The Winter Sports Company, a fledgling business run by a husband and wife team in Praa Sands, has been nominated for Best UK Snowsports Tour Operator at the 2015 World Snow Awards.

Karen and Steve La Borde set up the Winter Sports Company in 2009 after all their children had flown the nest and they wanted to spend more time on snow. They first got the skiing bug when Karen surprised Steve by booking him a holiday for his 40th birthday. Once he’d cracked the hardest black run in Europe, Steve wanted a new challenge and booked a place on a ski instructor course.

Never one to be beaten, Karen went along for the ride and qualified as well. Once they’d completed their course, they found a perfect place to set up their own ski and snowboard instructor training course in Sun Peaks Resort, Canada.

It has been a whirlwind journey since then with the business going from strength to strength. The seed of an idea to start one course in Canada has quickly expanded into operating multiple instructor courses in Canada, New Zealand and Italy, as well as running instructor internship programmes, heli-skiing adventures and ski patrol courses.

It is these unique experiences and Steve and Karen’s commitment to customer focused training that has seen them nominated for a World Snow Award. The winners will be announced on November 8.

The Winter Sports Company specialises in a niche market and is nominated in a category alongside international brands that send thousands of customers on commercial ski holidays every year.

Steve said: “This nomination is just the start for us. We built The Winter Sports Company up from scratch and it's an honour to see it being pitted against such established household names. We're proud of our achievements and over the next few years we're looking to expand further across Europe, Asia, North America and beyond. The sky's the limit."

You can vote for The Winter Sports Company at http://www.worldsnowawards.co.uk/public-voting/.