Nicol's BASI 2

A few weeks ago Nicol headed over to Aviemore in search of his BASI 2 teaching qulification. Obviously he stormed it, and has dropped us a line about what it was like getting techy for two weeks on the Scottish hills....

So first pic's the whole nine BASI 2 crew, ten if you include Mark Petty the trainer. We had all sorts in there: one mellow guy who has served 22 years in the army, to one funny immature Cockney called Chesney named after Chesney Hawkes who kept on singing 'I am the one and only.....'

It was a very mixed bag as far as the weather was concerned for the two weeks; we had cloud, mist, sheet ice, 60mph winds and we even managed to fit in a bluebird day with no winds and freshly pisted, squeaky 'get your toe side carve on' snow.

The days consisted of more-or-less first to last lifts followed by 2 hour lectures at Glenmore Lodge, at least that was the first week anyway. Due to high winds we had to travel to the good old Lecht on the second week. As you will see by the pictures, some of us were defeated by the snow on the roads at the Bridge of Brown, and had to take the long route around.

There was so much we all learned on the course that it would take a good while to write it all down. Everything from finding a solid stance to short turns down steeps (my least favorite part) to carving. Everyone who did the course really enjoyed it and also improved a great deal. We had a great trainer in Mark Petty, who has a wealth of experience and knowledge and also reckoned he had never ridden  ice quite like what we had on the second Tuesday in his whole career. If any of you are thinking of trying out a BASI course I would highly recommend it, not only for teaching but for improving your board skills.

Find out about BASI courses here. Alternatively it's worth looking into Aberdeen Snowsports Centre's rookie instructor training courses, call 01224 810 215 for all the info.