Alpine Ski Leader qualifications…

The Alpine Ski Leader course is designed to train competent skiers to safely lead groups on alpine ski trips.

Ski trip risk assesments throw up many potential hazards, which is why Snow Sport Scotland designed the Alpine Ski Leader (ASL) qualification for teachers or other responsible adults. The ASL qualification is widely recognised as the most appropriate award for skiers taking sole charge of groups in the mountain environment. The award covers a range of responsibilities including planning, organising, supervising, leading and teaching. The ASL award is valid in the mountains and also on dry slopes and indoor snow slopes. The three key elements are:

*Leadership
*Technical skiing
*Teaching

This award offers the opportunity to gain technical competence in leading skiers within the bounds of a ski resort in a mountain environment at home and abroad. It is the combination of personal leadership qualities, leadership skills, technical and teaching skills which form the basis of effective group management in a skiing environment and the award assesses all these aspects.
As part of leading their group it may be necessary for a Ski Leader to teach the group skiing skills. A Ski Leader is licensed and insured to teach their own group from beginner up to basic parallel standard. A Ski Leader may operate anywhere within the remit of the award.
The seven day course contains elements designed to improve the participant's ability to lead skiers in a mountain environment and to introduce skiing to children in a safe and enjoyable manner.

Course Content

The content of the course includes:

Leadership skills
Group leading considerations; group practice supervision; knowledge of ski resorts.
Mountain skills
Navigation; weather; clothing; equipment; accident procedures.
Technical skills
Personal performance; introducing skiing to children; knowledge of instructional methods.

The course material is presented primarily during on-snow skiing sessions and is supported by evening programmes and seminar sessions. Assessment of the course is continual during the seven days of the course. The course Tutor will provide ongoing feedback during the course concerning participants performance. On completion of the course the Tutor will conduct individual course reviews with each participant.

Course entry requirements

Course participants should:

• Be at least 18 years of age
• Be able to ski basic parallel skiing on groomed red slopes
• Have at least 20 days on-snow experience

Daily:
The lifts open early for summer glacier skiing, but this also means we are therefore off the hill by early afternoon and down to resort for the traditional big pasta lunch! There will then be some free time to unwind, followed by ‘classroom’ lectures starting late afternoon which take us up to dinnertime. This is a really fun course to participate in as you can make the most of the location by taking part in some of the free activities which come with your lift pass like luge, mini golf, trampolines, archery etc**.

Accommodation:
Accommodation in the chalet is on a first come first served basis up to 8/9 individuals. Chalet accommodation is of a very high standard and all rooms are en-suite. Accommodation is full board, not including wine. Dinner is two courses plus coffee. Lunch is pasta and salad, or a packed lunch/sandwich by arrangement if preferred. Breakfast is continental style and self service. We usually arrange a BBQ at some point, and one evening out of seven is ‘night-off’ for the cook so you can eat out at any of the excellent local restaurants, pizzerias or bars (breakfast and a packed lunch are still provided on this day).

Travel:
If you are flying from the UK, we strongly recommend Grenoble airport as it is the closest and best for public transport. Ideally your flight will tie in with local buses to get you easily to resort, via Grenoble centre. If not, we can discuss private transfer arrangements with you – email us when you know your provisional flight or train times if you cannot find a suitable local bus option. Eurolines also run a bus from the UK. Most summer timetables are not available until the spring. We can always advise you so keep in touch as if there are several candidates travelling the same way we can put you in touch or possibly co-ordinate your transfers.

The next step:
Please email us to confirm availability. A deposit of 25% is then required to make a firm booking, with the balance payable six weeks prior to departure - full booking conditions and payment method details will be sent to you if you at this stage. You can pay by BACS bank transfer, credit card by paypal (small surcharge) or UK cheque.

Friends & Family:
L2A is a fantastic summer holiday destination; we can offer accommodation only prices if you have traveling companions (sorry, not suitable for young children as the chalet is also the course venue) who are not taking part in the actual course but want to come for a holiday.

Passes and Hire:
Lift passes and ski hire are not included. We have discount vouchers for ski hire at an excellent shop nearby should you need equipment.

Cost: Please email us for this summers prices and availability. 
Includes accommodation for seven nights, seven breakfasts, and six lunches and dinners. (check in Sunday afternoon and checking out the following Sunday a.m.) in catered ski chalet, course fees and materials.

The package price you will be quoted is based on two sharing. You may be asked to share a twin or triple room with candidates of the same sex. If this is not acceptable to you, please contact us now to discuss single room supplements so that we can plan lodgings for the course accordingly.
You will be contacted six weeks before the course to confirm that we have sufficient candidates and that it is going ahead. At this point you would receive a final balance invoice. Please bear this in mind when considering your travel arrangements (we usually confirm sooner however). Also, please note that, when the budget airline schedules are released in the spring, we may opt for a Saturday to Saturday course if the travel options are much better than Sundays (same ‘weeks’ so please just keep that first Saturday free at the moment if booking time off etc)

**Other optional activities include world class mountain biking, ice-skating, 9 hole golf course, driving range, climbing, via ferrata, white water rafting, hydro-speeding, hiking amongst stunning scenery, paragliding, adventure park, road biking etc. Free access to the open air swimming pool is included in your lift pass too.

ASL Course Dates 2010…

Sunday 11th July – Sunday 18th July

And also

Sunday 18th July – Sunday 25th July

We will also be running an October half term ASL - exact dates to be confirmed, and we can run summer ASL's on request if you have a small group of interested parties.