ski school zermatt

Mogul Mayhem 2019

10 March 2019 by Beth Lloyd

It’s that time of year again in Zermatt! A few frantic weeks of bumps skiing for ski schools across resort finally came to a head yesterday at Igludorf for the annual Mogul Mayhem competition.

Building the course

Making a mogul competition course isn’t easy. Markers are placed at intervals in the snow then stamped into place to make the beginnings of a rut. Then the rut is skied and slipped again and again to form moguls or bumps.

This year plenty of work went into getting it ready, only for a snowstorm to come in just days before and fill in all their hard work. So without much time left builders rushed back to the course to get it race ready once again.

54432479 154493762164553 8283211589910265856 n — Building the course on a sunny day! Lots of digging needed for the start area.

53482302 2259886074280713 6007274914719989760 n — Slipping the bumps is an important part of building the course. They need smoothing out between skiing so they don’t become too big.

The Rules.

The rules are simple enough. Each team is made up of four and must either be mixed gender or mixed disciplines. As a result we not only saw traditional alpine skiers taking to the rut lines, but also telemarkers, snowboarders and snowbladers -no easy feat.

Teams go head to head down the red and blue flag lines and are marked on their technique in the bumps, overall speed and trick over one of two sized jumps at the bottom. So you won’t necessarily win if you reach the bottom first.

7D8A9987 — ES Instructor Tim in the bumps

The teams are ordered from slowest to fastest, leaving the best till last. After all four skiers from each team have skied against their opponent the scores are added up and the winners go through to the next round. The teams with the highest scores then compete in the quarter finals and the knock out continues until the final head to head.

DSC 0315 Copy — ES Instructor Max trying out the Snowblades…

Competition Day.

After a few final practice laps and one more slip of the bumps the teams lined up at the start, many sporting fashion statements as impressive as the moguls they were about to ski. ES put forward three teams this year, all sporting fancy dress. Even our team Penguin made an appearance.

52920525 2056334411326741 4701195894245031936 n — ES Instructor Gareth during a practice lap.

The day started fair weather wise but as the competition progressed and the finals closed in, so did the visibility and the finalists found themselves competition in flat light and fresh snow. As if it wasn’t difficult enough already. That didn’t stop them from putting down some impressive runs however, really putting on a show for the crowd.

DSC 0270 — Throwing some big moves off of the jumps.

Thanks to all those who organised, built and sponsored the event, not to mention those who were mad enough to compete! See you next year!

European Snowsport’s 15th Birthday Party

2 April 2018 by Chloe Hardy

Happy 15th Birthday European Snowsport!

It’s not every year we get to celebrate Our ski school’s birthday but this year is a pretty special one! In 2003, European Snowsport director, Julian Griffiths, had the idea to open a ski school in Verbier that specialised in private lessons from experienced instructors with intimate local knowledge.

European Snowsport 15 years — Long-standing team members, Graeme and Elias.

Fifteen years later in 2018, ES provides ski lessons to some of the most exclusive accommodation providers in Switzerland, including Bramble Ski and Richard Branson’s The Lodge. We also offer lessons in a range of languages, have our very own Swedish ski school in Verbier and run top-class training programmes for instructors wanting to progress their careers. ES has also spread across the Alps; we also operate in Zermatt, St. Moritz, Chamonix and most recently, Nendaz. We’re also incredibly proud of our kids group lessons.

Anyway, to celebrate this milestone anniversary, what else could we do than have a bit of a knees-up and treat our staff, friends and business partners to a night out? Our commercial manager, Charlotte, pulled out all the stops, organising ES champagne flutes for the occasion and delicious ES cocktails.

Everyone turned up to Bottle Brothers in Verbier, immaculately dressed and ready to party. It was great to have an excuse to dress up and everyone was looking fabulous. The evening started out with a few casual drinks, canapés and a some words from the man himself, Julian. Special thank yous were in order for Charlotte and head of sales Laura. There was also a special mention to some of ES’s longest-standing team members, Maryse, Jonas and Neal, who have been with us since the start. Thanks for sticking with us! Then the party really started with live music from ES Chamonix director Jon Wilson‘s band, the Snow Drifters.

We’d like to say a massive thanks to everyone who came down to celebrate with us, it was a great night! We’d also like to say a massive thanks to Bottle Brothers for hosting and to Charlotte for organising such a great evening.

You can view the full photo collection HERE. See if you can recognise any of our instructors out of their ski gear!

If you’d like to book some ski, snowboard or telemark lessons with European Snowsport, don’t hesitate to get in touch! We offer fun, flexible private lessons, as well as group lessons for kids.

