Colin Borrow, the director of the snow school at Marmot Basin, is now one of only a handful of Level 4 course conductors certified with the Canadian Ski Instructors Alliance.
Borrow was recently certified as a Level 4 course conductor, making him one of only 35 people in the country currently qualified to teach Level 4 courses.
He talked about the honour on Feb. 12. Having come straight from the hill, he still wore his bright red Marmot Basin jacket and name tag, complimented by a black ball cap. Reclining in a chair in the Other Paw Bakery, he spoke in a raspy voice, often with the corners of his mouth turned up into a slight smile.
He said he’s proud of what he’s accomplished, but admitted a little sheepishly that he didn’t think it was as big a deal as some people (mostly his bosses) were making it out to be.
“There’s lot of people in town that do a lot of amazing things, people that save people’s lives and make people’s lives better. You know, paramedics and firefighters and [Parks Canada visitor safety specialists]. I ski right and left for a living,” he said with a wry grin.
And while Borrow might not necessarily save lives, achieving the rank of Level 4 course conductor is an accomplishment that few can claim.
The CSIA offers four levels of instructor certification, with Level 4 being the most difficult to attain. According to Brian Rode, the vice president of marketing and sales at Marmot, most instructors don’t make it that far, and those who do have to work incredibly hard.
When Rode attained his Level 4 certification in 1982, for example, he and seven other were the only ones out of more than 100 people who passed the test.
Rode explained that most people take the test several times before passing—Borrow didn’t pass until his fourth try—and that pretty much everyone who takes the test goes into it with the assumption that they will fail the first time.
“Most people when they hit Level 4, that’s when they breathe a sign of relief, and kind of [say] ‘I made it,’” Borrow noted.
But for Borrow, Level 4 certification just wasn’t enough. Once he was certified to teach skiing at the highest levels, he decided he wanted to be able to teach the teachers.
That’s what his Level 4 course conductor certification represents; it allows him to grade and evaluate skiers who are taking the Level 4 certification test.
In order to get that certification, he had to first apply to shadow an instructor as they marked a Level 4 exam. The next year, he “rookied” at a Level 4 exam, handing out marks that didn’t go to those taking the test, but to a board of instructors who marked his ability to correctly mark other people.
Finally he was evaluated on his skiing ability, and his ability to present Level 4 course material in an acceptable way. Only after he did all that was he certified as a course conductor.
Borrow explained that it took him years of work and training to get to that point, and that he was relieved when he passed the test, especially because you only really get one shot.
“At the Level 4, I don’t know if there’s anyone who gets a second chance. If you get in too early, before you’re ready ... and you mess up, that’s it for you.
“It’s not really written anywhere, but I’ve never met someone who was given a second chance,” he said, jokingly referring to the upper echelons of the CSIA as a “secret society.”
And while Borrow is proud of his accomplishment on a personal level, he seems almost more excited about what it means for the snow school at Marmot Basin.
He explained that word will have already spread around the industry that there’s a Level 4 course conductor at Marmot, and that fact alone will attract ambitious instructors who want to move up the CSIA ranks, because they know he can offer them that path.
“Those people who want to go further in the CSIA, if they come to Jasper there’s a guy who’s actively training and marking the standard,” he explained.
“I have attracted instructors from literally all over the world to come and work here with us. And what I’ve accomplished in the CSIA is what allows that.”
Rode is equally excited.
“The instructors, one of their big motivations is to become better, and to move up the ranks. With Colin there, he’s attracting a high quality of instructor [and] that’s huge for us, especially at a ski area that doesn’t employ hundreds of people.
It really creates a really, really, really strong culture.”
Rode explained that he has worked with Borrow for more than eight years, and—along with suffering a few headaches brought on by him clomping loudly in his ski boots—has seen him mature from the “top-ranked” ski instructor he was when he first arrived, to the powerhouse he is today.
He said Borrow has the ability to see the needs of his students better than most, and that that translates into a snow school that people get the most out of.
“Most Level 4s have the skiing ability to be a Level 4 course conductor [but] they may never get to quite the teaching ability,” he explained. “That really is the big trick: it’s one thing to be able to teach the best people, but can you teach people to be good teachers—and Colin can.”
For his part, Borrow said he is just happy to be teaching people how to ski. The man who once spent 17 winters in a row teaching skiing by flying between New Zealand and Canada said he couldn’t do what he did without the support of his bosses at Marmot, and his lovely wife.
Trevor Nichols
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