British Association of Snowsport Instructors

The British Association of Snowsport Instructors (BASI) is the certification organisation of professional snowsport instructors in the UK.

History

BAPSI (British Association of Professional Ski Instructors) was conceived in 1962 and formally constituted 1963 before changing its name to BASI in 1967 to more fully reflect its membership profile. In 1964 it was invited to join the International Ski Instructors Association. In 1985 it took over the training of Nordic Ski Instructors in the UK from the Association of Nordic Instructors (ANSI).

It has grown to over 6000 members who work around the world. Initially BASI's courses were mostly held in Scotland, later moving to Tignes and eventually to Zermatt in Switzerland. BASI now runs courses in many locations worldwide including New Zealand, Argentina, the United States and China.

Qualifications

BASI offers qualifications in alpine skiing, snowboarding, telemark, nordic skiing and adaptive skiing. Like most snowsport certification organisations worldwide, it offers different levels of certification based on the instructors qualification progress. For example, in alpine skiing it offers four levels, namely:

Alpine Level 1 Instructor, this qualification is for those instructors wishing to work on artificial slopes
UK Advanced Instructor, this qualification is for senior instructors wishing to work on artificial slopes
Alpine Level 2 Instructor, this qualification is for those instructors wishing to work in a mountain environment, part-time or seasonal, working within a snowsport school
Alpine Level 3 ISIA this qualification is for international instructors working full-time within international snowsports schools
Alpine Level 4 ISTD (International Ski Teacher Diploma) this qualification is for international instructors working in snosports as a career within snowsports schools or as an independent

There are similar certification levels across snowboarding, telemark, nordic skiing and adaptive skiing.

The Alpine and Snowboard Level 1 can be extended to a "Senior Instructor UK" qualification via a shortened version of the mountain environment Level 2 course. The Senior Instructor qualification is targeted at those who only intend to work on artificial slopes.

BASI also provide their own set of coaching qualifcations

External links

www.basi.org.uk - Official BASI Site

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