Steven is a ski and snowboard instructor with ES in Zermatt in the winters, and here he tells us about his summer; scuba diving, surfing, cycling and traveling in Europe.
Contact us to book lessons with Steven in Zermatt.
Steven is from Belgium, in the Flemish speaking part. This summer he caught up with friends and family and at the same time had some adventures.
Cycling and surfing in France
With his bicycle, Steven went to the Vosges region in NorthEastern France. There, he conquered «Le Grand Ballon,» the region’s highest peak, and tackled the legendary «Le Super Planche des Belles Filles,» a renowned site in the world of Tour de France racing. Since 2012, the climb to the summit has been used several times in the Tour de France.
Here is a photo of Steven on his bicycle trip:
Then he travelled to picturesque Lacanau, on the Atlantic coast in South Western France. There he did some surfing and sightseeing, immersing himself in the beauty of the surroundings. This is an area with big sandy beaches, and some fantastic surf spots.
It also has a pine forest behind the beach dotted with bike trails, and an unspoilt lake that’s ideal for sailing, windsurfing, fishing or canoeing.
This area is not too far from where our Verbier instructor Stéphanie spent her summer (see her blog here).
Here is a photo of Steven traveling with his dog:
Scuba in Belgium and Holland
Steven then returned to Belgium and Zeeland in the Netherlands, and spent some time scuba diving. He followed a course to become Dive Guide and Assistant Instructor, delving deeper into the world of diving. This course helps you learn the skills needed to guide and supervise certified divers on recreational dives. He has also done a course about how to react, rescue, and deal with emergency dive situations.
Steven has done lots of different types of diving, including night dives, dry suit dives and navigation dives (using natural features and compass to find your way).
He has also done extended range diving. With the extended range dives, these are longer divetime and deeper than recreational dives, and you need to make decompression stops.
Most people don’t think of Belgium and Holland for diving, but there are many dive spots in this part of the world, both fresh and salt water. You need a thicker wetsuit than elsewhere, as it is quite northerly.
The sea diving spots are good for training because you need to be aware of winds, currents and tides, which all add challenges when planning and executing a dive. However there are national parks with lots of life, as well as wrecks, and some beautiful spots to explore. In Zeeland, there are lots of lobsters, crabs, sea stars, snails and clams, as well as some very well camouflaged baby cuttlefish.
There are also freshwater dives available in quarries and lakes.
As it starts to get colder, Steven will first go to Cape Verde, Boa Vista, for some more diving, and then head back to Zermatt, ready for another winter of skiing and snowboarding.
Steven loves to travel the world, to see new places. He finds himself coming home to the mountains every year where he loves to do all kinds of snowsports.
He’s always up to go on an adventure and have some fun!
He chose to teach snowsports because snowy vacations are simply the best. And for real, who wouldn’t want this place to be his/her office?
Contact us to book lessons with Steven in Zermatt.