What does it take to coach someone through danger? When it comes to taking risks, danger can come in the form of real and perceived threats to our safety and well being. Regardless of whether the danger is real or imagined, when people feel threatened, even on a sub conscious level, they can inadvertently move into their survival zone. When this happens, performance can suffer, and people can find themselves increasing the probability of experiencing the very consequences they are hoping to avoid.

Helping us to explore what it takes to coach people through danger effectively is Derek Foose. Derek is the founder and head coach of the Whistler Free Ride Club. He guides and works as a staff trainer for Extremely Canadian. Derek is also a Course Conductor and Course Developer for the Professional Ski Instructors of Canada’s Big Mountain Pathway.

In addition to coaching and guiding, Derek has tapped into his extensive experience as a broadcast host for the Freeride World tour. He is on the Board of Directors Coaches Chair for International Freeskiers and Snowboarders Association.

In this engaging episode, we discuss the key strategies that adventure coaches, instructors and guides can employ to help the people they are coaching succeed in the face of danger.

Key Takeaways

Preparation: Preparing people before they are put in a high-risk situation – regardless of whether it is perceived or real – is key. It is very difficult to teach someone how to handle high risk situations, in high-risk situations. The skills needed to perform in the face of danger have to learned and practiced where people can make mistakes with low consequences.

Build trust: Letting people talk, showing people that you care and helping people to succeed are key components of building trust. When people trust their coach, they are more likely to believe in themselves. Conversely, when their coach believes in them, they are more likely to stay with their coach.

Give people control, where you can: A coach can do this by letting people talk themselves into or out of situations as much as possible. It is almost always better to let people come to the right conclusion on their own. What a coach wants to avoid is talking someone into doing something when they don’t feel ready, and then having that person fail. When this happens, the failure is going to be on the coach. This will erode trust and damage relationships.

Stay Calm: Calmness creates calmness. But no one has ever calmed down by being told to calm down! If a coach shows signs of stress or a lack of confidence, the people they are coaching are likely to follow suit. Using a reassuring tone, positive language and keeping people focused on believing success is possible, are key elements of creating s calm atmosphere.

Keeping people close: When danger and stress levels increase, bringing people closer to the coach – when it’s safe – can help to reassure people. It can also help to show people what they need to do to succeed.

Keep feedback simple: The more complex the situation, the simpler the instructions need to be. When people are faced with high-risk situations, feedback needs to be simple, relatable and familiar. Now is not the time for complex explanations or new skills.

Beware of Emotion: When people are stressed, it is common for them to lash out. This is especially true when you know each other well. As much as possible, try to stay focused on what needs to happen and avoid taking things personally should things get heated.

Guest Bio

Derek Foose is the founder and head coach of the Whistler Free Ride Club. He guides and works as a staff trainer for Extremely Canadian. Derek is also a Course Conductor and Course Developer for the Professional Ski Instructors of Canada’s Big Mountain Pathway.

In addition to coaching and

Increasing Situational Awareness with Jerome David

How can we improve our situational awareness so that we don’t miss important information? Situational awareness is the ability to perceive, understand, and effectively respond to one’s situation. This includes being able to recognize the hazards around us, the state of ourselves and the people we are with, changing conditions, and the overall direction that the situation we are in is likely to go.

When it comes to delivering adventure, a lack of situational awareness can impact our judgment in ways that can either boost or degrade our decision making and our ability to react to the situations that we are in.

In this episode of Delivering Adventure, ACMG Ski Guide Jerome David joins us to explore how we can boost our situational awareness. Jerome shares some examples from his career as a Heli ski guide and bike park patroller as well as some practical strategies we can all use.

Jerome currently works at Whistler Heli skiing as the lead guide and guide manager. He has also worked as a ski and bike patroller and trail builder.

Key Takeaways

To improve our situational awareness we can:

Take Time to Refocus (When Needed): Living in the moment by concentrating on the task at hand can reduce distraction and complacency. It can also help us to switch from system 2 thinking where slower reasoned thinking can consume our bandwidth at the expense of being able to process information and react faster with our system 1 thinking.

Boosting Bandwidth: People are like computers, they only have so much processing power at anyone time. To boost our ability to process everything around us, we may need to slow things down.

Be aware of Transitions: When we switch activities or change the intensity of tasks, we need to make sure that we refocus. Failing to do so can cause our minds to become focused on what we were just doing, instead of paying attention to what we are doing in that moment.

An example of a transitions to be aware of include going from low risk to high-risk situations or vice versa.

Reduce External Distractions: This can include storing phones, giving people less instruction in complex situations or waiting for other people to pass you on a trail or climb so that you can stay focused.

Plan Ahead: This can include making lists so that you don’t miss anything. Briefing people on what to expect, what they should look for or be aware of can also help to switch people on.

Guest Bio

Jerome David has been working on Snow and Dirt in Whistler since 1998. On the road to becoming an ACMG ski guide, he worked 11 years with Whistler Blackcomb Patrol. He has been ski guiding for the past 7 years. In the summers, Jerome has previously had a long career working as Whistler Mountain Bike Park patrol. The last years he has been building and maintaining Mountain Bike trails. Currently, he works for AlpX and oversees the summer program there. In the Winter Jerome is lead guide and guide manager at Whistler Heli-Skiing.

Guest Links

Thinking Fast and Slow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow

Whistler Heli Skiing: https://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/explore-the-resort/activities-and-events/whistler-heli-skiing/whistler-heli-skiing.aspx

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What does it take to build and operate a successful adventure company? In this episode, Chris Winter joins Chris and Jordy to discuss how he has built Big Mountain Adventures, from the ground up. Chris shares some of his successes and challenges and the mindset that goes into running a successful adventure company.

Chris Winter grew up bike touring in Europe with his parents, who ran a road cycling tour company. After a career as a professional skier competing and participating in ski films, Chris followed his parents' footsteps and founded Big Mountain Adventures. Launched in 2002, Whistler based Big Mountain Adventures has grown to employ 25 guides running mountain bike trips and courses in 14 countries.

In addition to owning and operating Big Mountain Adventures, Chris Winter teaches steep skiing clinics for Extremely Canadian at Whistler Blackcomb. He has also founded the not for profit Zero Ceiling that hosts disadvantaged youth on the slopes of Whistler Blackcomb.

Guest Bio

Chris Winter is a former ski racer. Level IV CSIA ski instructor, level III high-performance ski coach, celebrated technical skier, sponsored big mountain skier featured in magazines and films. Currently teaching steep skiing clinics at Whistler Blackcomb for Extremely Canadian.

Chris is the Owner and Founder of Big Mountain Adventures. Chris founded Big Mountain Adventures in 2002. During this time, he has built his tour company into the leader in guided mountain bike travel featuring award-winning adventures in 14 countries. Check out their new eMTB trips!

Chris is also the owner of the Bralorne Adventure Lodge. Ready for a boutique mountain experience? Step out the door to spectacular wilderness & endless adventures…then recharge at our backyard spa.

In addition to operating adventure-based businesses, Chris has also created and developed Zero Ceiling. This is an innovative and respected registered non-profit that hosts disadvantaged youth to the slopes of Whistler Blackcomb. From local First Nations to street youth to youth from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, participants benefit from a day of snowboard lessons, or if chosen participate in a year-long program that teaches them to become employees at Whistler Blackcomb and give them life-long life skills.

Guest Links

Big Mountain Adventures: https://www.ridebig.com

Bralorne Adventure Lodge: https://www.bralorneadventurelodge.com

Zero Ceiling: https://zeroceiling.org

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