Ski Club of Ireland
The Ski Club of Ireland owns and runs the largest artificial ski slope in Ireland. It is located in County Wicklow close to the village of Kilternan, (County Dublin).
History
The Ski Club of Ireland was founded in 1963 and a few years later ran its first slope in Knockrabo in Goatstown, south County Dublin.[1]
In the mid 1970s the club moved from Goatstown to its present location close to Kilternan.
Facilities
The ski club has four ski slopes: a main slope (180 meters long), an intermediate slope (130 meters long) and two nursery slopes. The slopes' surfaces are covered in Dendix, a by-product of brush manufacturing which is similar to a short haired brush with the bristles sticking upwards. Dendix is manufactured in Chepstow in the United Kingdom, however it can be found on slopes throughout the world.[2] A water misting system lubricates the main and intermediate slopes, which helps increase speed and reduce friction.
The ski club has a clubhouse located beside the slopes which houses an office and equipment dispensing area. Rental equipment is included in the price of class tickets or practice passes. Boots are Salomon and skis tend to be Rossignol or Head.
There is a kitchen with basic tea and coffee facilities and a microwave.
Ski School
The club offers ski lessons for all abilities. Instructors in the ski school include ISIA qualified instructors available. Most of the instructor’s qualifications have been obtained through the Irish Association of Snow Sports Instructors or BASI. There are however are a few native Austrian, German and Spanish skiers amongst the instructors.
Class groups consist of four, 1.15 hour classes and 30 minutes free skiing afterwards.
The classes are broken down as follows
- A1-A4: Introduction to skiing through to basic Plough Turns and learning to use a drag lift.
- B1-B4: Refining plough turns and progressing to swing turns.
- C1-C4: Progression through swing turns and includes traversing, side slipping, effective use of ski poles, and introduces elements of the parallel turn.
- D1-D4: Working towards linked parallel turns from the top of the main slope.
- E1-E4: Teaches variations on the parallel turn, practicing techniques for confident and efficient mastery of the piste. This includes carved turns and short swings.
Clinics: The Ski School runs clinics on Wednesday and Friday nights for more advanced skiers. These clinics focus on high end skiing and adult race training including Slalom and GS race courses through gates.
One Day Courses are run on Saturdays through the ski season. Normally compacting 5 lessons into one day for example new skiers would be taken form class A1-B1 in one day.
There is a snowboarding school on Tuesday and Thursday nights with a Sunday evening Jam for Boarders only.
Race Squad
The squad trains on Wednesday evenings, 7:30pm to 10:30pm and Sunday mornings, 9am to 12pm under the guidance of Head coach Brian Byrne. The coaching panel includes Carolyn Dent-Neville, Suzanne Reidy and Matthew Mitchell.
The Race Training Squad caters for those wishing to further develop their racing skills and are interested in committing to an intensive training program.
Training sessions are divided as follows:
- Ski Training
Working towards more complex aspects of skiing such as weight distribution in the turn, loading the ski, hip and knee angulation, etc. but can include some basic exercises where necessary. In addition a large amount of time is spent working in slalom courses (on Sunday mornings).
- Fitness Training
This consists of activities such as dynamic warm-ups, anaerobic fitness, and speed training. Also includes regular fitness testing. Fitness training sessions vary from anything between 30 and 60 minutes.
Shane O'Connor, Brian Byrne, Peter Byrne and Kirsty Mc Garry all competed at the World Championships in Val d'isere in 2009 with Shane O'Connor also competing in the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010.
Development Squad Training
Development squad training runs on Wednesdays and Sundays alongside Race Squad training, coached by Tony McGuiness under the direction of Shane O'Connor. This training session caters for juniors aged 11 years old and upwards who are looking to further develop their skills towards joining the race training squad. Prospective trainees should have the ability to ski from the top of the slope and should be comfortable skiing at speed.
The development training sessions focus on improving basic technique in progression to carving parallel turns. Over time trainees may graduate to the Race Training Squad (dependant on assessment).
Children's Race Training
Children's race training runs on a Saturday morning under the guidance of Ciaran Columb. The session caters for children aged 7 – 11 years old. Prospective trainees need to have the ability to ski from the top of the slope and should be comfortable skiing at speed.
The Children's Race Training sessions focus on improving basic technique, progression from snowplough to parallel skiing (including carving) introduction to slalom training and racing. Over time trainees will graduate to either the Development Squad or the Race Training Squad.