skiing season gap year

[frazzled74]

has anyone any advice on how ds can go about working at a ski resort in his gap year? he will be 18 and is happy to do anything .

Apply to the usual UK ski firms, list on Ski Club of GB website.
Have a look at Snowheads forum.

Also Natives, Seasonworkers etc, lots on Google.

Tourist information sites will advertise local vacancies

I good friend of mine is now a qualified ski instructor. She did her course in Val d'isere. but she now helps teach a gap course in Verbier with a company called Altitude. Google Altitude Verbier and it should come up, cant remember the address of the top of my head. Check it out as they do a gap course every year

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I second natives as a good place to look, he will need to get a move on if he is looking to do it this year though.

At 18 he might be too young as a lot of companies only hire +21

thanks, i will have a look at those web sites. It is for next year, we are just seeing if it is viable before he fills in UCAS form and asks for a gap year.I think that it will have to be paid work as he wont be able to fund a course.thanks again.

Would he like to work as a chalet cook/chef - there's less cleaning and more time for skiing! A friend of my DD's has just completed a chalet cookery course (with a loan from her mum) and has (with the help of the cookery school who have loads of contacts) lined up a job for this season.

thats a good idea drayford, i will have a look into that, thanks, do you know if you can do the course in this country? or do they have to go to a resort?

I think that the Ashburton Cookery school down here in Devon run a 1 week course, the place my DD's friend went to is Mountain Chefs somewhere in Bucks.

Also worth checking out the ski jobs site as this has more jobs from the smaller companies who might be a bit more flexible on age. Might also be worth bearing in mind that there are three different times of year that companies take on staff - full season jobs start late November and run to the end of the season in April/May. Part season jobs are sometimes available from January onwards and some companies also take on peak week staff just for 2-3 weeks at feb half term and Easter.

A lot of the independents hire directly. They usually pay more and treat employees better than the larger companies. Decide which resort and then google for chalets in that area. There are loads of English run chalets in many French resorts.

I did a season some time ago and here is my advice:

1. I think smaller companies (not the big names but the ones with just a few chalets) tend to be better to work for. However sometimes they only want experienced staff. But it's definitely worth looking beyond the big names.

2. Is he more into skiing or more into partying? If more into skiing, get a bar job (he will still get to socialise if it's a popular bar) as you get all day free. Kitchen porter jobs could also be good (basically helping prep food in a hotel).

If more into socialising, consider a chalet job (harder to ski during the day until you have the routine sorted, but knock off earlier).

3. Can he drive? Can he do DIY? Many companies (especially the posher ones) have handyman and driver jobs. These are often great jobs as they don't require you to work evenings and don't require much in the middle of the day.

4. Choose resort carefully if he can. Not much fun being in a tiny village with no other seasonnaires.