Coaches for Winter Training 2024
HELEN HOLLIDAY : DAVE JACOBS : CRAIG LAMONT : TOM GOODMAN : RODDY HAMILTON : ANGELA GOODMAN : SOPHIE JACOBS
ALSO AN EXCITING LINE UP OF GUEST COACHES TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON!
Helen Holliday Head Coach – BASI ISIA Alpine instructor, Alpine Race Coach Level 1, European Mountain Safety
I’m delighted to be working for Cairngorm Ski Club in the privileged position of managing our fantastic and highly experienced coaching team.
Having spent much of the last 12 years living and working in the Allgäu Alps, it’s lovely to be back in Scotland and exploring our home mountains again – be that on skis or on my mountain bike.
I’m really looking forward to spending this winter helping our young trainees develop – as future ski racers, free riders, coaches or simply all-round ski legends!
Please come and say hello on the hill, or get in touch to find out more about what our brilliant club has to offer:
Dave Jacobs – Alpine Coach Level 3
I have been skiing since the age of 3, blasting about the Scottish resorts with my friends and family.
At 17 I trained under the wing of Hans Kuwall as an instructor at Carrbridge moving on in 1984 to work at Loch Insh summer and winter for 3 years, from here I moved on to working in the big hills of the French Alps for the ESF and British Ran Ski Schools.
In 1994 I focused my coaching towards performance skiing/race training working for ski schools and clubs as Head Coach/Programme Manager. In this time I also did numerous trips with GB Children’s Team and ad hoc support/coaching for individual athletes.
I had a break last year due to knee issues[all good now] and this year I have launched my own business offering int/adv and performance ski coaching in Scotland and beyond. In the summer I run my own Stand Up Paddleboard School in Stonehaven.
Biggest achievement and buzz was being a founder of the Ghana Ski Team which involved coaching and managing one athlete who had never seen snow or a mountain before and taking him from a beginner in 2001 to getting him qualified to compete at the Olympics in Vancouver in 2010, the aim was the 2006 games in Turin but he narrowly missed out on enough points due to lack snow and races being cancelled. He was the first native black African to achieve this.
No matter where I have been working in the world my spiritual home has always been the Cairngorm area and the mountain, I have a huge amount of happy memories from spending time here and love everything about this area and the people.
Craig Lamont – Alpine Level 3 Head Performance Coach (Fully Licensed) IVSI International Ski Coach Level 1 Race Organiser Approved Course Setter – A List Status
I have been involved in coaching racers for 35 years, but started race training myself with CSC when I was about 11,finishing up training with the club in my early twenties under respected coach John Clark.I then raced full time on the FIS circuit all over Europe,travelling and living in a campervan, finishing up livingin Tignes, training & racing there. During this time I coached the sole member of the Swaziland Ski Team at the Albertville Olympics. When I retired from racing I started coaching at CSC, taking over from the legendary Ian Dunlop as Head Coach before spending a season as a race organiser. I was then head hunted to be Head Coachfor the Scottish Ski Club where I coached many racers onto British and Scottish Teams. I was one of the main coaches for the combined Scottish clubs FAST Camps and have coached on more than sixty camps throughout my coaching career; my biggest achievement being to coach the Scottish Ski Club Boys Under 14 & 16 Teams to win the British Team title four years in a row, beating all of the commercially run academy teams.In 2023 I was selected to coach the Scottish Team for the ISF World Schools Games. Half a dozen of my friends from my racing days are now World Cup coaches and they have helped me improve my knowledge of training and course setting at the top level.
I now enjoy coaching young adults, aspiring coaches and masters racers. I am qualified to mentor Level 1 & 2 Trainee coaches through their qualifications to become fully licenced coaches. I still enjoy training gates regularly myself and I’m the reigning Scottish Masters Slalom Champion on snow. Outside of skiing I raced XC mountainbikes and road bikes internationally,I enjoy driving sports cars, riding my trials motorbike and I love many watersports such as windsurfing, surfing, paddleboarding and scuba diving. I am also a MIAS Level 2 mountainbike leaderand PADI diving instructor.
Roddy Hamilton- Freestyle Ski Coach- CSIA Level 2 and Park and Pipe Coach; Snowsport Scotland P + P Level 2 Performance Coach
I started skiing at Firpark dry slope, progressing into racing on dry slope and Scottish mountains. I was lucky enough to be able to do a ‘gap year’ qualification course in Canada before going to university, gaining CSIA Level 2 instructing and Park and Pipe coaching qualifications (at the time, my other big passion was ‘aggressive inline skating’- so I was naturally drawn to freestyle skiing).
Throughout my time at Aberdeen University I spent nearly as much time at the dry slope as I did studying. When I wasn’t instructing and coaching I would be sessioning the freestyle features.
After university (from 2010) I spent winter seasons instructing and coaching at Cairngorm, Glencoe, Japan, Austria, and ‘mini-seasons’ with Interski in Italy.
Over the years I have gotten into ski touring and get a big kick out of skiing places in Scotland I’ve never skied before.
I take part in the Coe Cup most years and really enjoy the creativity and diversity of freeride.
Since 2019 I have been working full time as a Climate Change Officer but try to get in as much skiing as I can over winters- including night tours in the Ochil Hills after work when conditions allow!
