It's been in my mind for a couple of years now that I would like to get the highest ski instructor qualification. The previous two seasons I spent in France helped me grow both as a skier and instructor. The French say you either go forward or back. So if you don't improve your qualification you are going back and are no longer allowed to teach. With my Landeskilehrer I was allowed to work as a trainee for 3 years during which I had to pass the Eurotest (and so it goes on until you are done with the qualification).
The ski school I worked for had an amazing training program to prepare trainee instructors for the exams. I have had no race experience before (except for mysteriously passing the GS on Landes2 with the practice that was done within the course). During low season we would set the course and ski for half a day and the weeks before the Eurotest we set up a full course (around 1 minute) and trained all day all week.
You don't really notice the difference day to day, but now as I look back at my videos from 2014, 2015 and 2016 - it's not the same skier anymore. Of course there is plenty of space to improve, but then again - no race experience, so give it some time.
When you are in this environment where everyone around you is half God on skis it really pushes you to try your best all the time. It is challenging, it is hard, but you feel like you want to catch up with them. So after two years of being a trainee and trying to pass the Eurotest (I had three attempts - 2015 in Morzine and 2016 in Alpe d'Huez and Les Menuires). Funnily enough the closest time to pass was on the first try in Morzine, on the second one I hated the stade - it was all camelbacks and it snowed the night before, it wasn't pisted and they just slid the course, so if you do a mistake you end up in 1m deep powder, now try to ski your fastest if you know you might break your legs in case of a mistake. The third time I tried in Les Menuires I had one of the last bib numbers (98) so first run was more of a inspection and putting hopes to the second run on a fresh track. It went good until halfway through there was a pistenbully bump I didn't notice and the compression sent me into the backseat and crashing out of the course. We will never know if it would have been enough if I finished that run, but at least I enjoyed skiing on that stadium.
And then it hit me - when I'll pass my Eurotest, then what? I will have to do the rest of it in French if I choose to go this way and that is not an option for now, because simply my French is not good enough yet. That is when I decided I would return to Austria to finish the diploma in the way I know. I have done all my ski qualifications in German, so doing another one (just more advanced) seems like a logical step.
And now here I am back in Austria, with a late season start in mid-December, working all throughout Christmas and New Years, then my first ski camp was in mid-January, the 3 days moguls and off-piste camp, then we had 2 days of GS training with the ski school, then I booked another 2 days race camp on the stadium where the exam would take place and did one day in the off-piste area where they would most likely hold the Gelaende exam. So in total this season I had done 8 days to prepare for the exams.
First day is the GS, the day starts early with an inspection and soon you are off in the course. There were roughly 150 of us trying and I had start number 55. The snow was grippy and they had set the course quite straight forward (a guy I knew had an earlier bib number and assured it really is 'full throttle'). Nervous as hell, but I just told myself to let go and give it a 110%. I didn't of course. When it comes to timed racing I rather save it to 90% and finish the run than crash out. I saw my time at the bottom and didn't know what to think. I didn't know what times did the others have. So I started looking and a lot of them were similar to mine, also men, not just women.
Soon enough it was time to head up and hear the results. They called out all the names that had passed on the first run. And there it was - the guy paused and tried his best to pronounce Lauma Ildena correctly.
I heard it and thought - what does that mean? And then a few more names later he said the passing time. As I heard it I realised I had actually made it! Because they were still calling out all the guys who had passed I couldn't make a noise, so I just fell to ground in happiness still trying to believe that I had made it. When GS is my weakest skill, I had a lousy run and still made it through, that feeling is like you're on top of the world for that day.
We all congratulated each other, wished good luck for those going again and then I went down to change out of the race suit, have a snack and get ready for the Schulefahren. I must've done at least 10 practice runs and each of them fell worse and worse. And as you are on the start, just waiting in the cold, your gut spins circles another 20 times. I just got down, I had no idea what to think. The long turns felt good, the change felt good and the short turns felt like a disaster. I didn't know if it was enough to get a + or not.
But now they wouldn't tell. We just skied and went home and next day was the free-ski exam. Our runs were both really long. On the first one we couldn't even see the finish flag. I'm guessing they could have been around 1 km each. So one of them was the old t-bar, we started off in moguls and then out to a wider, less steep area, but still with change of steepness in between and the second one was a rhythm change on an uneven terrain (right turns were twice as long as left) and on the change over it got another 10 degrees steeper and all moguly.
From what I felt I thought I did both runs pretty. But I didn't know if they were fast enough, because that's what my coaches would always tell me - I need to ski faster. So another hour of gut spinning in circles, then when they finally start reading the results out and you hear 40 names before you and some of them receiving 'failed' you don't know what to think anymore. I just stood there holding my thumbs, eyes closed and hoping. Finally my names comes up and he says BESTANDEN. I was so overwhelmed, I couldn't believe it. I automatically started texting everyone that I'd made it, then got back to the site and congratulated the guys who had also made it (two from my current ski school).
It's unbelievable how much doubt you can get in two days. Just constant thinking of whether it was enough or not. Afterwards when we had our victory drink the boys told me - my Schulefahren looked absolute shit (which it was), but Gelaende was one of the best from the girls. They are probably right. But it doesn't matter anymore, because we made it. And they always say - Schulefahren can be taught. The rest is harder.
Now it is time to figure out plans for the summer and next winter, because passing this exam was just the beginning. Planning out the financial side of the course is the next challenge. And after that - starting the actual course and passing the next bunch of exams.
