Instructional programmes involving action sports tend to fall into two categories – dangerous…or a cure for insomnia. The dangerous ones try to pretend that you can really learn to skydive after having watched TV for 60 minutes. The boring ones sink into a mire of well meaning theory and safety chats to the point where the programme is three hours old before you’re given your first tip.

When it comes to learning to ski you can’t beat the old fashioned approach of giving it a go under the tutelage of someone who’s been trained in the art. A DVD can’t, and should never try, to replace it. Where it is useful is as an aide-memoir and reference manual. It also can give you an insight into aspects of the sport that you probably won’t get in a lesson. Hence, in our latest offering we have combined a top quality instructional DVD with chapters offering advice on every other element of your ski holiday.

The main body of the programme – i.e. the inspirational stuff about how you ski and improve - you’ll watch time and time again. The strength of the DVD format is that it allows us to tag on a variety of ‘extras’. Because these aren’t part of the main programme, we’ve been able to treat subjects other than the standard ‘what to wear’ and ‘how to put your boots on’ and explore them in some depth. We’ve visited Salomon UK to get a truly informed insight into the latest ski and boot designs and categories. We’ve filmed at ‘Body Factor’ in Snow+Rock, London – experts on all things physical, like how to get fit for skiing, injury prevention and the fascinating subject of biomechanics (the study of how your skeleton works and how to get the most out of it).

More frivolously, perhaps, we explore hitherto ignored topics like how to walk downstairs in ski boots and generally carry yourself and the gear as if you family name was ‘Von Trapp’. Our expert advisors and co-presenters Alyn Morgan and Carrie Hainge from the Ski Club spend their days on the phone advising, reassuring and enlightening the anxious public. They have intimate knowledge of the most common anxieties and queries. ‘Where do I get a ski pass?’ ‘Where do I eat on the mountain?’ ‘Will my bum look big in a ski suit?’ These and many others are addressed in the extensive FAQ section.

The Casting Couch

The formula for instructional programs across many sports is to wheel in a ‘superstar’, stick a camera in his or her face, and let them blather on for half an hour about whatever pops into their head. I was once given a Jack Niklaus coaching video. After ten minutes I’d lost the will to live. I hadn’t a clue what he was on about because (and I hesitate to pass judgment on the greatest golfer that ever lived) I don’t think he knew what he was on about. Jack’s problem was his innate brilliance. He’d never had to learn to play golf. He just felt it and did it, and therefore had no empathy with hackers like me who basically wanted some tips about how to avoid shanking the ball through the clubhouse window.

The players we sought for Skiing Skills had to be, primarily, communicators, who hopefully could ski a bit. And by going straight to the top, that’s what we got. Sean Langmuir is part of the illustrious Langmuir dynasty. His late father Eric was the outdoor pursuits guru and author of ‘Mountaincraft and Leadership’ - the Bible of its field. His brother Roddy and sister Moira were both Olympic skiers and Sean himself was our dominant slalom skier for nearly a decade. He was always a talented coach, and was recently lured back by BASI from his adopted home in Canada to run their training department. So he’s now the guy who trains the guys to train the instructors. 

The explanation/demonstration team is completed by Deidre Angella. She’s also a BASI trainer and former GB team skier. Originally from Aviemore, she now lives in Bristol where, in between her skiing duties, she works as a sports psychologist, sorting out the scrambled brains of elite athletes in a variety of sports. The mind, and above all its habit of meddling in physical tasks, can be the greatest learning inhibitor; so having Deidre explain how mentally to approach each exercise, handle trepidation and tweak the nose of danger, was invaluable.

Destination Norway

When Neilson revealed they were sending us to Hemsedal in Norway, we conjured up a depressing picture of little hills, arctic temperatures and, as our Mancunian cameraman kept reminding us, extortionate beer prices. Our anxieties were ill founded. Hemsedal was perfect. It’s a true alpine resort with proper rocky mountains, a 1500m vertical drop, some truly testing pitches and, most importantly for us, an extensive and accessible beginner/improver area.

Yes it was cold, typically minus 5-10ºC, but in a happy way. The snow was joyous in what was a tough season for the rest of Europe.  Never was a sequence ruined by the sudden appearance of a row of concrete apartment blocks in the back of shot. It’s rarely crowded, and the few people we did encounter were 90% Norwegian. Even the exorbitant alcohol issue turned out to be a positive: even our mornings were productive - a completely new experience on a ski trip. And, at a time of the evening when we might otherwise have been coating our internal organs with unsuitable tinctures, we were skiing. Hemsedal has some of the best night skiing in Europe. The sequences of skiing the trees under floodlight are some of the best, and certainly most unusual, in the programme.

The Central Theme

BASI’s teaching system revolves around the ‘Central Theme,’ a set of key skills - balance, steering, edge control - that allow you to ski parallel, control your speed and line and so cover most of the prepared runs. With that basic grounding, you then adapt those skills in order to explore the various avenues of bumps, piste performance (carving), variable snow, steeps and freestyle.

The simplicity, flexibility and effectiveness of this new method are refreshing. The thrust of the message from Sean and Deidre is that skiing well results primarily from being able to move freely between the skis and react to the various forces created by changes in speed, direction and the terrain. It’s not about taking up fixed shapes.

The most impressive aspect is the philosophy of never throwing anything away. Once you learn a skill, it serves you all the way to the top. As you move on, all you’re doing is adding layers. To vary the pace of the programme we show how every skill in the Central Theme is relevant to the upper levels