Nigel Sainsbury has left the concrete jungle and heading to Norquay in Banff Canada to become a ski instructor on EA's ski instructor course. Over his season he will be posting updates from the powdery antics over in Canada.
Here is his first blog before EA's ski instructor course kicks off, and a look at his epic beard before it sadly disappears.
After ten years of working 70 hour weeks as a business executive in the UK, I decided that life is too short to live with regrets. So here I find myself living in Banff after six months travelling Canada from the Atlantic coast to the western Arctic Circle, about to take on a heart pounding exciting new adventure: becoming a ski instructor in the Rockies at Mount Norquay!
I love skiing. It feeds my adrenaline cravings and I love the mystery and wilderness of the mountains. Since I've always got a lot of satisfaction from teaching, working outside all day and doing something I love felt like a very easy life choice to make!
Choosing to do this through the EA ski internship, after a lot of research, became the obvious route to take. It came down to their passion for what they do, their swift and friendly communication, the great programme they have created and the simplicity of a guaranteed job at the end of the instructor training. This gives me nothing to worry about at all, well, other than the small step of passing my CSIA instructor exams....!
So with less than a week to go until the the EA Mount Norquay ski instructor training begins, I'm taking the opportunity to join the locals on the slopes to enjoy the early snow and to put some time in at the gym to ensure my fitness doesn't disgrace me too badly during training. It's going to be three weeks of intensity! I can't wait to meet the rest of the 2013/14 EA Norquay`crew, who are arriving this coming Saturday. I know that spending the winter season with new friends, riding the trials and tribulations of training, exams and succeeding as great instructors, is going to be a HUGE amount of fun.
During my eight months in Canada, I've grown quite attached to my new beard (emotionally as well as physically!) but with the advice from the Norquay Ski School Director fresh in my mind that I risk facial frost bite from beard ice, I fear the one thing I wanted to keep with me for the winter may well have to go. Some sacrifices, though, are worth making!
