Ski Instructor Report 24th December 2011

We have just finished the first week of the season. Sadly the guests did not have good weather. It snowed over the weekend that they arrived but it turned wet and when the sun shone it was windy. My group of beginners said that they had enjoyed their week and would all be skiing next year ( a good result). I met a lovely lady in the Palarine, who said that she regularly reads this report. This cheered me up as I often wondered if their was anyone out there. After my request in my last report; someone wanted to know how their daughter can become a ski instructor and is it a good job. They also mentioned meeting a solicitor who worked as an instructor in winter. Firstly, one must obtain a qualification by an internationally recognised ski association. I chose the British Association of Snowsport Instructors (BASI). I am also qualified under the Canadian Ski Instructors Alliance (CSIA). If you google either of those names you will find details of location dates and times of the courses. Both have a level one qualification, which allows you to work in an enclosed environment. After this there is a level two qualification, which if you pass the assessment, you may teach on the mountain. You must check the local rules of the country where you wish to work. For example, Andorra insists on an extra four days on snow training before being allowed to teach in Andorra. The French want you to pass a racing speed test. A word of warning; BASI have far more qualified instructors than they have actually working. It is easier to find work if you are bilingual or polyglot. If you can speak Russian, Hebrew or Dutch, you would be able to jump the queue to work in Arinsal. Anyone becoming a ski instructor must consider what they are going to do in the summer. If they have a proper job and their employer is willing to give them four months leave each winter, which would be great. However most instructors have to be a bit more imaginative. Here is a list of fields where instructors have found work in the past: Garden Centres, Campsites, Building sites, Pop concerts, Holiday airlines (some of them moth ball some of their fleet in Winter) Bars in Spain, teaching water sports or skiing in southern hemisphere and many more that I am sure you can think of. Is instructing a good job? I love the holiday atmosphere in the resort. There is great job satisfaction; if you have a class of a dozen absolute beginners on a Monday and at the end of the week, they all tell you that they are all booking ski holiday next year.( Like this week’s group) Or when you have a private lesson with an unhappy person, whose friend or family have tried to teach them to ski and have just terrified them, by going too high, too fast, too soon, then at the end of the lesson they are happy and now love skiing. If you think instructing is for you go for it!