In this ‘flashback’ episode, Iain speaks with ‘ski instructor to the stars’ Warren Smith, from the Warren Smith Ski Academy.
We talk about how Warren got into skiing and his journey to Verbier via the Hemel Hempstead dry ski slope and Seefeld in Austria.
There’s plenty about the early days of the UK freestyle scene, working with many of the youngsters who have now become Olympians, as well as the celebrities that he’s taught over the years, including Laurence Dallaglio, Prince Harry, Princess Eugenie, Louis Smith, Bradley Wiggins and more.
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SHOW NOTES
- Warren learned to ski at the Hemel Hempstead dry ski slope, before it was recreated as The Snow Centre – an indoor snow slope
- His first snow experience was on a school trip to Saalbach in Austria, when the coach broke down
- Phil Gordon presents the ‘Legends of the Brand’ podcast (3:30)
- Warren’s first qualification was as a UK dry slope instuctor (4:45)
- He first taught on snow in Seefeld in Austria, before moving to Verbier in 1994 (5:00)
- Joyce Read from Ski Verbier was an early mentor (6:00)
- You can watch ‘Blizzard of Aaaahs’ – the famous ‘extreme’ ski movie – on YouTube
- Jamie Strachan designed top sheets for Volkl and brought Warren on their team in winter 1998/99 (8:45)
- Strachan also designed many of the legendary ChamJam posters (9:30)
- Listen to Iain’s interview with GB Snowsports coach Pat Sharples in this bonus episode of The Ski Podcast (10:15)
- Stu Brass and Spencer Claridge were behind the AIM Series of events and built the freestyle features for events like the London Ski Show and The Jump (11:00)
- Iain launched Natives.co.uk in April 1999 (12:00)
- Other early freestyle projects that Warren set up were the British Freestyle Camps and the Ride Series
- Pat talks about the impact of the Salomon 1080 on the freestyle scene in this interview, as does Jim Adlington (founder of Planks) in our bonus episode with him (14:00)
- Paddy Graham came out of the Sheffield dry slope scene and is still producing award-winning movies with the ‘Legs of Steel’ crew (17:30)
- Warren also produced movies such as the ‘Snow’s In The House’ series and ‘Snow Odyssey’ featuring a 16-year-old Candide Thovex (19:00)
- Warren’s ‘Go Ski’ technique book and DVD is available online (25:00)
- Rob Sawyer from the Farinet Bar in Verbier recommended Warren to England rugby player Laurence Dallaglio (28:00)
- Other celebrities that Warren has skied with or instructed in Verbier include James Blunt, Princess Eugenie and Prince Harry (33:00)
- Listen to Peter Hardy’s anecdotes about James Blunt in our special episode
- Louis Smith, Spencer Matthews and Jason Robinson were among the quickest learners that Warren coached for the wintersports reality show ‘The Jump’ (35:00)
- The Warren Smith Ski Academy now has a team of 15 instructors with key focus on biomechanics (39:00)
- Find out about the Carv device here (45:00)
- The Academy also offers ‘Gap Year’ Instructor Qualification courses, having changed from BASI to the Irish IASI qualification in 2013 (45:30)
- The Warren Smith Ski Academy will be at the National Snow Show at the Birmingham NEC on 15/16 October 2022 (48:00)
- Courses start in Cervinia from 06 November for five weeks, then on to Verbier. Warren will be leading a trip to Japan in February (50:00)
- Listen to how Iain got on in Verbier in March 2023 in Episode 172
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