Verbier
Minttu Vitaanen – ES Instructor Profile
A former ski racer who won several junior national championships in Finland and skied international FIS races as part of the Finnish junior national team. Minttu has worked as a ski instructor in Finland, USA, New Zealand & Switzerland for 13 years and holds the Finnish top cert ISIA qualification and NZSIA Race Coach licence. This year she has coached alongside World Cup racers Kalle Pallender and Sami Uotila at their 2009 Summer camp and also passed her Swiss Snowsports level III (Patente) recognition test at the first attempt. Minttu now lives in Zermatt year round.
European Snowsport Freeski Camp
Zermatt, Switzerland 26-30 October 2009
The ES Freeski camp will promote a safe and diverse approach to freeskiing in a fun and supportive atmosphere, developing athletes’ skills in halfpipe, big air, slopestyle, rails/boxes, freeride technique and moguls. We aim to improve performance through on-snow coaching of technique and tactics backed up by video analysis and dry land training.
Our young coaching team bring fresh ideas, commitment and motivation to inspire clients to push for that extra inch of performance and get more from their training.
The Coaches
Andy Longley – currently the UK’s number one moguls skier and a future Olympic hopeful, Andy entered his first world cup event last winter and had a promising finish at the world championships in Japan. His light hearted and cheerful character makes him a favourite amongst aspiring skiers in the UK. Andy was one of the first British riders to land the double flip and continually seeks new and innovative tricks to add to his collection. When not competing or training, Andy coaches moguls and freestyle skiing to share his passion with others and deepen his own understanding of the sports.
Oli Corkhill – part of the new wave of ski coaches in the Alps, Oli has a dynamic and creative approach to ski teaching and has developed a broad skillset through training in a variety of disciplines including freeskiing, racing and adaptive coaching. Oli works with a variety of skiers from holidaymakers to performance level athletes during the winter whilst maintaining his own training. Known in the industry for his sense of fun coupled with an ability to focus on the task in hand when it matters, Corkhill has been involved in the British freeskiing scene for a number of years and has worked with many of the industry’s top coaches and athletes.
The Venue
Zermatt is one of the World’s premier mountain resorts. With a vertical drop of 960m from the top station at 3,870m, 20km of pistes and the pipe, kickers, boxes and rails of the Gravity Park, Zermatt’s Summer ski area is one of the Alps’ finest and is relatively unknown on the UK scene, despite being a magnet for many European ski clubs and national teams.
Situated in a high open valley surrounded by twenty nine 4,000m+ peaks including the famous Matterhorn, Zermatt offers a huge range of summer mountain activities in spectacular surroundings. The tranquil car-free environment provides a perfect space to kick back and chill out after the day’s sporting activities.
Price
Camp cost: CHF425 for five days’ on snow training in Zermatt, video analysis and three afternoon dry land training sessions. Travel to and from Zermatt, accommodation, lift pass and insurance are NOT included in the basic price.
Accommodation
We have arranged a special price of CHF65/night for half board accommodation at the Hotel Rhodania which is a few minutes’ walk from the Matterhorn Express lift station. Self catering accommodation is available from CHF30/night. Otherwise, Zermatt offers a huge range of accommodation including budget hostels, apartments and hotels.
Booking & Enquiries – please email [email protected]
ES Ride Preseason Snowboard Camp
Zermatt, Switzerland 9-13 November 2009
For the opening of ES Ride snowboard school in Zermatt, we invite you to come along and join us for a week of pre season snowboard training. The week will be focused around gearing you up for coming BASI courses as well as preparation for the coming winter.
Every level of snowboarder is welcome. We will cater for BASI level one snowboarders through to level three and developmental coaching. A mixture of on and off snow sessions will have you ready and prepared for the next level.
Our Coaches
Rob Norton – BASI Trainer and developmental coach. Rob has a wealth of experience in coaching and delivering the BASI product. He is the founder of ES Ride and part of the team that helped design the new developmental coaching module. Rob has been selected to work within the British junior set up coaching up and coming talent.
Graeme Gibson – Gibbo has been hand picked to run our outfit in Zermatt. His snowboarding career started more in the competitive side of the sport where he specialised in halfpipe and slopestyle events. He has under his belt all the BASI qualifications as well as his top Swiss license. Over the last couple of winters Gibbo has specialised in coaching trainee instructors and his success rate has been exceptionally high.
James Brockbanks – Anyone who has seen Jimbo snowboard will realise why he is seen as one of the most naturally gifted snowboarders out there by his peers. Jimbo holds his full cert BASI license and has worked closely with trainee instructor groups over the last few winters.
Dave Brown – Dave B specialises in backcountry riding, he also works closely with trainee instructor groups in Verbier. Dave has the ability to get the most out of the people he works with. He holds a variety of international licenses which include his full cert BASI as well as his Top Swiss license
Price
Camp cost: CHF425. Travel to and from Zermatt, accommodation, lift pass and insurance are NOT included in the basic price.
Accommodation
We have arranged a special price of CHF65/night for half board accommodation at the Hotel Rhodania which is a few minutes’ walk from the Matterhorn Express lift station. Self catering accommodation is available from CHF30/night. Otherwise, Zermatt offers a huge range of accommodation including budget hostels, apartments and hotels.
Booking & Enquiries – email [email protected] or phone +41 (0)27 967 6787
ES Ride is a division of European Snowsport, a leading independent snowsports school based in Verbier & Zermatt, Switzerland.
Sunny day in Verbier
Today was a nice sunny day in verbier that started out cloudy and horrible.
Zermatt Snow Report. 1/4/09
Here comes more snow, where has the spring gone?
Thursday:
After a random day today with some lovely powdery conditions up on Klein Matterhorn this morning and then some serious spring slush over on Sunnegga this afternoon, tomorrow will bring much of the same. Expect light snow showers all day so make sure you wear your low light lenses. The temperature will be mild, only dropping to -12ºC at the top lift station and staying above zero all day and night in town. Go search for the powder stashes!!
Friday:
Friday appears to be much the same as Thursday. However the sun may well show itself at intervals throughout the day so enjoy the visibility when it comes. The wind will remain light and temperatures mild during the day but wrap up warm if you are going out at night as it may get as cold as -9ºC. That’s if you are in any fit state after the bad taste party on Thursday night!!
Saturday:
The morning should be a peach with beautiful skiing conditions, sunshine, only a little cloud, and warm temperatures. The afternoon on the other hand will be bringing yet more of the white stuff. Will the snow ever stop? This truly has been an awesome season! Or you could have gone snowboarding with ES Ride, Zermatt’s Snowboard School