Verbier: Mont Gele + powder = happy skiers
Posted on April 19, 2012 at 9:03 pm

It’s been a mixed week of weather in Verbier, but there’s been a couple of glorious days of powder and sun.  Here’s Mont Gele, the lift-served but off-piste-only mountain in Verbier.

The views are spectacular.

The pitches vary from steep to very steep, but all come with those great views thrown in for free.

Of course, there are other good and easily accessible off piste areas in Verbier (including Fontaney):

But Mont Gele is easily in our top three.  

Verbier: final week of BASI 2
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 3:17 pm

It’s been a challenging two weeks for the Verbier trainees, with widely varying weather conditions and two BASI trainers to satisfy in their Level 2.

One of the group gathers closely round their BASI trainer to hear his words of wisdom...

As well as group instruction, there’s been a great deal of individual feedback for each trainee

Alastair and Joe listen closely while trainer Duncan explains the finer points of performance carving.

Lizzie and Kim look on whilst the trainer assesses the next keen-to-please trainee.

Exhausted from said carving practice, Joe takes some time out...

It was a beautiful day for getting out and improving your skiing.

What not to (mountain) wear #15
Posted on April 11, 2012 at 11:13 am

It’s fair to say that onesies have taken something of a bashing in these posts, and while we consider all onesie wearers to be fair game, some of them have their time and place.

But some don’t.  Step forward the corporate logo-flashing red towelling onesie.  Presumably the world of hire car companies is a tough one – we can’t begin to imagine how many other advertising ideas they must have gone through before they alighted on the skiing onesie.

Corporate sponsorship fail.

What not to (mountain) wear #14
Posted on April 6, 2012 at 9:03 am

Okay, you’re all wearing ice hockey jerseys.  But if you look around you, you’ll find that although the temperatures are freezing and it is cold underfoot, that’s snow not ice underfoot, and those are skis not ice skates on your feet.  It looks like you’re all looking for something, an ice rink perhaps?  Wrong winter sport fail.

What not to (mountain) wear #13
Posted on April 1, 2012 at 8:47 am

Okay.  So we’ve seen chickens before (see episode #11), and cows (#10), and even superheroes (#9).  It’s all so passe, darlings.

But step forward a group that feels able to harness chickens, cows and superheroes (well, Bananaman probably just qualifies) – all in a single outing.  Proof that three wrongs sometimes can make a right.

Verbier: race training
Posted on March 29, 2012 at 10:25 am

It’s race training day, and instructors Mike, Emma and Lee took the trainees for a day of giant slalom gate racing – a first for almost all the trainees.  Here’s Mike, who previously worked with the Scottish and British alpine race teams, talking the guys through what’s coming up.

First up through the gates were Joe, Henry and Hector…

Closely followed by Liam, David and Poppy..

Everyone learned a lot during the session – as well as built a lot of confidence in high-speed carving.  Here’s a few more photos from the day:

Verbier: final phases of training
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 6:00 pm

With only two weeks of training before the big BASI Level 2 fortnight, training has upped to a new level of intensity.  Today the guys have being doing video analysis in the bumps:…

It’s hard to say what top-level instructor, Sandy, is trying to explain here – so we’ll let the photo speak for itself…

All the trainees had different aspects to work on, and it’s fair to say that some have more work than others!  But with two weeks of full-day training to go, everyone’s got Level 2 in their sights.

Here Sandy demonstrates correct pole-planting technique to one trainee, and the amount of knee-flex required in moguls to another…

Overall.  A fun, challenging and sunny day had by all.

Verbier – freestyle day (no2)
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 8:51 am

The next day of freestyle rolled around, and what a sunny day it was.  There was a lot of fun to be had on the airbag jump (see the Peak Leaders Facebook page for the video). Plus there was a whole lot of jumps.  Roll down for some of the high (and the low) points.

Verbier: moonlit (almost!) ski
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 8:20 am

It’s been a varied week for the trainees in Verbier this week, including freestyle and off-piste coaching, as well as the usual training for BASI 2.  The fun didn’t stop there, as last night the guys skied to a mountain hut for dinner, before skiing back into Verbier after dark.

A total whiteout during the day meant that visibility was down during the day…

so unsurprisingly the subsequent setting of the sun didn’t improve that, but it’s hard to put into words just how beautiful it was to have the whole mountain to themselves(with the exception of the occasional piste machine!).  Here’s some photos of the journey down.

And here’s the group at the bottom.

Verbier – freestyle day (no1)
Posted on March 6, 2012 at 1:22 pm

Not all training courses include some freestyle training – Peak Leaders do.  It’s too much fun not to.

There’s jumps and rails of all sizes, so there’s something for everyone on the scale of cautious to heroic.

They say that a photo tells a thousand words, and that’s far too many words anyway.  Instead, here’s some photos of the trainees enjoying a sunny day in the snowpark with Swedish freestyler, Rasmus.