The Ski Podcast29 Aug 2025

Flashback: Warren Smith, Celebrity Ski Instructor

In this ‘flashback’ episode, Iain speaks with ‘ski instructor to the stars’ Warren Smith, from the Warren Smith Ski Academy.

We talk about how Warren got into skiing and his journey to Verbier via the Hemel Hempstead dry ski slope and Seefeld in Austria.

There’s plenty about the early days of the UK freestyle scene, working with many of the youngsters who have now become Olympians, as well as the celebrities that he’s taught over the years, including Laurence Dallaglio, Prince Harry, Princess Eugenie, Louis Smith, Bradley Wiggins and more.

Intersport Ski Hire Discount Code
As we are looking ahead to this winter, don’t forget that if you want to help The Ski Podcast and save yourself some money this winter…just use the code ‘SKIPODCAST’ when you book your ski hire at intersportrent.com.

That applies to any ski hire booked in their massive network across France, Austria and Switzerland. You’ll get a guaranteed additional discount, or simply take this link for your discount to be automatically applied.

SHOW NOTES

Warren learned to ski at the Hemel Hempstead dry ski slope, before it was recreated as The Snow Centre – an indoor snow slope
His first snow experience was on a school trip to Saalbach in Austria, when the coach broke down
Phil Gordon presents the ‘Legends of the Brand’ podcast (3:30)
Warren’s first qualification was as a UK dry slope instuctor (4:45)
He first taught on snow in Seefeld in Austria, before moving to Verbier in 1994 (5:00)
Joyce Read from Ski Verbier was an early mentor (6:00)
You can watch ‘Blizzard of Aaaahs’ – the famous ‘extreme’ ski movie – on YouTube
Jamie Strachan designed top sheets for Volkl and brought Warren on their team in winter 1998/99 (8:45)
Strachan also designed many of the legendary ChamJam posters (9:30)
Listen to Iain’s interview with GB Snowsports coach Pat Sharples in this bonus episode of The Ski Podcast (10:15)
Stu Brass and Spencer Claridge were behind the AIM Series of events and built the freestyle features for events like the London Ski Show and The Jump (11:00)
Iain launched Natives.co.uk in April 1999 (12:00)
Other early freestyle projects that Warren set up were the British Freestyle Camps and the Ride Series
Pat talks about the impact of the Salomon 1080 on the freestyle scene in this interview, as does Jim Adlington (founder of Planks) in our bonus episode with him (14:00)
Paddy Graham came out of the Sheffield dry slope scene and is still producing award-winning movies with the ‘Legs of Steel’ crew (17:30)
Warren also produced movies such as the ‘Snow’s In The House’ series and ‘Snow Odyssey’ featuring a 16-year-old Candide Thovex (19:00)
Warren’s ‘Go Ski’ technique book and DVD is available online (25:00)
Rob Sawyer from the Farinet Bar in Verbier recommended Warren to England rugby player Laurence Dallaglio (28:00)
Other celebrities that Warren has skied with or instructed in Verbier include James Blunt, Princess Eugenie and Prince Harry (33:00)
Listen to Peter Hardy’s anecdotes about James Blunt in our special episode
Louis Smith, Spencer Matthews and Jason Robinson were among the quickest learners that Warren coached for the wintersports reality show ‘The Jump’ (35:00)
The Warren Smith Ski Academy now has a team of 15 instructors with key focus on biomechanics (39:00)
Find out about the Carv device here (45:00)
The Academy also offers ‘Gap Year’ Instructor Qualification courses, having changed from BASI to the Irish IASI qualification in 2013 (45:30)
The Warren Smith Ski Academy will be at the National Snow Show at the Birmingham NEC on 15/16 October 2022 (48:00)
Courses start in Cervinia from 06 November for five weeks, then on to Verbier. Warren will be leading a trip to Japan in February (50:00)
Listen to how Iain got on in Verbier in March 2023 in Episode 172

If you enjoyed this episode and would like to help the podcast, there are three things you can do:

- follow us, or subscribe, so you never miss an episode
- give us a review on Apple Podcasts or leave a comment on Spotify
- ‘buy me a coffee’ at buymeacoffee.com/theskipodcast

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(323)

322: Alcohol-Free Ski Holidays, Villards de Lans in Vercors & OZ/NZ Snow Reports

We find out about Villards de Lans in the Vercors area of France and discuss alcohol-free ski holidays in Méribel. We also have ski show news and snow reports from Australia, New Zealand and Chile.Hos...

31 Jul 43min

321: Chamonix Stories #6 | Sam Haddad: “I looked down and there was just the abyss"

In the sixth of our ‘Chamonix Stories’, we find out what it’s like to fall into a crevasse on the Vallée Blanche (don’t worry, this story has a happy ending!)Host Iain Martin speaks with freelance jou...

24 Jul 12min

320: Méribel Elections, Les 2 Alpes summer skiing and the Travelski Night Train

We find out how a Brit got elected onto the Méribel town council, what summer skiing in Les 2 Alpes is like, and look at the Travelski night train to the Alps. We also have snow reports from Australia...

17 Jul 44min

319: Chamonix Stories #5 | Ronin Skis

In the fifth in our series of ‘Chamonix Stories’, we Jonno Jacobs, founder of Ronin Skis – ‘exceptional lightweight touring and freeride skis for those who chart their own path’.Ronin is a passion pro...

10 Jul 18min

318: Chemmy Alcott on Lindsey Vonn & Dave Ryding, Pila in Italy & Oz/NZ Snow Reports

Today we go behind the scenes of the BBC’s Olympics coverage with Chemmy Alcott, hearing what it was like to be on location for Lindsey Vonn's awful accident, as well as Dave Ryding's final race, plus...

3 Jul 50min

Introducing: The Ski Podcast

Love snowsports? Then The Ski Podcast is just for you...In almost ten years and over 300 episodes, we have covered skiing on all seven continents, thanks to guests joining host, Iain Martin, to discus...

30 Jun 1min

317: Chamonix Stories #4 | David Webster (aka 'ChamonixSkiBum')

In the third in our series of ‘Chamonix Stories’, we meet David Webster, better known on YouTube as “ChamonixSkiBum”. David has almost 10,000 subscribers and 1.7 million views on his channel, where he...

26 Jun 29min

316: Chamonix Stories #3 | Oak (“Tinder for the Mountains”)

In the third in our series of ‘Chamonix Stories’, we meet Emil Wittrup Præstbrogaard, founder of the Oak App. Oak was launched in 2024 to bring together the mountain community, including skiers, climb...

19 Jun 16min