Ski instructor Ali Ross has helped thousands of skiers transform their skills during the 50 years he’s been teaching. We catch up with him in Tignes to discover the secret of his success
WorDs Henry Druce
Some of our readers will recognise your name from the best-selling book, We Learned To Ski, published in the late 70s, and the Channel 4 tv series aired in the early 80s. How did they come about? At the time i was instructing on a makeshift dry slope at Lords cricket ground, which was open from september to late november. one of my clients was Harry evans [then editor of the sunday times] and he realised i had a slightly different teaching approach. After a week of private morning lessons he asked me if i would help him write a book about learning to ski. Harry sent one of his journalists, Brian Jackman, to Wengen in switzerland, where i was based in winter, to write the book, with me overseeing the technical content.
How did you get into ski teaching? My love of skiing started as a teenager. When growing up in the Highlands of scotland i used to go to Cairngorm at the weekends. this was before there were any ski lifts and part of the pleasure was walking up the mountains to ski down them. Lifts arrived at Aviemore in the early 60s, and a British ski school was launched around the same time. Previously most instructors were from scandinavia. the founder of the school, frith finlayson, was looking for young Highlanders to train and asked me to join. After three years of training i started instructing aged 21 and worked full time in Aviemore for 12 years before moving to Wengen.
How does your approach differ from more traditional methods? i’ve never said there’s anything wrong with a traditional approach, it’s about how the information is presented. i believe there are three fundamental elements to skiing that need to be understood – how the skis work, how the body works and the gravitational forces that affect us when skiing. the fundamentals have always been the same and result in letting the skis turn you, rather than you turning the skis. Many people
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haven’t had this critical info explained before. My approach is to convey these messages as clearly as possible to pupils.
Ali Ross Skiing Clinics have been in Tignes since 1983. Why do you rate the resort so highly? it’s a very high resort, which means you are guaranteed good snow conditions, and there is an enormous amount of terrain particularly suited to intermediates looking to improve. the infrastructure is being constantly upgraded, the piste preparation is second to none in the Alps, and it’s really easy to get back to the resort after a day’s skiing. finally i’ve developed a very good connection with the people here.
What irritates you most about skiing in this day and age? the number of collisions on the mountains and the general attitude of people to each other on the slopes. Almost every day i see people skiing too fast, without regard for others. it’s an escalating problem and nobody in europe seems to be seriously grabbing the bull by the horns. i hate to see people giving up skiing because they are fearful of others. We need a return to some simple good manners.
Do people ski differently now compared to in the past? if we look at skiers from the hip down, back in the day they skied the same way as they do now. Body positions are identical but the equipment has changed and so it looks like people are skiing differently. With older equipment skiers had to be more skilfull as the skis had less sidecut and you had to work them much harder.
Have any of your pupils fallen in love with you and have you reciprocated? Many years ago i met a pupil and within 20 minutes had totally changed her skiing style. i married Moira six months later, in 1983, and we’re still happily together.
How do you get on with the ESF? Was there ever any argy bargy in the past? no, i’ve never had any problems. When i approached the esf to say that i wanted to make a permanent base in tignes they were fine with it. All the employees in tignes are very good friends and we work happily together. We’ve always had this link and mutual respect.
What’s the best part of the job? seeing how a couple of simple pieces of information can entirely change someone’s way of skiing, sometimes within a matter of minutes, it’s still the biggest thrill for me. My dream was never to be a great skier, it was always to be ski teacher and that’s still true to this day.
How do you spend your summers? We spend time on our beautiful wee croft in the Highlands and sailing as much as possible off the west coast of scotland in our gorgeous 30ft yacht. i also have a small light aeroplane which Moira allows me to fly every now and again.
Do you have any regrets? [Lot of laughter] if someone spends their liftetime doing something they truly love and giving pleasure to others, what better life could you have? i’m very fortunate.