Aside from skiing and ‘the day job’ I’m mostly mountain biking, fixing bikes, gardening, and playing music.
Angela Goodman BASI ISIA Alpine
I started skiing age 10 when my family moved to Annecy with my parents work. I loved it immediately, and knew I wanted to race and teach. We moved back to Scotland age 16, and I raced and trained with Bearsden Ski Club on Cairngorm for a couple of years. I instructed and raced during university, and ever since then I have worked full time and then part time as an instructor and coach depending on the year, and have a BASI Level 3 ISIA. A lot of my work was for Nevis Range, working as an instructor during the week and coaching Lochaber Ski Club juniors and adults at weekends. However, I have also had experience working in France, Italy, the USA, and Australia. Last year I enjoyed coaching with Cairngorm ski club, and I am looking forward to the 2024 season.
I love coaching and really enjoy seeing the changes skiers can make over a season not only in skiing skills, but also in confidence, mountain awareness, resilience, building friendships, and other life skills. I am always seeking to improve my own skiing, and love the challenge of racing, course setting and steeps.
Outside of skiing, I work as an Early Years Practitioner for Lochcarron Nursery, with a focus on outdoor learning. I enjoy many outdoor sports, and I am heavily involved in Lochcarron sailing club as Training Principal, and love to sail and race laser dinghies.
Tom Goodman UKCP Alpine 1 SSS2 working towards ISIA
With a skiing passion cultivated since the age of 3, my journey has been marked by milestones, including joining the SSC Race program at 12 and obtaining qualification at 16. As a coach for various clubs, I’ve focused on elevating performance in racing.
On slopes I continue to push my performance focussing in the gates, touring, and freeriding. Often, I am found pre-work during the winter, seeking out fresh tracks on the mountain.
Simultaneously, I pursue a Master’s in Naval Architecture at Strathclyde, complemented by extensive sailing involvement, both as a performance coach for RYA Scotland and a competitive participant including national and international events. This broad experience of a different sport greatly benefitted my coaching in both sports.
This season, I’ve chosen to return to my roots, coaching on Cairngorm. This decision aligns with my commitment to both personal and professional development, aiming to inspire the next generation in one of Scotland’s premier programs.
Sophie Jacobs, CASI Level 2, working towards ISIA
Having skied since I was 3 but I used to not really enjoyed it until I became a teenager, when I got my first lessons and understood how to control my skiing and keep up with my family and friends – who were all older and/or taller then me!
This realisation resulted in me to wanting to teach others, and so I went to Canada to get my Level 1 and 2 before heading to university. This was an incredible experience – before this I’d only skied in Scotland and in the Alps at Easter, so I fell over on the fresh powder snow to start with!
During uni I worked for Interski and I mainly ski tour with friends from the mountaineering club. When their is no snow we would be climbing, running and generally outdoors as much as possible.
I have now worked in Zermatt, Switzerland for two seasons, which I enjoyed so much that I am now pursuing a career in teaching here at home. I am currently working as a pupil support assistant while applying for teacher training.
I’m super excited to be part of the coaching team here and having as much fun with you all as possible
Julian Jennings UKCP Alpine Performance Coach IVSI L2 & BASI L2
I started my ski career progressing through the BASI system while a student in Edinburgh; during this time I
worked at Hillend Ski Centre, where I trained and developed my instructing & coaching under the direction
of Hans Kuwall, which included coaching Bairns to U18, as well as the local Edinburgh schools ski
programme and coaching on race camps in Europe.
I then progressed on to work with Carrbridge Ski School, again under the direction of Hans, coaching from
Bairns, U16’s , and the schools programmes, instructing army groups & running races; after Carrbridge Ski
School I then progressed on to work for ‘The Ski & Snowboard School’, which included teaching as part of
the legendary Snowlimits children’s programme;
Through my coaching with Cairngorm Ski Club, I really enjoy being able to draw on my years of experience
to develop the skier’s enjoyment of the sport & providing them the skills to progress their skiing and
supporting them as they progress and to encourage them to make their skiing great while having fun at the
same time!
Outside of ski coaching, I enjoy venturing further through ski touring in the backcountry and also mountain
biking.
Looking forward to seeing you all on the snow!
Ffion Townsend BASI Level 2
I started skiing when I was 4 years old, on a dryslope in North Wales. Both my parents ski, my mother is an ex-racer and my father is a mountain guide, so naturally I fell in love with skiing. I joined Cairngorm Ski Club when I was 8 years old and attended race camps in Hintertux with some amazing coaches which fuelled my passion. I have participated in multiple strands of the sport, including racing in Scotland and abroad, Freeride competitions such as the Coe Cup, Nordic skiing as part of the Scottish Nordic Squad and ski touring in the Cairngorms and the Alps. I am a gear tester for Fall line Magazine, the ‘go to’ ski magazine and am lucky enough to attend the Ski Test every year and ski with some amazing people like Candide Thovex, Glen Plake and Finlay Mickel. I am a BASI Level 2 Instructor with aims to progress further. The Cairngorms is one of my favourite places to ski and I am really looking forward to working with the Club this year, whatever the weather. ‘Ski Ya Later’
OTHER COACHES WHO SUPPORT THE CLUB