British Skiers Receive New Year Honours
Two British ski coaches have been recognised in the 2020 New Year's Honours List*.
Christopher John Day has been awarded the British Empire Medal for services to Adaptive Skiers and Ali Ross [who's described as a 'skiing instructor'] has been made an MBE for services to skiing. For those who are curious about these awards, an MBE is an order of the British Empire award. It is the third highest ranking Order of the British Empire award, behind CBE which is first and then OBE. It stands for Member of the Order of the British Empire. The British Empire Medal is granted in recognition of meritorious civil or military service. Recipients are entitled to use the post-nominal letters "BEM".
Chris Day is a Snowsport England coach who knows the role inside out. He is a tutor of the SSE Adaptive Awareness Course and a regular at Gloucester Slope. Chris has many years working with a wide variety of skiers with various needs and always makes understanding them and their motivations the key aim in the sessions.
Ali Ross is well known as a ski teacher. His ideas about ski technique have revolutionised the performance of recreational skiers, proving that technical excellence is within the reach of anyone who aspires to make real improvement in their skiing.
Hailing from the Scottish Highlands, Ali started his skiing career in the Cairngorms. Under the guidance of the local ski school, he soon progressed through the British Association of Ski Instructors' system ( as it then was) to become a trainer of aspirant teachers and young racers
The Alps then beckoned the young Ross and he joined the Swiss Ski School in Wengen where he was to remain for twelve years, during which time he also trained racers both in Switzerland and in France. Then by a twist of fate he met three Sunday Times journalists, Harry Evans, Brian Jackman and Mark Ottaway, who were keen, but sceptical, intermediate skiers and who were about to write a book on learning to ski.
Ali, in the words of Brian Jackman, "Became the guiding light behind the best-seller, We Learned To Ski" and the later Channel 4 TV series. Ali with his wife Moira,then established Ali Ross Skiing Clinics. Since the 1990s in the intervening years, with further books, videos and his own ski courses based in Tignes, Ali Ross has carved a unique place in the world of ski teaching.
*For those unfamiliar with the British Honours system, it's a quaint way in which hard work, good conduct and occasionally political donations are recognised, with awards which frequently reference the long lost, and probably not widely lamaneted 'British Empire'.