ES Zermatt Valley Rally 2018: Raising money for the children of Nepal

25 March 2018 by Emma Farrington

Spring is here. Time for the Zermatt Valley Rally organised by our very own ES Zermatt team! ES instructor, Emma Farrington, takes us through the day as it happened.

“Blue skies and glorious sunshine; a classic bluebird day here in the Swiss mountains gave us the perfect day last week. On Wednesday 14th March, teams competed in the ES Zermatt Valley Rally, raising money for children in Nepal affected by the devastating earthquake a few years ago. For those of you wondering what a valley rally is? It’s an event where teams compete against each other (often in fancy dress), skiing and snowboarding around the mountain visiting various locations, gathering information or completing tasks. It’s always a fun event and competitors can be of any age or walk of life; this year we had a good mix of guests and their instructors, as well as seasonaires and Zermatt residents.

Zermatt Valley Rally 2018 — Stop no. 1: Snowman building.

The background to the Zermatt Valley Rally comes from a group of locals who wanted to help the survivors of the earthquake a few years ago. Now the event is pretty big and is organised by ES, with prizes and sponsors from all over Zermatt. In particular, the money goes towards helping children from the country’s poorest areas get back into education and rebuild their lives. Fresh water and food supplies were cut off as a result of the quake so a lot of the money goes towards providing new clean and sustainable resources and equipment. Hygiene is a basic commodity that so many of us take for granted, so it’s been important to provide for the children and their families to avoid the spread of disease. Emergency aid continues to flow into the country; it’s so hard to imagine the full scale the impact a natural disaster this large can have, both in the short and long term recovery period, which is why it’s such an important cause.

I think everyone who took part can agree that we were incredibly lucky with the weather and snow conditions on the day, as it’s seemed to snow rather a lot this season in Zermatt! The day started off with registration and a gathering at Papperla pub, a local favourite with seasonaires and tourists alike. Each team donated money towards the cause, rules were explained and tasks / maps handed out. Then we were unleashed onto the mountain.

Checkpoints were across all three ski areas in Zermatt – Sunnega, Gornergrat and Kleine Matterhorn. Due to long lift queues at the Matterhorn Paradise lift, most teams headed all together up to Sunnega to complete tasks like taking photos at every lift station including Kumme (for those who did not hear about Zermatt being closed off back in January due to heavy snowfall and avalanches, Kumme bottom station was wiped out by an avalanche). Fun moments on this side of the mountain also saw teams visiting Fluhalp restaurant and taking photos on the band stage as well as building a snowman at the famous Findlerhof restaurant, also known as Franz and Heidi’s.

The next stage was to go over to Gornergrat, via the famous Gornergrat bahn cog railway, and write down all the glaciers on view from the 360 degree platform before a quick ski down to Iglu-Dorf, the home of the famous ice hotel in Zermatt. Teams attempted a handstand here with some interesting photo evidence, as expected. Another dash down to the, again famous, Alphitta restaurant for a pyramid building challenge on the stage.

For those teams that wanted to go the extra mile, it was then a long journey up to the top of the glacier on Kleine Matterhorn to get a photo on the border line between Switzerland and Italy. Quite a lot of points were available for a continuous video of teams going through the freestyle park with at least one team member going over a jump and a box or rail. A lot of fun, but several bruises followed these attempts! The final task on that side of the mountain was to stop by Furi lift station and make the words ‘ES’, ‘ski’ and ‘snow’ using team members and their equipment.

All teams made it back to Papperla by 4pm for drinks and prize giving. More money was raised by guests enjoying après at the bar! Overall a great day was had by all and many fun memories were created. And those bruises from the park run were forgotten after a few beers!”

Es would like to say a massive thanks to everyone who took part on the Zermatt Valley Rally and to those who helped organise. We’d also like to say a massive thanks to the Papperla Pub for hosting, as well as Glacier Sport, Zermatt Massage Centre, Zermatt Rosterei, Bramble Ski, Zermatt Holidays, The Omnia, Zermatt Ski Chalets, Mountain Exposure and anyone else who helped out or donated a prize. It was a great day and thanks for all your hard work!

Mogul Mayhem Zermatt 2018

22 March 2018 by Harrison Jones

One of our instructors tries his hand at at a fun freestyle moguls competition, the legendary Mogul Mayhem in Zermatt.

“Mogul Mayhem, where to start?

Well it’s my first season here in Zermatt working for ES. So far it’s been absolutely brilliant. I’m having the time of my life, working with a fantastic team of outgoing and like-minded people in what has to be one of the top resorts in Europe!

