Ski instructor courses in Canada for gap year son

[gettingalifenow]

Has anyone got any experience of a DC (or yourself even) doing a ski instructor course in Canada?

My soon to graduate DS wants to take a year off and train as a ski instructor so as to be Able to spend a season instructing out there. I already know there are different lengths of course and levels of qualification and there is a visa requirement but my question is this - there are SO many companies in the market does anyone have a recommendation? Or a 'don't use them' warning?

I have a friend who is an instructor in Canada but unfortunately we are going away to France Sunday and he is leaving for Canada on Monday. Is it for this year or next.

DS took a course with Peak Leaders - not in Canada but in Switzerland as it fitted in with the dates he was available. We were pretty happy with the organisation and DS was happy with the instruction. The link gives details of the Canadian visa scheme.

Thank you -I'll go and take a look

Internationalacademy or the one which does red mountain but I forget its name.

Tbh as an adult I'd do the latter, as a young person I'd do academy.

Bear in mind that advertised cost will only cover CSIA I exams and I've seen non-skiiers achieve this in 12 weeks. He needs to obtain at least CSIA II to actually get proper paid work and subsequent visas. This will only cost a few hundred dollars extra. Doing level 1 is frankly just a jolly. A visa for this course is easily obtained.

Insurance will be expensive and make sure you're covered if e.g., he breaks his leg on the first week! Try 'dogtag'.

If he wishes to retain his accreditation he will need to pay CSIA on an annual basis.

www.nonstopsnow.com/ is the more "grown-up" one which does Red Mountain. When I've spoken to the staff there they seem just more professional about it and are mostly local - there's a much more serious attitude and yet at the same time they want to get people involved in ordinary Canadian life and days off tend to me more structured - e.g., ice-climbing/Calgary rather than recovering from a hangover.

InternationalAcademy is good of course and you'll get the same level of instruction - but it is more party-orientated and has more of a factory approach about it.

I've skiied with both schools - both have a fair element of uptheirownarse 19 year olds with too much money and both have a bunch of very nice normal people too. Much to be expected in any ski town of course!

Another expense: extra skis - the skis he'll want to learn to teach with are not the skis he'll want to play with.

That's really helpful - thanks Alpine

My daughter did a course with SnowSkool in 2011 and is currently working in Canada as a ski instructor. I must admit that we had much the same difficulties as you when it came to choosing a company but spoke (about 100 times!) to a guy called Phil at SnowSkool and he broke everything down, asked us what we wanted and gave us his recommendations. I would advise speaking to him as he was really helpful and didn't pressurise at all. Isla had a great time, we were amazed by the organisation (and enjoyed the weekly newsletters from resort) and they even helped Isla to get a job.

Anyway, hope this helps...good luck!

My daughter has recently just booked onto a course with Sno-Limit for the next winter season 2013 at Red Mountain Resort. When we spoke to the staff at Sno-Limit and they were really passionate about the courses they had to offer. They were extremely polite and friendly and not once did they make me feel i had to make an immediate decision to book one of their courses for my daughter. They gave me a break down of everything that would be included. We decided that it would be better for Claire to do the 11 week course as this is course where you can get your level 2 ski certification, it will give Claire a better opportunity to get a job as a ski instructor in other resorts.

A couple of things swayed our decision to go with Sno-Limit - The Accommodation is luxury accommodation and even comes with a hot tub. She will be looked after as there is a rep in resort 24/7 and they even provide evening meals 5 days a week. Come to think about it, i wish i could go.

I definitely do not have a bad word to say about the team at Sno-Limit their website is www.sno-limit.com

I hope this helps with your decision.

Thank you snow bunny - sorry for late reply, I've only just visited back here.

I'll certainly look at sno limit from him - we've not booked anything yet but when I talked to our currently favoured company about Whistler, he did say there were very few places and there are others to look at - so I'll add in red mountain.... (I"m currently daunted by the paperwork for a Canadian visa!)