Return to New Generation
Return
to New Generation
Having
spent a week with Alessandro Cambon and his New Generation ski school
in Villars-Sur-Ollon, Switzerland as part of my required 35 hours of snowsports
school shadowing I was invited back for a week of training. My NHS commitments
meant that I could only join them for two days of the week long training but I
was keen to go back having enjoyed my previous time with them so much. Also, I
had my Alpine Level 1 technical resit booked for 2nd March and
needed to get as much training beforehand as I could in order to be sure of
passing.
Villars-Sur-Ollon
(Villars for short) sits on a sunny south facing plateau with stunning views
over the Rhone Valley to Dents du Midi. The skiing is extensive and varied
making it the perfect choice for families or groups of mixed skiing ability. New
Generation Ski and Snowboard School, Villars, headed by Alessandro Cambon
offers adult group ski lessons, children’s group ski lessons and private
lessons. The instructors employed at New Generation, Villars are all English.
My
arrival at Aigle in the Rhone Valley was greeted by heavy snow. As the bus
climbed its way up the road to the plateau the road started to disappear and by
the time I had reached the village of Chesiѐre where I was staying the road had
completely disappeared.
I
stayed at Chalet La Griotte. Owned by Rita, a Norwegian lady, she rents out
rooms to people wishing to stay and you get full use of the house including the
kitchen. If you want breakfast providing there is a fee. I loved the sign in
the kitchen which read ‘if you want breakfast in bed sleep in the kitchen’. A
stop for the free ski bus was right outside the front door making it easy to
get up to Villars in the mornings.
Swiss Honesty
Heavy
snowfall meant there was off-piste skiing to be had. I have only skied
off-piste once before and don’t really like it but it was a good opportunity to
practice. Alessandro paired me with Mark, one of his instructors, and Mike, a
teacher from Aiglon College. After having taken a head first dive into the soft
off-piste snow I found I was missing my phone which had been located in my
inside top pocket which closes with Velcro. My phone will only let people I
know ring it so finding it meant phoning my mum in the UK who then phoned my
mobile phone while we all stood around listening for it ringing in the snow.
Silence !! Ah…! Oh … !
When
my mum rang my phone it was answered by a man with a foreign voice who simply
said ‘It is found’. All I needed to do now was in a foreign ski resort find a
man with a foreign voice who had my phone. Hmmmm ….
Now there
is a system in Villars for lost property. Anything and everything that is found
gets taken to SOS Bretaye. Sure enough, when regrouping after lunch Alessandro
informed me my phone had been found. It had been taken to SOS Bretaye, who then
phoned Mike, who then told Alessandro, who then told me. Off I went across the
snow to collect it.
Training
Alessandro
focused my training on getting my short turns improved for my technical resit
and had me looping up and down two of the lifts. There was no point making it
easy for me, I was there to learn and improve so we used some of the steepest
terrain. If I could ski short turns on steep terrain then I could ski them on
easy terrain. After each run he gave me feedback. Each piece of feedback and coaching
point I would put in place on the following run. I knew when I had got the task
right because Alessandro would give me a smile and a thumbs up when I went over
to him. After one of my runs my feedback was a big smile and the words ‘die …
die … die’. Alessandro says this when he is excited. I knew from my feedback
that I had finally got my short turns correct.
Over the two
days with Alessandro we worked on my control of speed, corridor width, rhythm
and flow, edge change and simultaneous roll from edge to edge. I made good
progress. Just to be certain of me passing my technical resit he also gave my
long turns a quick check over. I was nicely set up for my time with BASI
trainer Will Roberts who would be giving me further training and coaching.
Alessandro had also set me up with Will in a very different way. Knowing I was
single, Alessandro decided to play matchmaker and sent Will a message asking
him if he was single too. I have visions of the message reading ‘Hi Will, got
Rosemary here, wants to know if you are single’. Great … thanks for that
Alessandro !
Next:
Back to Will
https://nhs-nurse-to-ski-instructor.blogspot.com/2019/01/back-to-will.html
Previously:
December 2018
September 2018
March 2018
The Beginnings
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