I was never into ski competitions; I entirely believe that skiing is all about having fun. In my opinion, competitions often get too serious and take the fun out of skiing. I never felt comfortable or confident enough to do them. Never would I have pictured myself in a mogul competition, I always disliked and struggled with skiing bumps and moguls. But when I heard that Mogul Mayhem was coming up and signed myself up straight away. I spent the next few weeks wondering who else would do it with me and I questioned many times if I had somehow lost my sanity, signing myself up for a mogul competition.

Mogul Mayhem Zermatt — Harrison looking fly. Photo: Henry Meredith Hardy

Soon the day came along, after little sleep the night before in anticipation. The teams were sorted, ES had two teams competing, each consisting of four members. A member of the opposite sex or a second discipline had to be on each team in order to compete. The competition was going to be tough.

We all met at Iglu Dorf at 10am, suitably dressed in retro gear and looking a little like an 80s tribute band. The weather was looking bad in the morning but luckily we were in a bit if a sun spot and the sun stayed, right up until the end of the day despite the clouds looming over the Matterhorn in the background.

Looking down the course for the first time was extremely scary, waiting for a few people people to go first just made the anxious anticipation worse! Then it was my turn to go, dropping in felt very uncertain but after a few dodgy turns I started to get into the rhythm of it. Just in time for the large moguls to give way to little rut lines in front of the jumps, of which there were two choices. One large with a very steep lip that kicked you right up in the air and the other a much mellower jump that kept your forward momentum up without sending you up into infinity.

Soon the first competition run came up, after skidding the track a little to smooth out the bumps and take the ruts out of the backside of each large mogul. The runs are judged on speed, style and the jump at the finish.

I managed to pull ahead on the first run and it was all going well down the moguls. Then we reached the ruts at the bottom which I actually found harder to begin with. I kept trying to turn in them and could always feel my edges catching on them, but I made it! I played it safe at the jump with a double handed grab under my boots to stay level in the air and not do the helicopter arms that I’d have done if I’d just tried to do a straight air. The landing was good and I managed to win my first run out of three.

Tim, Beth and Max also put in stellar performances with no crashes. Plus, the crowd was great, too! Everyone was welcoming and encouraging to all the competitors that came down throughout the day and it made for a really fun atmosphere.

We were down for a few minutes before being told to return to the top for our next run. It was quickly noticeable how much bigger the bumps had become from people skiing down them and they now had ruts on the backside again that can catch you out in an instant with the wrong edge angle. There were two lines to go down and everyone had a preferred line / side to take. We all preferred the red side on our team, which we had in our first run, but now we had the blue side to deal with.

We all made it down with no incidents in a good time, Tim did a great 360 off the bigger jump keeping his skis nice and level through his rotation picking up some good points. However the opposing team were far stronger than us and actually went on later to be the overall winners of the event.

The final heat was up next and it was a very tough one indeed; the moguls were now like mini Matterhorns and the ruts were like the grand canyon in my opinion. Beth was up first and got off to a flying start with her competitor crashing near the start giving her a great lead. Right up until one of her skis ejected from the pressure created from skiing the moguls. Luckily she had time to climb back up to the ski, put it back on and complete the run before her competitor, winning the run overall.

Then it was my turn, dropping in I was feeling good and I managed to pick up a slight lead although I could always hear my competitors skis bouncing off each mogul just behind me, so I knew it was very very close! There was a set of three particularly tricky and large moguls, where I put a little extra pressure on my heels to skid a little more and scrub off some speed, but unfortunately it wasn’t quite enough! I had to hold the slide over the bump. I landed into the next mogul a little backseat and instantly regretted it as I felt my skis ping off the top of the mogul. Before I knew it I’d cleared the next mogul and crashed down in the dip at the bottom, losing my slight lead and therefore finishing second.

Tim was also caught out in the same spot, but Max managed to get down without any trouble before throwing a backflip off the big jump, and coming extremely close to landing it.

Looking back I’m absolutely stoked to say I took part and tried. Like I said at the start, moguls were never my thing before but now thanks to the training I’ve had over the season with ES and also thanks to this event, I feel far more confident and I’m starting to really enjoy the challenge of skiing them.

Overall, I had such a great day, finished up with a ride back down to town on the (literal) party train, which is also not to be missed!”

Harrison proves that moguls can be fun! It just takes a little practice. If you’d like to learn how to enjoy moguls in Zermatt, Verbier, Nendaz, Chamonix or St. Moritz, get in touch and we’ll organise you a lesson!

