Global Snow Tours

The Organisers and agency staff

Dirk Nannes - Director and Founder

10 years ago, Dirk founded what has become one of the world's great ski and snowboard experiences. A former World Cup mogul skier and first class cricketer, Dirk has travelled the world for over a decade, has 11 years of coaching experience, and has many years of knowledge in the snow industry. Backed up with numerous coaching and avalanche credentials, Dirk has now moved into an administrative roll, leading Global Snow Tours into another successful year.

Paul Ellis – General Manager

New to the team in 2008. Paul built up his own tour company, Backcountry Snow Tours, which has become a valuable addition to the Global Snow Tours brand. He is now working hard to build on the success of Global Snow Tours. With his extensive knowledge of Hokkaido, 10 years snowboarding including 5 full seasons at various resorts around the world, ski/snowboard instructor experience, and expeditions to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, Paul makes sure all our products and programs are well known, the tours run smoothly and our clients leave with a smile on there faces.

Erin Nannes - Program Director - Mood Elevation Technician

After playing an instrumental role in Global Snow Tours' success story over the last 6 years, Erin returns to bring her unique brand of humour, support and life skills to this year's programs. Armed with her endless smile, Erin's good spirit is contagious, and she quickly becomes every camper's best friend, mentor, and ideal role model. Erin also has certifications in sport training, first aid and asthma management, and is responsible for overseeing the smooth running of all our programs.

The Coaches

Our staff set us apart from the rest.

Our student to coach ratio is less than 6:1 for all of our camps and tours, giving every participant unparalleled feedback on-snow, in addition to world class leadership off-snow. Each member of staff is hand picked based on their skills, experience, maturity, and enthusiasm, as well as their ability to communicate and translate the art of skiing or snowboarding into a medium everyone can understand. All staff members have a variety of specialised qualifications, including first aid.

Coaching line-ups for the'09/10 season will be confirmed during September. Stay tuned for more coaching appointments over the coming months.

Current appointments for '09/10 season:
All Programs		Nick Franklin-Jones -Program Director For the last 5 years Nick has shined in his role as Program Director. Nick’s experience speaks for itself, 23 years of skiing and 15 years of professional Instructing/Coaching. He holds certificates from APSI, ISIA, SSA, Freestyle Level 1 and the Canadian Avalanche Association. He is currently the K2 Australian ski representative and Team Manager and spends his weekends as Head Freeride coach for Mt Buller’s successful TBR program. His dedication and experience to providing high quality programs will guarantee that every moment is a memorable one.

Japan Programs		Andre Bennett - Head Ski Coach Dre went to the camp in 2005/6 and has gone on to make a name for himself in the industry. He was asked to coach on the first Japan Super Camp and had such great success that we can't wait to get him back for what will be a killer 2009/10 season! Always admired for his solid skiing style and ability to stomp the impossible, Dre backs this up with his possition as Coach at TBR Mt Buller, Level 1 Freestyle SSA and APSI, and is sponsored by LINE, FullTilt and Empire.
		Mark Amadio - Head Snowboard Coach Mark is an addition to the camp for 09-10! Hailing from an instructing/Coaching background totaling 12 seasons in 7 years not many people froth on riding much more than Mark. He holds certificate 2 from APSI and Coaching Principals cert from AIS. He currently rides for Drake, Northwave and Coaches Perishers nortorious WSC competition programme, which has been proven for breeding Australia’s next generation of hammer throwers.
		Ski Coach As we pride ourselves with having the best coaching on offer we won't rush to fill this spot. We have a few keen coaches in mind and will update this page once a descision has been made. Check back here soon!
		Pete Long - Snowboard Coach Pete was late to snowboarding but that hasn't stopped excelling. He's been on the board for 11 years now, has been sponsored for 7, started with the camp 4 years ago as a 'guest pro coach'. With his experience as a volunteer youth worker and skateboard coach backing him up he has since developed a serious love for sharing two of his passions snowboarding and inspiring people to achieve their goals both on snow and in their day to day life. Having just finished first year as coach on the very popular Japan program, he looks forward to more amazing experiences on the 2009/10 Camps.
		Andy Walker - Snowboard Coach Andy joins the team for Japan 2010, Andy has been shredding with Mark since 2004 doing back to back seasons. He has competed and coached competitive athletes in Australia, Tahoe, Utah and Canada. Andy holds his certificate 2 and freestyle certificate from APSI. He currently rides for Flux bindings, Neversummer Boards and Sandbox. His fravourite experience was being on the terrain Park crew at Park City Utah where he got to sled and ride every day and work on most major Snowboard films.

Mammoth Camp		Watkin McLennan - Head Ski Coach Watkin has been hailed as one of the next skiiers to watch. He's not afraid of pushing the limits and the grabs he is pulling off leaves others in awe. Watking has been skiing for 18 years across all disciplines. He holds hisLevel 1 Freestyle SSA and APSI and for the last 4 years he's been coaching for TBR. Having skied at mammoth for 3 seasons including his first coaching position for The Camp in Jan 2009, Watkin is the man you want to learn off in the world of Freeskiing.
		Head Snowboard Coach As we pride ourselves with having the best coaching on offer we won't rush to fill this spot. We have a few keen coaches in mind and will update this page once a descision has been made. Check back here soon!

NZ Camp		Watkin McLennan - Head Ski Coach
		Mark Amadio - Head Snowboard Coach

Japan Powder Tours		Andrew Filer - Head Ski Coach We are very happy to have one of the best ski coaches around on our team. With 21 season's of coaching under his belt, 10 of with were in Japan, Andy has the skills to make sure you get the most out of your Japan Powder Tour no matter what your ability. Andy is a qualified APSI instructor, speaks Japanese, has a passion for skiing and is activly involved in the industry as Hardware Manager and Head Boot fitter at one of the top ski stores in the country, Bumps.
		Head Snowboard Coach As we pride ourselves with having the best coaching on offer we won't rush to fill this spot. We have a few keen coaches in mind and will update this page once a descision has been made. Check back here soon!

If you'd like to view some magazine articles on both The Camp and it's past coaches, as well as seeing more photos, visit our media page.