Skiing & Business. Coaching & Instruction.

A little history !

Russ Cohn, inventor and developer of NatureMill started the NatureMill indoor composting project back in 2003. The product has been evolving and improving ever since. Here is an interview with back in 2004 giving an overview of the early development and testing process:

www.howtocompost.org/naturemill.asp


A year later Russ did a follow-up in interview explaining how initial customer feedback led the development of the NatureMill :

www.howtocompost.org/naturemill05.asp

The photo on the page shows the old "mark 1" machine which is quite different to the current design.

I was recently asked to give some feedback to a couple of fellow instructors.

The first is planning to take their next instructing qualification and wanted a view on their current 'technical' level while the second asked for my thoughts after shadowing his Carving workshop for ski school clients.

Watching both Instructors was thought provoking and hopefully proved very positive for everybody concerned.

One thing that struck me during the week is the importance for Instructors to be able to match the best available slope to the learner skiers ability and the skiing activity planned. This is a fundamental skill for an instructor and is based on the ability to accurately judge the many variables involved, and is a key to a positive outcome for their clients.

The impact of these decisions for skiers in early the stages of learning is even more critical, and is complicated by the lift & piste combinations available in the resort. There are plenty of anecdotes about instructors who have pushed their clients too hard, too soon with negative results. A good instructor will not be afraid to return to easier slopes if need be.

Some resorts are extremely learner friendly and offer an excellent progression of slopes for beginners. Pila in the Aosta Valley Italy and Baqueira in Spanish Pyrenees are excellent resorts offering good piste progression giving lots of options for Instructors and skiers alike.

I found myself unexpectedly taking a class last week in the Pyrenees. The group was a Mother and 3 kids, the youngest only aged 5 or so. I was shocked to realise that non were wearing Sun Glasses or Goggles. When I mentioned that it would be a good idea to put them on it became clear that they had been left in the car.

The Mother and later the Father were unconcerned at the potential damage the sun was doing so I called the lesson to an early end.

Bright sun, high altitude and unprotected eyes don't mix !

Ski Inspired - A new holiday company offering holidays and accomodation in Baqueira Beret and the Val D'Aran. Operated by Tim and Annette who founded the British Ski School in Baqueira several years ago, Ski Inspired offer accomodation for all tasts, from the 5* luxary of the La Pleta to B&B accomodation in the local of town of Viella. Prices include Lift Passes and Lessons. For more information see: www.skinspired.co.uk

Hostau Era Claverola Good value B&B Accommodation in Salardu, just below Baqueira. Regular bus services or 5 minutes in the car. email Nuria the manager

Auviatge Miret During my 06/07 Baqueira Winter season we stayed in a lovely apartment in the village of Garos. Garos is about 1/3 of the way up the valley from the main town of Vielha and the drive up to Baqueira takes around 15 minutes in the car (a fiat Panda in our case!). A Bus service runs up and down the valley and the bus stop is about 3 minutes from the apartment with a convenient 8.15 bus getting me to the Tuc Blac at 8.40 ish in time for coffee before ski school. Judit was our host and her apartments are new build and of very high quality and include underground parking. Her web site is: www.auviatgemiret.com

UK Energy Saving - The UK Energy Saving website gives information and tips on ways to save energy and also how to save money on household bills.

Yesterdays jam seemed to prompt the machine to dump the mix in the mixing chamber into the bottom cure try, pretty much filling it up.

So this morning I found a likely looking Rose in the garden and treated it to a feed, tipping the compost around the base. We've not been able to get hold of any horse muck for the garden this year so the NatureMill compost is going to be a big help.

The experience so far has been very positive. The NatureMill does what it says on the tin and it's going to be very interesting to see how the second batch works out.

The only downside to this initial batch was it's smell (once outside on the garden) and not all items had composted as well as would have been ideal.

We've been adding an assortment of kitchen food waste over the last week and all seemed to be going OK until I noticed a couple of days ago that the mixture in the 'mixing chamber' was almost a paste. The American manufacturer mentioned that the 1st batch is often a little 'wet' so I decided to add another couple of handfuls of sawdust pellets. This seems to have done the trick. The NatureMill has mixed them into the soon to be compost and the mix has improved noticeably. Much dryer and "compost like".

This morning I noticed the machine had a red light on the front panel indicating a 'Jam'. I pressed the OK button hoping that it would free it's self up but no joy. The mixing arm whirred for a while and then stopped. I assumed that it was because the mix was to stodgy but on further investigation it was jammed up with an old potato !

The instructions recommend that larger items are cut down into manageable chunks to avoid such problems and suggest leaving the machine for 24hours as items often soften up allowing the machine to free it's self. Needless to say we didn't bother........