Autumn arrives in the northern hemisphere and this means one thing: it’s nearly time to go sliding around on the snow! The anticipation is really exciting, but nothing beats those moments when you’re doing it, enjoying the mountains in the best way we know how. Here at the development centre we’ve been sharing our passion for skiing since 2002 and we’re pumped up for the coming season. These are some of the things that we’re looking forwards to the most –
The Corduroy
Heading down a freshly groomed piste allows you to feel how smoothly and precisely you are skiing. Less interference from the snow, it’s about enjoying your best turns.
Feel of the carve
Make like a racer, feel the forces driving the turn and appreciate what modern skis can do on the piste. The deeper you go, the bigger the rush.
Air Time
It’s not the size that counts.
Jumps of any size are exhilarating, whether in the park or in the backcountry, jumping is one of those things some people (us) never quite grow out of.
The Quiet of the Powder
Sometimes, after some deep powder turns,the only noise is your own breathing
Sharing it
We love skiing for ourselves , but we also love it when we can share our passion, knowledge and enthusiasm with others. We love making a real difference to people’s
holidays.
The Development Centre run ski schools in Val d’Isere, Tignes and the Three Valleys. Our team of highly qualified, experienced and motivated instructors are there to help you to achieve your goals, whatever they might be.
If you are looking to get in some quality training for your Level 3 or Level 4 BASI technical exams, then have a look at the new course that we are putting on in March 2015.
TDCski have been running a number of prep and training courses through Dec and Jan.
Due to demand a new course has been added.
New Course Added March 2015!!
Level 3/4 2nd-6th March 2015
Price 300€/week (5 hrs a day plus video)
Some feedback from people how have previously trained and prepared with TDCski
“I’m just writing to say thank you for a great two weeks of preparation for the BASI Level 4. I still can’t believe I’ve finally got there! The TDC training really made a difference I think.”
If you are interested please contact us +33 (0)6 15 55 31 56 or email valdisere@tdcski.com
Established before time began, The Development Centre run the finest BASI prep courses in the Universe. If you are looking to develop your skiing towards qualification, then only the barking mad would overlook this intergalactic award winning program.
We use coaches who are chiseled from solid gold and each one must have won at least two Nobel prizes. The terrain in the Espace Killy is second to none, and on top of that we send our coaches up the mountain at night to hand craft each piste that we might use.
Occasionally our candidates explode with delight, but those that survive are sure to have had the most extraordinary and superlative week of their lives.
Come Ski on the Ski Club of Manchester Dec 2013 Trip
The Development Centre (www.tdcski.com) are pleased to announce that the Ski Club of Manchester are planning to return to the Espace Killy this December.
Ski Club of Manchester Dec 2013 Trip
Last year was the first time that the Ski Club of Manchester had come to the alps for their “Early season Trip”. The club came to see TDC for a brush up on technique and performance.
The 2012 trip was a great success (see the rave reviews below) and the club are coming back again in December 2013.
The club has put together a fantastic package including accommodation, flights, transfers and the best bit… 5 half days of coaching with the development centre. The trip is unbeatable value with like minded, keen and friendly skiers.
There are spaces available for the 2013 trip.
The Ski Club of Manchester welcomes new members and you needn’t come from Manchester!
To enquire about the 2013 trip or to book, simply contact barryjonquil@talktalk.net for more details.
Read below for the Ski Club of Manchester’s own review of their 2012 trip:
December 2012 saw the Ski Club of Manchester take their early season training with the development centre (TDC) in Val d’Isere, France. Giles Lewis, who heads up TDC, and his team provided excellent coaching to the ski club members over five days. Lessons were in the mornings between 9am and 12 noon, giving everyone the opportunity to either free ski in the afternoon or rest aching muscles.
5 half days of TDCski Coaching
The instruction delivered by TDC was second to none. Group sizes were small (TDC have 6 maximum in group clinics). TDC coach you on your style as an individual allowing you to really make a breakthrough in confidence and performance. They certainly achieved this goal with ski club members receiving focused, personal feedback. Whilst at times the conditions were challenging the style of coaching we received allowed us to improve our skills in an enjoyable and relaxed environment. Each group took an approach suitable for the members needs within it and most groups spent some time enjoying the conditions off the piste (with all the safety equipment provided by the development centre for those who don’t have their own.
The adventure started in Manchester airport with Flybe seeming a little confused over which plane our skis would be on. However all skiers and skis arrived intact at Geneva airport and the three hour bus trip to Val D’Isere was comfortable and complimented by fantastic alpine views.
The Hotel Champs Avalin, situated in La Daille, offered comfortable accommodation in a typically French Hotel with a rustic alpine feel. The rooms were clean, warm and best of all had a bath, something not always available in the Alps. The food served in the pleasant hotel restaurant was excellent with a choice of three options for dinner, including vegetarian, and as much wine as you could drink. A hot option was offered with breakfast or alternatively continental style with plenty of choice.
The service offered by the staff in the Ski Total Hotel Champs Avalin was second to none. Great company, excellent food and free wine with dinner led to a joyous culinary week for all.
A fine evening out was enjoyed by all on the Wednesday at the excellent Le Barillon restaurant in La Daile with fine food, plenty full wine and vibrant conversation with many of the world’s problems being solved in a matter of hours as is usual.
Val d’Isere town is very picturesque especially at night with the trees lit up and the lights glittering in the snow. A relaxed and friendly resort with prices to match most pockets, including the fury collar addicts, but not so exclusive as to put off the more financially conside te of us.
