Also on Instagram @skifocus @stuartjbernard Happy listening Dave dave@snow-pros.ski www.snowpros-snowboarding.com music by www.bensound.com  

Hello and happy new year to you all.  I hope that Santa brought you all new skis and lots of snow. So here we are at episode 50 of The Ski Instructor Podcast.  I'm personally amazed that I have managed to find enough content to keep this interesting for 50 episodes and 80,000 downloads. For the 50th episode, which also doubles as the late Christmas special, I bring you a great interview with Katie Dobson who is an independent ski instructor based in Chatel in France.  She runs a company called Ski Goddess which runs ski camps/holidays specifically for women.  You can find Katie at www.skigoddess.co.uk We chat about stray dogs, her journey to full cert, why she started Ski Goddess, female specific teaching and working and living in France. This time of the year is always difficult to keep to a regular posting schedule, the ski school is busier than ever but I will do my best. Enjoy the snow Dave www.snow-pros.ski music by www.bensound.com    

Welcome to episode 49 of The Ski Instructor Podcast and part 2 of my interview with Simon Jones, who is the head freestyle coach at Kimberley in Canada.  Simon is originally British but now lives full time in Canada, coaching skiing in the winter and golf in the summer. In this episode we discuss the CSIA structure, client service, teaching of both skiing and golf. You can find Simon on instagram @greenorwhite or ask for him at Kimberley or Fernie Ski Schools. Happy listening Dave www.snow-pros.ski www.snowpros-snowboarding.com music by www.bensound.com

Welcome to episode 48 of The Ski Instructor Podcast.  It's been a while since the last podcast, the autumn is a super busy time for me given my role at www.snow-pros.ski This week, I present to you part 1 of a great interview with Simon Jones, who is the head freestyle coach at Kimberley in Canada.  Simon is originally British but now lives full time in Canada, coaching skiing in the winter and golf in the summer. In part 1 we start off with me ranting about the complexity of modern life and we move on to discuss Simon's journey to Canada and his life on snow.  We also chat moguls, Canadian snow and a bunch of other things. You can find Simon on instagram @greenorwhite or ask for him at Kimberley or Fernie Ski Schools. Happy listening Dave music by www.bensound.com