The ski instructors who choose Manchester morning over sleeping in

It's around 7 o'clock in the morning when about 20 ski instructors dressed in red gather at Trippelliften's valley station this morning. It's time for the second clinic of the week for the ski school staff and the turnout is high. The clinics are not compulsory, but generally in Stöten the ski instructors are keen to develop further and get better in both their professional role and their skiing and therefore most choose to participate in as many clinics as possible during the season.

Four clinics are offered each week for Stöten ski instructors. For each session ski schools supervisor, Mr Fredric Ericsson, He has prepared a specific theme for today's clinic. He is in charge of Stöten's clinics, based on what he thinks the group needs and what is relevant at the time.

- It can be anything from teaching methods and problem management in the ski school to developing the ski instructors' technical skills and track training, but right now it's medium-sized turns in steep terrain that are on the schedule, Fredric explains.

Early mornings are not a problem

Despite the forecast promising cloudy weather, the sun is now shining on the upper part of the World Cup slope and the freshly groomed Manchester snow is glistening in the light. The early morning doesn't seem to bother the ski instructors at all - everyone seems to be in a good mood and excited about today's clinic as they take the triple lift up to the top in pairs.

Ahead of today's event, Fredric has taken into account that several of the ski instructors will soon be taking their exams and they have requested in-depth training in how a medium-sized turn should be performed in terms of skiing technique. Fredric himself has a Swedish ski instructor diploma and is a certified SLAO instructor. After 14 years in the ski school world, of which 10 years as a qualified ski instructor, he is confident in his role as clinic manager and knows what is required of the ski instructors to be examined at all levels.

After an initial warm-up session for the ski instructors, it is time to start teaching. Fredric continuously involves the participants in his coaching by asking questions and demonstrating pedagogically with body movements while verbally explaining the technique of the intermediate turn. He then shows how the turn should look on skis and the ski instructors get to test themselves while he observes.

“A good way to develop”

The ski instructor Lovisa Lindqvist is one of the participants in this morning's clinic, and during a lift ride she explains why she volunteers to get up at the crack of dawn to train intermediate turns. Although this is her first season, she is already due to complete the third stage of SLAO training next week and she is practising hard to succeed.

- I attend as many clinics as I can. It's a really good way to develop and prepare for the programmes," says Lovisa.

Last autumn she was offered a position in both Stöten's and SkiStar's ski school, but she chose Stöten and it's certainly not a decision she regrets. She has already decided to come back next season, and the answer to the question of why she likes working in Stöten comes quickly:

- It's so familiar here in Stöten! We're like a little family here, both in the ski school and generally here on the mountain. Everyone knows everyone and I like that," she says before she glides off towards the rest of the group for one last run before the day's work session in the ski school begins.