The town is made up of three main areas being La Daille, Val d’Isere and Le Fornet all located along the same straight road. A free shuttle bus service is provided every 5 minutes through most of the day taking you the length of the town.
The food and drink is perhaps a little more expensive in Val d’Isere than some other resorts with a beer at around seven euros and a basic meal sixteen. There are several very friendly bars and restaurants with good food and live music.
The TDC Team look forward to skiing with SCoM
We were fortunate in having the women’s World Cup downhill coinciding with our stay and some of our hotel rooms had amongst the best views of finish line. During the week we could see the amount of work that went into setting the course up. The media camp had located it’s self outside of our hotel together with the team accommodation. The race favourite, Lindsey Vonn, had a rare crash and instead the race was won by Swiss skier Lara Gut. Unfortunately the Super G, due to be held on the Saturday, was cancelled due to a white out, but this did not stop many of the club members who reported the best days skiing of the week no doubt fuelled by the skilful coaching received that week at the hands of the TDC team.
Ski Club of Great Britain member Tessa Regan is in Tignes for a ‘gap-year’ – saying goodbye to city life and hello to sun, snow and seasonnaires… better late than never!
Constant snow makes learning to become a ski instructor tricky!
Off-piste instruction
Greetings from Tignes, where I am now 6 weeks into my 10-week Gapski ski instructor training course. In the last 2 weeks we have been continuing our training both on and off-piste and learning to become competent and confident skiers in all conditions and on all types of terrain. This has been particularly testing as we have had a very long run of snowy days with bad visibility – great news for the snow depth and quality, but very difficult for us poor trainee ski instructors trying to improve our skiing. Personally, as soon as the visibility goes I start sitting back on my skis and skiing defensively. ‘Don’t try to see, just feel the contours of the slope with your skis’ says our instructor. Sound advice and I only wish I could programme my head to think that way, but I have certainly not been feeling the love as I try to ski a bump field that I can’t see. However, this is an aspect of our skiing that we all need to overcome and hopefully I will get there in the end. It has certainly made us appreciate the few sunny periods that we have had and has probably made us ski better too.
Enjoying the powder
This week my husband came to visit and has been helping me on our ski practice days. He arrived during one of our video analysis sessions, so was able to see for himself exactly which areas of my skiing I need to improve. In particular I need to work on skiing more aggressively straight down the fall line when off-piste, especially in the crud or on bumps, so my hubby has been helping me by shouting ‘turn!’ at very rapid intervals, to stop me from meandering across the slope in between turns. Personally I think he has just been enjoying the unfamiliar feeling of having me do what he tells me!
So only 2 weeks of training left (eek!) until we begin our BASI Level 2 assessment and we are all anxiously wondering whether we will make the grade. Last night we had an impromptu party in the Big Brother house, for no particular reason other than the fact that we have all been working very hard and probably needed to let our hair down a bit, but a good time was had by all – for me it was just like being a student again! Back to work tomorrow though, as our quest for BASI Level 2 continues…
Snow Swappers is a holiday swapping service for people that own property in ski resorts around the world. Membership is free of charge for the first year and there are chalets and apartments available to swap now in both Europe and North America.
Whilst the final touches are being made to the renovated chalets and Hotels in Val d’Isere and Tignes, the glacier is being put to good use. Not only are TDC coaches running pre-season BASI prep courses and slalom training, but national teams have been up on the hill making their final preparations for the World and Europa cups.
See how the slalom training is getting on at: http://www.youtube.com/thedevelopmentcentre
All our coaches regularly use video analysis as a tool for teaching and all you need to do is ask you coach. You may even feature on this site!
The whole tdc team was on the mountain today to launch our ski school’s season. We are really pleased to have Josh back with us for the winter and we are over the moon to have Lena joining our team. We are as strong as ever and hope to ski with you this winter in Val or Tignes. Here are a few photos of some of the tam on the hill today, the whole lot can be seen at http://picasaweb.google.com/tdcski
The resort of Val d’Isere opened today on the 28 November and put on a great show. The snow is not massively deep but the runs above the mid stations of Solaise and the Bellevarde are open offering a large area to explore in beautiful sunshine. It is possible to ski down to La Daille and the link to Tignes is open which means that the excellent snow of the Grande Motte is available.
There is a party atmosphere at the bottom of the ski lifts with everyone amazed at the quality of the snow. The artificial snow making facilities are on whenever possible and with the snow forecast for the end of the weekend it should not be long before even more of the area opens up ready to welcome the World Cup. The development centre started our season with a special lesson for my boy Oscar who loved having skis on for the first ever time. I think we are going back tomorrow.
Call us on 0033 6 15 55 31 56 or email valdisere@tdcski.com or tignes@tdcski.com to book a session
It has been a bit of a road trip around Europe for Gi recently. Firstly ten days in Hintertux attending and delivering to the BASI conference, followed by a few days running a selection of new trainers for BASI.
Coming back to the Tarentaise and both Tignes and Val d’isere make Zermatt look pretty bare for snow cover. We have had some warm weather here but we had 25cm of snow last night and Val d’Isere will be opening this weekend as planned. Tignes is already open and there is good skiing to be had on the pistes.
The picture is my group on the L1 in Zermatt. The mountain in the background interests me because it reminds me of the Belvarde a bit, or at least a pale imitation.
It’s not the size that counts.
e love skiing for ourselves , but we also love it when we can share our passion, knowledge and enthusiasm with others. We love making a real difference to people’s