Between Training and Teaching: What’s life as a ski instructor really like?

4 February 2018 by Beth Lloyd

Life as ski instructor and training for exams with ES Academy in Zermatt

If you haven’t read her first ES blog, Beth Lloyd is one of our instructors in Zermatt training towards her Level 3 ISIA exam with ES Academy. Here she talks about life training with the Academy and working as an instructor during some of the busiest weeks of the season.

“It’s been a mad few weeks. Christmas and New Year came and went in a flurry of snow storms and lift queues and we’ve emerged out of the other side after nearly three weeks of continuous teaching.

It’s not unusual for ski instructors to teach for weeks on end, sometimes months at a time, without a day off. It’s a pretty intense lifestyle but we love it. Peak weeks bring a surge of people to resort, booking out ski schools to maximum capacity and filling the slopes with beginners and pros alike. The first peak of the Zermatt 2017/18 season was no exception. I’ve been lucky enough to have a wide range of lessons during that time. Everything from three-year-old beginners to family groups who can ski the entire mountain all day long.

European snowsport level 3 ski instructor course — Skiing the blue runs with this awesome six-year-old!

What people want from their ski instructor can vary hugely. Sometimes it can feel like I’m providing glorified day-care, others I’m a guide showing people the best slopes and cafes. I can be a confidence builder, concierge, playmate, coach. It changes every day and that’s what I love about the job.

Every instructor is different too. We all have our specialties, our strengths and weaknesses. The way we deal with problems and celebrate successes in our lessons changes, and being able to watch that in other instructors over peak week has been a great learning experience.

As part of the ES Academy team I am not only in the role of a ski instructor but also a trainee. There are four of us in the academy this year, with our Academy jackets. We’re here to train towards our ISIA qualifications in the quiet season and teach during peak. During the high season we put on the ES uniform and join in amongst the larger team of black-jacketed European Snowsport instructors here in Zermatt.

All four of us have good teaching experience already, being level 2 qualified. Both Gaby and Harrison have already worked in Canada, Japan and New Zealand! Emma has been teaching in Austria and the UK on dry slopes before coming here to Switzerland and I taught a season in Japan last year too. Add eight years of freelance work at a dry slope in the UK for me and we’ve stacked up a fair few teaching hours between us!

European snowsport level 3 ski instructor training courses zermatt — Waiting eagerly for the lifts to open!

That said the wealth of experience here in Zermatt is worth paying attention to. The majority of instructors in the ES Zermatt team are level 3 and 4 qualified and great to watch at work. Just these few weeks of teaching alongside them have been a huge learning curve as we adjust to the new teaching terrain and how the ski school works.

During the quiet weeks outside of peak the Academy has been enjoying the great snow and quiet slopes. We train every morning with our coach, Lee, towards a variety of skills that will help towards our level 3 exams. To become a level 3 in the BASI (British) system there’s a fair few modules to pass:

Language test: An aural test in a language of your choice (I’m choosing German), proving you could organise help in an emergency situation on the slopes and also teach basic skills in said language.
Mountain Safety: Avalanche safety, ski touring, navigation and related equipment training.
Coaching course: Training towards coaching and gate setting in racing.
Second Discipline: A level one exam in another discipline. For example snowboarding, telemarking, or adaptive.
Teaching Exam: Testing one’s ability to analyse and teach at a level 3 standard.
Technical exam: Testing long turns, short turns, variable terrain, steeps and moguls at a level 3 standard.
200 teaching hours logged.

European Snowsport ski instructor training courses — Taking the chair with our coach, Lee, during Academy training.

Now that peak time is over we’ve been getting back to training. It’s be nice to focus on our personal performance again and learn some new skills as part of the second discipline week. I think I’m going to give telemarking a go!

It’s not long until February comes around and we’ll be teaching again! In the meantime though it’s time to crack on and work hard towards level 3.”

You can follow Beth and read about her journey as a ski instructor on her blog, Pandora Mountain Photography. And if you’d like to find out more about level 3 ski instructor training courses with ES, check out the ES Academy website or drop us an email. And don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled for updates on our latest instructor training courses.

