Ski instructor course for 19 year old

[Emsij123]

My son is very keen to do a ski instructor course in Europe during his gap year. He is 19. He wants one where he can meet other people his age and get a well respected, recognised qualification at the end of it. He will put money towards it as will we. Any suggestions?

https://easkiandsnowboard.com/landing/1500-off-course-fees?_bt=657306648623&_bk=ea%20ski%20%26%20snowboard%20training&_bm=p&_bn=g&_bg=18856801828&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA6byqBhAWEiwAnGCA4IJFj4shk69yT3FESnb6zuHGiACqaUOnqXlv5ryB6nUI_M-7BqDa7RoCrYQQAvD_BwEEA Ski Snowboard

Thank you, that super helpful

Bear in mind that less & less European ski resorts are now employing Brits for ski seasons due to Brexit and increased costs / hurdles they have to go through. So he may need to go further afield for a job - North America.

When we left the European Union, one of the things we forfeited was our right to work in Europe and stay beyond 90 days. The European ski resorts need to advertise in the EU and only then can they open jobs up to British workers. The company then needs to pay for a work visa (which they don’t have to pay for EU workers).

I know lots of qualified ski instructors who now can’t get jobs in Europe.

SIA Austria

Both EA Ski (in Canada) and SIA in Austria advertise that they can offer instructor training with a guaranteed job.

This is not strictly true - for the participants to work they have to have the legal right to work in the relevant country, i.e. a work permit or visa. Assuming that the OP's son only has a British passport, this presents problems.

He can of course take the course anyway if he is a strong enough skier (SIA recommends 15-20 weeks on snow), entering the country as a tourist for the duration of the course, but that in itself would not allow him to work afterwards without a work permit/visa. Even if he treats the course as a gap year activity to improve his skiing and gain the qualification, there are very few places where he will subsequently be able to use his qualification.

Are you anywhere near an indoor slope? With BASI you can do L1 in a Snowdome or dry slope then Level 2 on the mountain. We looked into it for DS but was going to cost a lot of money to do it and very little time to recoup for the amount of weeks you get to work. He's now going to work as a rescue coordinator in Italy instead this year. He's got an EU passport though. Anecdotally lots of kids we know have struggled to find anything in Europe so a few have gone to Canada or NZ instead. One is going to Japan where you pay upfront to be trained with guaranteed work at the end.

Thanks so much everyone. I think as much he wants to become a really accomplished skier as get a job afterwards, so I'm really after the names of really good reputable companies that teach the BASI qualification.

I think the actual courses themselves are quite short but in order to qualify you have to log 70 teaching hours in order to qualify as BASI L2. The BASI site lays it out. It's quite complex which is why we decided it wasn't really worth it as a gap year activity. But DS is an accomplished skiier so wasn't looking for it to improve his skiing, was more looking for a job so different circumstances.

www.basi.org.uk/BASI/Courses/Ski/BASI/Courses/Alpine/Alpine_.aspx?hkey=b7d9a1f2-b29e-4f89-b3dc-e4551278b603

He needs to do a lot more research before signing on for a course. Of all the different ski qualifications worldwide, BASI has to be the least useful at the moment, post Brexit. There is also a lot cheaper ways to do a ski season and become a good skier, if he doesn't want to teach afterwards.

Interesting, what courses would you recommend northlondondad ? Any further concrete suggestions welcomed. Thanks all.

If he is military minded, another route is via HM Forces, specifically the RAF or Army, (but not in the timeframe you are looking at - and obviously would need a bigger commitment in terms of years).

