What better way to spend your time than working as a ski instructor, and going to the mountains every day for work? There simply is no better lifestyle to choose, but before you dive head first into the ski industry you need to work out how you are going to qualify, and who is going to help you on this awesome journey! There are a huge amount of options and opportunity out there and it’s not always that clear which is the right solution for you.
There are a handful of factors that need good consideration. Are you a good enough skiier to qualify? Which resort do you want to base yourself in? Which system do you want to qualify under? Do you commit to a full ski instructor course, or contact the governing body directly and arrange it through them?
Through the certification process you will get assessed on your skiing technical ability, aswell as various other elements from your mountain knowledge, ability to critically analyse other skiiers, and your presentation skills. If you are a good holiday skiier i.e. confident on red runs (European resorts), and able to take on black runs, and consider yourself an outgoing character, then chances are you have got what it takes to make a great ski instructor, with a solid base knowledge to climb through the ranks, and join a training course to take your skiing to instructor level.
When choosing which resort you want to do your training in the simplest factor to consider is will you enjoy spending a full season there? It is easy to get confused with qualifications and the like, but at the end of the day the resort you choose will also become your home for the full season. You will quickly become part of the furniture and develop friends and relationships that will see you through a good length of time you have in the ski industry. For example Basecamp run ski instructor courses in Val d’Isere and Méribel in France, and Banff in Canada. Each resort and town has access to World Class skiing terrain, and is home to a buzzing and lively ski community which will enable you to carve a handful of crucial connections in the ski world.
There are plenty of internationally recognised ski instructor qualifications around the world, all recognised by the ISIA, which is the international ‘holding’ organisation. However, the options generally get narrowed down to BASI for the European resorts, and CSIA for the Canadian resorts. People can often get quite bogged down when making a decision about which qualification to choose and it is very important to remember that these are only your first qualifications, you are not set in one particlar system for life. You are able to transfer your qualification from one to the other (at moderate expense), so your best bet is to choose which resort you want to spend a season in, with which organisation, go for the qualifications on offer there and qualify. If at the end of the season you decide that you want to work in different resorts or would like to be qualified under a different system you will be able to take a quick “equivalence” course at the start of the next season. Ski instructors are constantly investing in their qualifications, and gaining more and more certificates, so this is very common.
A lot of the above can boil down to which ski training company to use, and who runs the best ski instructor courses. All ski training organisations are based in different resorts, and many offer a range of qualifications. The benefit of going through such an organisation is that the ski courses on offer will take you through all of the different criteria that you will need to be eligible for the qualification (such as training hours, first aid and avalanche training etc) and not to mention first class ski training that will put you in the best possible position to pass the course. You will also be training with a number of like minded people, all starting their journey in the ski industry. The ski industry is a small world and it ticks on “who knows who”, so you immediately have a large pool of connections to fall back on. Not only in your fellow course participators, but also in the organisation itself with the trainers, and company directors.
The price tag on the full Level 1 and Level 2 instructor courses may initially seem high, but ski resorts are expensive places and once you put together the numbers you will find that the courses are in fact fantastic value for what you get. It is very important to make sure you have spoken at length with the organisation to double check what is and is not included in the course package, as you need to manage your finances right and do not want to find yourself short changed in resort!
In short if you do your research, talk to the companies, talk to people in the ski world, and you will quickly find who runs good courses. Check to see how long a company has been established and ask to speak to some past clients. All these points will help you make sure you have done your thorough research and put you in a great position to make an informed decision tor world as awesome as possible. It certainly will not be one that you’ll regret!
You might like to start your research by looking at Basecamp’s ski instructor courses they have been training ski instructors for over 10 years, and they pride themselves on connecting their past and current clients with opportunities in the ski industry. For more information visit their ski instructor course listing, or email them at hello@basecampgroup.com