Oundle Ski School
This one-week Adventure Training camp has operated for the last four years, and locates annually at Les Louerettes in Siviez-Nendaz: an affordable location at 1750m in the heart of one of the world’s greatest ski areas – the 4-Valleys – with over 400km of pistes. The camp caters for all levels of skier, from the complete beginner through to the trainee instructor.
In many ways our camp is unique compared to standard school-based ski trips. One key difference is that it is self-run, risk assessed and partly funded through the MoD – not operating through a commercial company provides considerable financial savings to cadets, without compromising safety.
A second key difference is that the CCF runs its own ski school for the week. This has been very much “the Oundle Society in motion” as several of the instructors are OO’s. Cris Symes, CCF Contingent Commander, acts as Director. All instructors are qualified to at least BASI 3 or equivalent standard.
Running our own ski school enables much more effective staff management and operational flexibility. It also offers a better deal for cadets, who benefit from almost six hours of tuition each day, as opposed to a typical commercial package of three to four hours. They can also talk things through with their instructors in the evenings.
As development camp (and therefore much more than just a ski trip or holiday) instruction includes several aspects not normally provided on standard school ski trips, including giant slalom gate training and video analysis. Skiing in such an extensive ski area also allows plenty of development of the 4 “extension strands” - powder / variable terrain skiing on official mountain tours, high speed, steep slope and bumps skiing, including skiing one of the world’s top ten bumps runs, Mont Fort. Completion of the camp leads to the award of Snowlife Awards, recognised within the UK snowsports industry.
We are proud of the fact that each year at least one or two cadets have gone on to successfully complete instructor training on gap year courses. Several are already booked to instruct on future camps and this serves as further inspiration to cadets being taught. The development camp has thus provided a mechanism for getting OO’s back to work with current pupils – tapping into talent which might otherwise be lost and also serving as a link between past and present pupils.
If you have a BASI, CSIA or equivalent alpine instructing licence, and are keen to come and instruct for a week in mid-February, do make contact with Cris Symes, BASI 2 ISIA, Director of the CCF Ski School, by emailing ccf@oundleschool.org.uk.