CairnGorm Mountain’s success story, in what has been a remarkable season so far, continued this week with the British Association of Snowsports Instructors giving Scottish skiing a massive boost by using the White Lady piste as a European speed test assessment area for the first time.
The Euro Speed Test is an integral part of the training of Ski Instructors in France, Italy, Austria and the UK and is part of the International Ski Teacher Diploma, BASI's highest level of qualification. The test is run to strict rules on an international basis and validated by the country in which the test is held.
In simple terms, BASI candidates being assessed are given the challenge of racing against the clock and must finish within a set percentage of the time already set on that same course by an experienced Alpine racer. On Monday, in glorious sunshine, the course on the White Lady proved a real challenge with only one candidate out of the 34 participants managing to achieve success - but with candidates able to challenge a freshly-set course each day this week, prospects are expected to improve as candidates become more relaxed and adjust to conditions.
Said Bob Kinnaird, Chief Executive and a former CEO of BASI:
“ We were visited a couple of years ago by a team of French assessors who agreed that, subject to snow conditions, CairnGorm was a suitable location in which to base their Euro Speed Tests with nearby Glenmore Lodge providing an excellent local base for the BASI assessors and course candidates. We were delighted to welcome them here for the first time and their presence adds to what has already been a remarkable season for us.”
“At the end of January, we had very little snow and had been closed for 15 days because of exceptionally high winds. But February brought a total transformation with quality snow arriving and, more importantly, staying throughout the schools’ half-term period. Since then, there has been fairly consistent falls of snow and we have had some glorious days when we were able to offer fresh snow along with blue skies and sunshine. Earlier this month, we achieved our target of 45,000 skier days for this season and, with snow still falling, we are confident that we will be offering skiing at CairnGorm over the Easter holidays in about ten days time.”
“Over some recent weekends, we have looked after more 2,500 snowsports enthusiasts on the hill at the same time as we have welcomed around 400 non-skier visitors and that is the sort of challenge that we are looking forward to facing over Easter Weekend, traditionally one of the busiest periods in the year for visitors to Aviemore, Badenoch and Strathspey.”
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