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Old February 20th 13, 03:00 PM posted to rec.skiing.resorts.europe
Ace[_3_]
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Posts: 177
Default French Protectionism

On Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:05:19 GMT, Mike Clark
wrote:

In message
Ace wrote:


In our case no further action was taken, presumably on the basis that
no financial remuneration takes place for our volunteer leaders. Even
so, we've changed our expenses system to ensure that (the very low)
allowances are only paid after the event and on presentation of
receipts.


It looks like they were after a single case to use as a test case. At
present the Ski Club might be OK but I wonder how long before the
authorities do look to see if they can come up with a trumped up charge.


The club will be monitoring the situation carefully.

As it happens, I have some sympathies with the French on this. I have
seen, and skied with, unqualified ski hosts, and while mostly they do
a reasonable job, some of them are frankly a menace. I recall one,
from some years ago, whose idea of leading was - "we're going down
here, see you at the bottom".


Funnily enough I've had a similar experience in an ESF ski class where
the instructor decided that only those who could keep up with him were
going to get any instruction.


Yes, it happens. The Swiss school here (in Engelberg, where I work
part-time as an instructor, BASI L2, for the smaller independent
skischool) has a few who really don't seem to give a toss.

The problem with the French selection system for ESF has always been
that they put too much emphasis on the speed and technique of the
instructors skiing and not enough emphasis on their ability to teach or
empathise with their students. In my early years of skiing I had some
aweful experiences with ESF instructors and it wasn't until I started
taking lessons with some of the international ski schools that things
improved.


Quite. TBF I think the national/franchise schools have been improving
as well, but certainly in many places only as a result of competition
from newbies like us.

--
Ace
Ski Club of Great Britain http://www.skiclub.co.uk/
All opinions expressed are those of the poster and in no way reflect those of the Ski Club or its members
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