JW in NZ

New Zealand astounds me. Last thing I said (I think - can't be bothered to check) was that we'd had a whole load of rain and the snow was ruined. I really thought that it was season over and the exam wouldn't happen. Whilst I was writing that entry, we had an enormous snow storm and the worst days snow I've seen here was without a doubt followed by the best.

I've said before that it's nice to be able to have a conversation with everyone you meet on chairlifts. I've learnt to be more careful about who I converse with on this exam. Caught a t-bar (2 person drag lift) with a middle aged woman who seemed very friendly. Let slip that I was a ski instructor and had to work quite hard for most of the lift ride evading giving her a lesson politely. Perfectly ok so far but things started getting strange when she asked if I'd ever seen a snow dance. Err, no. Not sure I want to either! Not that I had a choice. Me being mid exam didn't help me escape. She took her poles off and left them at the top of the run and proceeded to ski down doing the most crazy dance I've ever seen. Forgot to mention the outrageous ski suit she had for added effect. I'm told by friends that were further down the run that as she got into it she was singing her head off. Absolutely nuts!

Pants. That's what they call trousers here. They're wrong, of course, but I smile politely. I think I've had mine since I started skiing and have done all of my skiing in them so it's reasonably obvious that they're a bit worse for wear. They're grubby despite me washing them repeatedly and have more holes in them than Swiss cheese. My first examiner, Robynne, recommended that I get some baggy ones so "you can't see what your legs are doing". Not exactly what I'd expect the examiner to say but I like to listen, so I did. I was complimented no fewer than 5 times by the examiners since.

The assessment for the stage one is comprised of eight parts. You have to pass each one in order to pass the whole thing, no re-sits. The first six days are run like a course and you get one examiner for three days then another for the next three. One of the eight marks is a general 'session' mark from these. Five other marks are from skiing on day seven - you have to do two runs of different types of turns (beginner stuff up to short turns and free ski, off piste). The final two marks are for a video skier analysis exam and an assessed lesson that you have to present.

I thought that everything was going pretty well until the afternoon of day seven - I'd had some really positive feedback from the first six days and lots of people said my demos looked really good on day seven. Stephanie, the course director (aka scary person) who I'd never even spoken to before at one point called me over (even knew my name somehow) and complimented me on how my skiing had improved so much. I didn't know she'd ever seen me ski before but it was a nice confidence boost. Sadly it was short lived. The free-ski runs came after that and they were done on the steepest off piste terrain in the area, a nice run which I was perfectly confident on but lets just say that my exam runs were a mess - for some reason having not been in the slightest bit previously, I suddenly decided to get all nervous.

When Gavin handed out the results (you get a little envelope with your scores and reports of your skiing/lesson/exam) he didn't even make eye contact with me, which just sealed it for me; I knew I hadn't done enough. Pulled the paper out to see how bad it was and the first word I saw was pass. Still can't quite believe it. Got feedback from all of my examiners and they said that unlike many they didn't even have any doubt/discussion as to whether I should pass. Same as before, but perhaps more so this time, I'm really quite proud of myself. The pass rate was 70% and nearly everyone there had spent thousands on a pre-arranged course. I passed having spent far less (though rapidly catching up!) and I've done everything as I've wanted.

One area that I've not changed all too much: took mine and Richard's skis in for waxing/edging to a ski shop were we get a discount for training with SITCO and agreed that we would get 25% off. When I went to collect them, someone had scribbled out 25 and written 20. Err, I don't think so! I know some people will laugh at me because it was only a few 'bucks' but it's bad practise and a sure way to make me not go back there. Made it quite clear to the guy that I wasn't paying more than agreed and he (very reluctantly) backed down.

So I'm now qualified as a ski instructor to teach people up to an advanced parallel turn. Or to use Gavin's language, I can help people achieve parallelity. Nice.