Safe Slope

Our main objective was to improve safety on ski routes through providing better education for 25 Latvian and 10 Estonian ski instructors under the framework of this project. An additional benefit of the project was the short training course for instructors who want to work with disabled persons. The work of the Finnish trainers was assessed by the Latvian trainers and instructors, while the education project of the Latvian trainers was monitored by the Finnish partners. All Latvian trainers involved in the project followed the courses, as it was a very valuable experience. The project team was highly competent and professional. Both the AKSA trainers who taught the courses for the Latvian students and the new trainers have the highest trainer qualifications and have acquired their education in Finland and Austria. Both regularly offer training courses and have done it also in Latvia and in Finland with our instructors.The cooperation with the partners was easy and accurate. Given that the implementation of the project was delayed by the poor weather conditions at the beginning of the 2017, we had enough time to prepare carefully for the project implementation during the winter of 2018, which had exceptionally good conditions. Taking into consideration the importance of the project for Latvia, LSSIA invested more funds and energy, exceeding the limitations of the eligible expenses. The impact of the project already can be felt. We have more than 10 applicants for the LSSIA Level 2 courses for the next season. We are sure that the “Guidelines for ski instructors”, developed with the involvement of all parties, will be a useful guide for all ski schools in the Alps and in Scandinavia, where a major influx of ski tourists from the former Soviet states has been felt for the last 10 years. The project results have been published on our website skischool.lv, which is the main online resource for all instructors in Latvia to learn more about courses and the latest training methods. The main difficulties were caused by unpredictable weather conditions and poor winters in our region. It was intended to implement the project in Finland, Latvia and Estonia but in 2017, the winter started very late in these regions and we were unable to start the training. Another risk was related to the inability of the trainers to continue the training due to a potential sports injury. Another difficulty was the collection of all documents required for the project report. Unfortunately, it is a common practice that all parties involved in the project collect their financial documents at the last moment. Nevertheless, the project proved in practice that it is possible to have a coordinated cooperation with all our foreign partners and that such cooperation is useful and can have beneficial results regardless of the different instructor training methods and practice in each country.