The course is run over two days and Ash started running it a couple of years ago as he found there were a lot of people signing up to do instructor courses purely to improve their riding rather than become an instructor, so spotting a gap in the market he now offers both the 5 day instructor course and this two day course.  He takes you right back to basics, but rather than assasinating your existing your technique he just reteaches you literally from the foot upwards.

I was lucky enough to have been taught using the foot steering technique when I first took to the slopes almost 7 years ago but the other guys on the course had never heard of this technique so I think they were a bit nervous when it was mentioned in the pre-brief session Ash gave us.  By the end of the course though everyone had been reassured that it wasn’t anything scary and it was definitely the right technique to be using.  Thankfully my regular riding was pretty good and so I was able to use the first day to practice the basic skills Ash was teaching us switch.  This was really useful to me from a freestyle point of view because although I can ride switch I’m not as confident or as good at it as I am riding regular and it was good to break my riding down into chunks so that I could work out where my errors were and get my body and muscles used to riding in the correct position.

On the second day we worked on more complex drills to help with riding different types of terrain and just getting used to using our boards properly, making sure we were flexing them appropriately and actually thinking about how we could get the most out of the board and out of the turns we make.  I’m really looking forward to getting out on to the mountain to see how much of a difference it makes in trickier situations than I generally face indoors or on plastic.

I can highly recommend the course, especially if you’re looking to improve your freestyle and care at all about having good technique (especially if you’ve never heard of foot steering before).  Of course if you’re happy to huck and hope you probably won’t find it to be that beneficial as you definitely have to be ready to relearn how to ride without any preconceptions about how good you are.

If you’re looking for a cheap holiday next year and fancy getting some coaching while you’re away it’s worth checking out his Bansko based operation as not only do they have cheap beer out here they are a friendly bunch who can help you get the most out of your week on snow!

James is a highly qualified freestyle coach (as are the other instructors in his team) and this (and his skill as a rider) is the main thing that made me sign up. In my experience it’s one thing being able to do something well, but quite another having the skills, knowledge and verbal ability to actually explain how to do something to someone else, especially something like snowboarding.

I’ve had an absolutely brilliant day, we started off with a quick chat about what we wanted to achieve from the day & a presentation from James before heading out on to the slope for a pre-ride warm up to get the blood flowing and avoid any silly injuries. We then split into two groups based on our riding level, one more advanced for those with freestyle experience and one for those just getting into freestyle or looking to build their confidence on their first few tricks.

My group started off on the kickers and after a few runs just to get the feel for the kicker we started on spins. First up frontside 180 ( this is the one where at 90 degrees you are facing down the slope), I worked on this for a few runs, trying to get a smooth rotation and keep my arms down. After I got more settled, Lyndon, my coach for the day, told me to try a 360. I’ve never tried 360 spins before so he gave me some pointers and away I went. I wasn’t quite getting it right but I’m well on the way and once my brain can convince my body to do what it wants it to then I’ll be sorted. We then moved on to backside 180s, these scare the majority of people because you’re effectively spinning blind and at 90 degrees you’re facing up the slope, so if it all goes wrong you’re catching a heel edge and flying backwards through the air, always a bit worrying because you don’t always know it’s coming. Weirdly though I don’t mind them too much and after a couple of runs of landing them I moved on to backside 360s. I did a couple where I got to 270 and scuffed out but with a couple of pointers about arm position and my position on the run in I was spinning the full rotation. Stoked! Admittedly my technique needs some more work but part of the battle is getting used ot the rotation and I’m sure that with a bit of practice I’ll be able to pretty it up a bit.

Then it was a quick break for lunch and a chance to watch some video clips of ourselves to really get it into our heads where our problem areas were so we can work on them in our own time.

Then it was back onto the slope for a session on the rails. We had 2 rails set up, one a wider box style rail and one narrow rocket rail. After some warm up runs on the box I moved through backside boardslides, frontside boardslides and frontside nose slides, building my confidence on tricks I can do and improving them. I was then given the opportunity to learn something new, unsure at first, I suggested 180 on to the rail, this is something I’ve wanted to learn but I have to admit that spinning on to rails has always scared me. I was however on a high from the morning’s kicker session and thought I’d suggest it on the off chance Lyndon thought I could do it.  He did and so I dropped in and went for it. I turned slightly early and didn’t make the full 180 but I was still in one piece (always a good sign I find) and so I hiked back up to try again. I worked on this trick for quite a while and again it was my arm positioning holding me back slightly. Coaching from Lyndon and James and seeing the video footage has reinforced in my mind what I need to do (and not do) and so next session I’m determined to get it properly dialled as a trick. As it is I can claim a FS170 on to the box! Not bad going and only 10 degrees short. I also managed a couple of nice FS180 outs on the rocket rail, so I left the slope feeling exhausted but happy.

When I got up this morning I’d have been happy with reinforcing my technique on front & backside 180s, it wasn’t in my mind to try 360s and I’d certainly never considered spinning 180 on to a rail, so I’m really pleased with how the day of coaching turned out. Not only did I practice and build on my existing skills but I learnt 3 new tricks and am brim full of confidence in my ability to keep learning and improving on today’s session. A huge thank you has to go to both Lyndon & James for their help today, it’s been an absolute pleasure working with them and I’m looking forward to building on today with them over the coming months as I fully intend to sign up for the rest of the 1 day courses at MK between now and August and possible get some private tuition as well.

If you’re considering getting in to freestyle or just feel that you need someone to give you a nudge in the right direction to knock you out of a stale patch then Maverix come highly recommended! If you fancy learning from them on a real mountain and you’re stuck for a summer holiday then they’re running week long Summer Camps in Les Deux Alpes so check those out too!

You can add Maverix Snow as a friend on Facebook or join the Maverix Snow Camp group.

Jools is frantically going through the photos from today so I’ll link to them once they’re online.  Here they are!

Update:

Switch Nose Slide

Frontside170 On