ES Academy: Preparing our instructors for their final exams

7 January 2018 by Beth Lloyd

Here at ES we pride ourselves not only on being able to offer personalised, flexible lessons to our guests, but also on providing our instructors with elite training to pass their hardest ski exams. The ISIA qualification is one of the highest certifications ski instructors can achieve, and our elite training programme at ES Academy helps give our instructors the skills to pass their final exams. Lots of instructors choose train with us, and many of them go on to pass their exams and further their careers in skiing. Beth Lloyd is one such trainee. This winter she’s working for and training with ES towards her BASI level 3 and ISIA qualification. This has been her journey so far…

“Becoming a ski instructor is no easy feat. It involves time, commitment, determination and, like most things, money. A lot of it. That said there are almost as many ways to become an instructor as there are skiers on the mountain and no wrong or right pathway to choose. Here’s how I’ve gone about it…

I started on my journey to teaching on snow when I was fifteen, when I did my work experience at Plymouth Ski and Snowboard Centre, a dry (artificial) ski slope. For a week I shadowed a number of instructors there (many of whom are still great friends) and started on a thirteen week instructor course almost as soon as that finished.

ski instructor training european snowsport — Beth training on the dryslope

I had little to no experience going into my first ever training course. My family don’t ski, we never went on ski holidays when I was growing up. All I had behind me was one school trip when I was in primary school. So I fumbled my way through the course and just about passed with the lowest level of instructor grade you can achieve.

However with a lot of help from my trainers and a lot of time and practice I worked my way up to the highest level of qualification at Plymouth and have been working there as a freelance instructor between seasons for around eight years now.

Unfortunately for me and my bank balance, my qualification at Plymouth was only internally recognised and if I wanted to teach on snow I needed to get some more training under my belt. I needed to choose a system that’s internationally recognised.

There are many systems that will allow you to teach on snow. Some of the more well-known ones include CSIA (Canada), NZIA (New Zealand), ESF (France) and BASI (Britain). They all vary in price and the way that they’re taught can differ, the lingo used may change, but the end goal is the same – to provide a system in which ski instructors can train, progress and teach.

BASI, the system I chose, is split into levels 1-4:

Level 1

Allows an instructor to teach in the UK in snow domes and on dry slopes.

Level 2

Allows you to work further afield in real ski resorts as long as you are on marked pistes within resort boundaries.

Level 3

An ISIA or BASI level 3 instructor can teach any level of skier on or off-piste within the resort boundary. The qualification is recognised anywhere in the world apart from France where you need an extra speed test on top of this to teach.

Level 4

Level 4 or ISTD is the highest in the BASI system. Instructors at this level can teach anywhere in the world, anywhere on the mountain. They can set up and run their own ski schools and are only limited by glaciated terrain and routes with the planned use of ropes.

I passed my level 1 in Milton Keynes snow dome after a few seasons of saving. My method has always been work a season or two then pay for an exam. By working almost every type of chalet job going in return for lift passes I’ve had the time to progress as a skier. Over the years I’ve always followed people faster and better than me and tried to learn from them at every opportunity. I found a love of off-piste and ski touring, as well as practicing my demonstration skiing on piste, and fell well and truly in love with the sport and its accompanying lifestyle.

After a few more seasons working in the chalets I took my level 2 in Zermatt, Switzerland.

There’s a big step up from the level 1 to the level 2 in BASI and unfortunately I just missed out. I was completely gutted and I started that winter on a low. Luckily that winter season turned out to be one of the best, with an amazing team in a great chalet. I trained hard and took lessons with an Italian ski school before turning up for the retake exam in the spring, this time in Hintertux, Austria, which I passed! Wohoo!!

Once I’d passed, I travelled to Japan and finally taught a full winter, as an instructor, on snow! I gained over 400 hours of teaching experience and loved every minute. Finally after years of training I was able to do the job I’d been dreaming of.

Which brings me to where I am now…

Currently I’m in Zermatt, just starting a winter with European Snowsport who run an academy programme for level 2s training for their level 3 exams. ES is a ski school with bases in various resorts such as Zermatt, Verbier, Chamonix and Nendaz. They specialise in going the extra mile for their guests, being flexible with lessons and making sure the little touches aren’t forgotten.

There are four of us on the academy this year and I’m really excited for the season ahead. Harrison, Gaby, Emma and I have been given our blue academy jackets and have been getting stuck into formation week and training. When peak weeks come around we’ll even get to don the black instructor jackets and get teaching again – can’t wait!

Hopefully by the end of the season we will all be feeling much stronger on our skis and ready to tackle some more exams. Level 3 is in sight.”

Want to further your career as a ski instructor? Check out ES Academy and our super flexible work and training programmes. If you have any questions, get in touch by phone or email and we’ll help you find the course for you!

Beth will be writing some more instructor training blogs for us over the course of the season, but in the meantime, you can follow her journey on her website, Pandora Mountain Photography.