British American Val d'Isère Ski School Services

Our first priority is to help you to make the most of your holiday. To assist in this process all of our instructors are fluent English speaking - the majority being from the UK or America. The "French " cultural experience is also very important and we make no compromise there either as we all speak fluent French and know our way around the pistes, the wilderness and the best restaurants.

On the mountain safety becomes the main priority - though there is always an element of risk - which is what makes skiing fun. The instructor is "captain of the ship" especially when Off-Piste.

Our "corporate hospitality" system is not just reserved for big companies - it is for everyone.

How many people do you know who have ceased to progress in skiing - the ubiquitous "plateau" - or who never even really got going to start with. Then there are the endless stories of fatigue and injuries - not to mention horror stories of instructors who can't or won't communicate - or the terrified woman who has just come along to please her "sporty" husband. Well, everyone puts this down to a being a natural part of the skiing experience - but what if this perception was wrong? What if all this trouble and difficulty was totally unnecessary - through a totally novel insight into the sport? What if the difficulty in mastering bumps and steep n'deep Off-Piste could be removed and shown to be part of a simple clear cut process that can begin on day 1 - even for children? Yes, that changes everything - and that is what we do.

Standard ski instruction - including British, American and French instruction - is entirely based on incorrect principles founded on a total misunderstanding of basic physics and mechanics - the result being a set of instructions passed on by the innocent instructor of such systems that leads directly to all the problems mentioned above. People however prefer to deffer to authority and to blame themselves - but most suspect that something just doesn't quite make sense - and they are right. Many people are athletes in other sports and are astonished to discover great difficulty in skiing - but what they don't realise is that this should not happen.

This unique understanding of the mechanical principles underlying skiing is our exclusive intellectual property and is discussed in articles published on www.MetaSki.com The "SkiTools" CD-ROM sold from there gives support to our teaching on the mountain. It is best to go to that site to study the subject more deeply - and we will concentrate here on how we organize all this to help you from our ski school.

Teaching takes place on a progressive scale - with no "change of technique" to get to another level. Whether you are a first day beginner or aiming for 80 F.I.S. points on the international racing scene so as to qualify to become an instructor, the principles and teaching remain the same. The more you learn the more you discover there is to learn - and your teachers are only different from you in that they are learning faster. There is no"expert" who knows it all - that is an illusion you will have to look for elsewhere.

Skiing sheet ice requires the same motions as skiing powder. Skiers only have to resort to "special technique" when there is something fundamentally wrong with their movement patterns in the first place.

To handle the varying mountain environment our approach to teaching is to have three separate categories (as well as child/adult separation when possible). It is stressed that this is related to environment, not technique - which remains essentially unchanging but adapting. The categories are Technical Courses, Technical Off-Piste and High Adventure Guiding.

Anyone can enter technical courses - from total beginner to very accomplished skiers blocked from progressing. The beginner would automatically start out here.

Technical Off-Piste is for those who are ready to move from the piste into the easy neighbouring off-piste. In certain cases special avalanche protection (such as radio transceivers) will not be necessary if the area is of modest gradient only. Accomplished skiers may appreciate this approach also on steeper terrain and in challenging snow conditions. Some people are only aware of technical deficiencies when the snow is wind blown, packed, crusted or "rotten". Technical Off-Piste addresses all of those issues at all levels from a technical view point.

High Adventure Guiding is for the accomplished skier who feels capable of skiing down most things - even if not very efficiently. The focus here is on group safety and guiding to interesting skiing locations and good snow. The objective here is not to spend much time and effort on coaching - but to enjoy the best skiing. Adventures can include "ski touring", helicopter skiing, overnight stays in mountain huts, couloirs, steep north faces or just "freeride" on big fast skis.

We are experienced in various forms of Corporate Hospitality programs. The coaching approach explained above is employed in "Staff Incentive Training" and also helps people to get the best results when we support "In-house Conferencing" groups. Groups are easily divided into our simple but progressive categories.

Leadership Training Courses are organized to exploit the fact that skiing is a supreme personal development platform. The word "emotion" means "impulse to move". If your "impulse to move" in skiing is left to emotion then you soon experience trouble. It is necessary to develop a level of awareness that circumvents our basic impulses. There are few places that anyone can have so much direct fun and satisfaction while developing and stretching themselves as a person and leader. The technical approach to skiing complements the counterintuitive psychology required to develop as a person. I.e. you don't turn your feet in the direction of the turn - you turn them the opposite way! You don't try to "balance" - you try your hardest to get out of balance! Change and progress comes from "disequilibrium" whether on skis or in business.