IASI Snowsports
November Newsletter - Cervinia video, board update and new webinar!
Latest news
A lot has happened at IASI since October’s newsletter! Read on below to find out more…
Save the date! IASI's next webinar set for 4th December
Ride Hard, Ride Safe!
Making off-piste and ski touring acceptably safe
6pm Irish/UK time / 7pm CET
Register here.
Special guests Henry Schniewind (of Henry’s Avalanche Talks) and Dominique Perret (of WEMountain) will be hosting a webinar on avalanche safety. The webinar is designed to be accessible to everyone – for people who have never done any avalanche training, and those who would like a refresher. If you’re thinking of skiing off piste this season, you should definitely tune in.
Making a statement at the London Snow Show
The IASI board took a team of four to Olympia, along with a coffee machine, leaflets, banner stands and two large Irish flags. We thought hanging the tricolour on the balcony might be a bit cheeky, but it made us unmissable at the show! Highlights include:
- Meeting loads of IASI members (who all got given IASI buffs)
- We had some really good meetings with potential for the future – including our upcoming webinar!
- There were some good discussions and connections made with BASI and Snowsports England, and we co-presented with them on the Equipment & Instruction stage in a session about video analysis
- We met all the IASI LCPs who were at the show
- We chatted to teens thinking about gap years, BASI members thinking of converting and lots of Irish skiers intrigued by the flag
- And dealt with what felt like a million comments along the lines of ‘I didn’t know there were mountains in Ireland’!
IASI AGM in Kilternan
The next stop on the IASI 2025 Roadshow was the home of Irish skiing, at Kilternan, near Dublin, for our Annual General Meeting.
Before the AGM itself, IASI ran a series of clinics throughout the day with Educators JP McCarthy and Warren Smith working with members of the Ski Club of Ireland. These were very well received, and something we hope to repeat next year, if not sooner. See here for Warren’s video summary of the day.
Five of the six ‘outgoing’ board members (pictured below, from left to right: Fiona, Dáire, Rich, Aoife and Blue) were also able to have a ski together for the first time, which was an absolute highlight, and really what IASI is all about!
Thank you so much to the Ski Club of Ireland and its members for making us so welcome.
For more details on what happened at the AGM, see below in Board Update.
IASI's Alpine Summit Cervinia
The final stop on the roadshow was Cervinia for the IASI Alpine Summit. The first half of the week was dedicated to educator training and selection, and we are delighted to welcome four new educators-in-training to the team: Tobias Poulsen, Gustav Godsk, Emily Hawkins and Lawrence Matthewman – congratulations! Click the button below for a review of the educator selection by Jonathan Ballou, who attended the event as an advisor.
Then the weekend part was open to all members and potential members of IASI. In summary, it was brilliant. Loads of positive vibes and excellent feedback, with several members asking for us to run an event like this every year.
We had 20 attendees for the member part of the weekend, which included Levels 1 to 4, teens to people in their sixties, members from Ireland, Italy, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, the UK, Iceland, Spain and Jordan – to name just a few.
We did conversions and CPD at all levels, free skiing with educators and trainee educators, where we all skied together and critiqued each other’s skiing, and worked on some themes that had been covered by the educators during the week. Off snow, we had a first-aid refresher, which worked brilliantly as an ice-breaker, we had welcome drinks, and a lovely dinner all together on the Saturday night. It was a great opportunity to meet members, hear more about what they want and don’t want from IASI, and talk about ideas for the future.
The educators and trainee educators who volunteered their time to take part in the member weekend were absolutely brilliant. Thank you Rob Machon (who also made the summary video below), Raph Revah, Gemma Deed and Tommy Williams – it was great to ski with you!
Click below for the video of the weekend!
Board update
What happened at the recent AGM and board election?
This year’s AGM was probably the most hotly anticipated and eventful meeting for some time. We received a very large number of proxy forms and a strong attendance in person and online. In total, 194 people took some part in the AGM, which must be an Association record.
The first event of note was that Stephen O’Hara tendered his resignation on the afternoon of the AGM, having come to a decision that he couldn’t give the role as much time as he’d have liked given his other extensive commitments. After Steve’s resignation, the outgoing board (pictured below) took the decision to expand their number to seven, which meant that there was no need to run the election, and all candidates that were standing for election were duly elected.
The newly-elected board consisted of Dáire O’Connell, Blue Martin, Rich Egan and Aoife Totterdell from the previous board, and Ian McEwan, Mike Barker and Jonny Parkhouse Evans who were newly elected.
The other event of note at the meeting was that some significant challenges to the new Articles of Association of the constitution were raised, so it was decided to consult further with IASI’s solicitor to address these before voting on them. This will be done either at an Extraordinary General Meeting, or at next year’s AGM.
What has happened since then?
Last week saw the first meeting to form the new board, where roles were assigned to the newly elected members. Mike Barker will take board responsibility for education (replacing Stephen O’Hara), Ian McEwan will be Company Secretary (replacing Fiona Mullen) and be looking after all aspects of compliance, and Jonny Parkhouse Evans will take board responsibility for membership, as this is an area which was highlighted as a focus area in the strategy document we circulated recently, and didn’t before have a named person on the board responsible for this critical area.
Since the meeting to form the new board, there have sadly been some further resignations. Dáire O’Connell (Chair), Rich Egan (LCP Liaison) and Aoife Totterdell (Treasurer) have all resigned from the board. The new board would like to thank them, and Stephen O’Hara, all very much for their enormous contribution to IASI during their respective tenures, and to wish them the very best for the future.
Blue Martin has been elected as the new Chair, and the new board have co-opted Fiachra Etchingham for the role of Honorary Treasurer. Over the coming weeks they will look to bring the board back to full strength.
The new board are focused on ensuring continuity, maintaining stability and legal compliance, working closely with ISIA on PSIE and carrying forward the strategy framework that’s already underway – particularly around education, governance, and international collaboration. Our day-to-day operations, course delivery, and planning for the season continue as normal.
We’ll include a fuller update and introduction to the new board soon in a dedicated email to the whole membership, but if any of you have questions or concerns in the meantime, please feel free to get in touch directly, with Blue, Mike, Ian, Jonny or Fiachra.
IASI kit - new and improved range
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