At 18 fresh out of school I wanted to go on a ski season. The dream would have been to be a ski instructor – but the 1000’s of £££ I didn’t have admittedly put me off. Instead I was a chalet host running a chalet of 8 people in the Austrian mountains. I don’t regret this as I had the time of my life and it was exactly what an 18/19 year old wants; skiing all day every day, cheap beers/ chalet wine in the evening and working with other newbies to the snowsports world. It was truly exhausting and after 3 years of uni I couldn’t do it again!

BUT

What I didn’t realize was that there WAS another way! There are a lot of smaller resorts out there which would love to get excited new staff from different parts of the world!

See below to find out more....

1. Just get in touch – you never know they might be wanting someone exactly like you to rock up fresh faced & enthusiastic. What’s the worst that can happen – a no reply? Apply to lots and I’m sure you’ll receive some positive replies

2. Give them the confidence that you have the ability to do the job, this is the time where all that babysitting you’ve done since 14 Is GREAT on your resume! They just want to see that you’re a friendly, responsible human being and that your willing to put in hard work. Because what people don’t know Is that ski instructing (just like any other season job) is bloody hard work and not always glamorous! Most of the time you’ve got your bum in the air, skiing backwards holding someone’s skis in a snowplough (Pizza) beginners position, hoping your ski pants wont split and that no-ones looking!

3. Book onto the earliest course possible. Even if you are hired without yet having a qualification you WILL need one to be able to teach. This is where is gets confusing – the exam is a course! In Europe it is more expensive to book onto a course, and some courses are harder to pass than others. BASI appears to be the hardest and the French system makes it incredibly hard to progress within the ski instructing realm. Anwärter is the Austrian version which seems notably easier (I had one friend who fell over during the exam, the examiner took kindly to them and just said they owe them a beer)- again if the course is late in the year it might be hard to gain employment in a resort. CSIA is the Canadian version and the one I’d recommend the most! It is a four-day course with a highly experienced ski instructor. - Check it out here: https://www.snowpro.com/en/

They will revolutionise your own skiing and teach you how to teach others. I was a competent skier before but I didn’t know any of the technicalities. I knew how to ski but I didn’t know HOW I skied. In Canada most of the resorts are much smaller than the resorts in Europe and are pretty open to hiring newcomers without any specific ski instructing experience.

4. That being said it definitely pays off to be a competent skier prior to the course. You don’t have to be an expert, as long as you can parallel ski in a controlled way – they will fix up the rest. If you aren’t confident in your own ability you might not feel confident teaching other people straight off the bat then a longer, more expensive course, might indeed be helpful! Timberline ran courses in Banff that weren’t outrageously expensive, included high level instructing, extra activities such as heli-tours, cat skiing and regular socials like ice hockey, dinners, and had super central, well maintained accommodation - Check them out here: http://www.timberlineacademy.com/

Ski instructing on a smaller hill can make you grumpy sometimes, with lots of beginner lessons and time on the magic carpet (even for higher up instructors)… BUT it is super rewarding and the fact that you can get someone to go down a hill and feel ecstatically proud of themselves for doing so in just a few hours is ABSOLUTELY worth it!

I worked at Mt Norquay in Canada. I did my CSIA level 1 at the end of November and started as soon as the resort opened. It was daunting at first but they let you shadow, and you pick up your own technique of what works for you teaching wise on the job. They also ran free training sessions before work EVERY day! Despite it being a small resort there were over 100 ski instructors and you become great friends with all your new colleagues. There were other larger resorts close by – Sunshine Village and Lake Louise, which make up The Big Three to ski on your days off. And I even met Tyler while working there. Couldn’t recommend it enough !

Check them out here: http://winter.banffnorquay.com/