Meet the Onyx instructors and staff
Our instructors, coaches and staff are amongst the most experienced and highly qualified in the world. Delivering fun and easy to understand instruction with passion and personality. It’s easier to think of us as a family: We work together, we hang out after, some of us even had the dubious pleasure of living together.
Simply put, we want you to love snowboarding as much as we do. Come meet the team….
Baden Knifton
Head Coach & manager (Portes du Soleil)
Rider stats
Height: 5′ 10″
Stance: Regular, front 17, back -10
Stance Width: 22.75″
Qualifications
BASI ISTD Snowboard Level 4
Carte Professionnel with French equivalence
BASI Development Coach
Snowsports England Trainer
Snowsports Scotland Performance Coach
BASI Adaptive Snowboarding Instructor
Sports Technology BSc
Sports Psychology MSc
BASES Trainee Sport Scientist
Random fact
Baden’s full title is Lord Baden Knifton Jnr III.
Dave Cooper
Head Coach & manager (Chamonix)
Rider stats
Height: 6′ 2″
Stance: Regular, front 15, back -12
Stance Width: 23″
Qualifications:
BASI ISTD Snowboard Level 4
Carte Professionnel with French equivalence
Snowsports Scotland Performance Coach
AASI Snowboard Level 3
Former AASI Western Division Examiner
Random fact
Dave brews a mean pint of English Ale.
Rob Lane
Coach
Rider stats
Height: 5′ 9″
Stance: Goofy, front 15, back -15
Stance Width: 21.5″
Qualifications
BASI Head Freestyle Coach
BASI ISTD Snowboard Level 4
BASI Level 4 European Mountain Security
Carte Professionnel with French equivalence
BASI Ski Level 1
Psychology (Hons) BSc
BASI Teaching in Second Language (German)
BASI Teaching in Second Language (French)
MIAS Level 2 Mountain Bike Leader
New Zealand Level 5 Certificate in Advanced Snow School Instruction
RYA Windsurf Level 1 Instructor
LTA Tennis Level 1 Instructor
TEFL Teacher (Teaching English to Foreign Learners)
Random fact
Rob is half Dutch and speaks more languages than you can shake a stick at (fluent English and Dutch, advanced German, intermediate Spanish and French at an improver level).
Adam Hopwood
Coach
Rider stats
Height: 6′ 2″
Stance: Goofy, front 18, back -15
Stance Width: 25″
Qualifications:
BASI ISTD Snowboard Level 4
Carte Professionnel with French equivalence
Snowsports Scotland Performance Coach
Random fact
Adam has a bigger tongue than Gene Simmons from KISS.
Grant Gallacher
Coach
Rider stats
Height: 5′ 11″
Stance: Goofy, front 18, back -15
Stance Width: 22″
Qualifications
BASI ISTD Snowboard Level 4
Carte Professionnel with French equivalence
Snowsports Scotland Performance Coach
GO Trampoline Coach
Outdoor Sports Coaching HND
Outdoor Ed. & Adventure Recreation BA (Hons)
Random fact
Grant’s now wife proposed to him with a Nixon Player watch in Mt Snow, Vermont. Too cool for school!
Alex North
Marketing & Business Technology
Rider stats
Height: 6′
Stance: Regular, front 15, back -15
Stance Width: 22″
Qualifications
BASI Snowboard Level 1
Random fact
After riding with Onyx as a client, Alex took pity on the team and rebuilt the website; also known as the never ending project.