Emsij123 - I'd recommend doing the BASI or IASI (Irish) level 1 in this country in a dome, to see if he likes teaching. If he enjoys it, he can go on to do Level 2 which only involves 1 week in the Alpes, plus the shadowing hours. So he could become Level 2 qualified for a fraction of the expense of one of the gap courses. If he decides he does want to be a ski instructor in the future, then it's best he decides where he intends to work and live. Then he's better off following the system of that country. With the exception of France, where he'd need to become a Level 4 instructor through one of the other systems in order to teach in France. But remember that being qualified to teach, doesn't mean you have a right to work, post Brexit this is difficult in the EU for anyone without Level 4, much easier in Canada, NZ or Japan.
If he doesn't want to become an instructor in the future, then he'd be much better off just doing a traditional gap ski season. Or he could still do one of the gap courses if you want the expense, but one that concentrates on improving your skiing and not teaching. I'd suggest you have a look at the snowheads forum and do a search for gap year courses.
If he/you are set on him getting a qualification and being able to work, whilst having a gap year skiing, then I think Canada and the CASI system is where I'd go. I know a girl who did the same thing in Canada (Whistler) last winter, returned to Canada to work this summer and has now returned for her second winter and is applying for residency.

I completely agree with @northlondondad1976 - the options are

• do a regular season as a ski bum (but take some lessons or make sure to ski with some instructors as well);
• do a ski bum/independent season and at the same time take the Ski Instructor Association exams - it is not necessary too have gone through the commercial coaching courses such as SIA in advance if he is a strong skier. The actual exam weeks will improve his own skiing and teach him how to instruct, with a qualification at the end.
• do the commercial coaching course and take the Instructor exams, but in the knowledge that he won't be able to work (unless he has a visa) that particular season. The Whistler courses work like this - if he has a Visa he can work straight away. If not, he can take Level 1 & 2 in his gap year, then apply the following season for a Working Holiday Visa or possibly for a sponsored Visa if he impresses the ski school in Whistler (they provide the coaching and their top instructors are the examiners for the CSIA exams, so they will know him well by the end of a season). Of course this means actually having two gap years (or two seasons). As he's 19, he won't be allowed to drink alcohol in BC.

... and get over to Snowheads where there are hundreds of people who have done these courses and exams...

northlondondad1976 and Havanananana really helpful, thanks so much.

Loads of information here.
https://snowsportwales.com/coach-and-instructor-training-programmes/
Brexit obviously has made this much harder.
I’d be looking to get qualified in the uk then go further afield for work

The Snowsport Wales qualification does not seem to be accepted anywhere outside the UK. At Level 3 the instructor has to transfer and follow the BASI qualification route. To get to Level 3 takes a couple of seasons.

BASI qualifications require many hours of unpaid "shadowing" and finding the time and somewhere to do this in the UK is not easy. [By contrast, Austrian and Canadian qualifications do not require this - instructors can complete the qualification one day and be taking classes the following day].

While BASI qualifications are recognised by other countries, Brexit has made it impossible for British passport holders to work in the EU without getting an employer to apply for a visa for them (having shown that there is no suitable candidate amongst the 550 million EU citizens) and except for young people able to get a Working Holiday Visa for places such as Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, it is almost impossible to get a sponsored seasonal Visa for these countries or for the USA. It is a vicious circle - only highly qualified and experienced instructors stand any chance of getting a sponsored Visa, but how do people get the necessary qualifications and experience if they can't work?

A final thought for the OP. I've heard that the UK Tour Operators (Crystal, Nielsen, Inghams etc.) might have had some success in persuading one or two of the alpine countries to allow a limited number of UK passport holders to work as travel reps for the season. Worth a phone call to some of these companies?

i have a daughter who has spent a season in Whistler as a ski instructor for Whistler Kids. She went over there with a organisation - there are many who do this in either Whistler or places like Banff - look at Oyster or Alltracks as examples although I’m sure there are others. Set ups can be a bit different, but she had help with getting working visas, setting up interviews with Whistler kids, securing staff housing and then guaranteed work as an instructor provided she passed her Level 1.

She then did her Level 2 later in the season. She had a fab time and going this route meant that she had a lot of support. Sone went back to do a second year but she went off to Uni but has said she may go back (subject to getting a visa again) once she’s finished Uni.

To the person earlier in the thread who referenced drinking age in BC. You have to be 19 to get into bars and drink in BC. It’s the 18 year olds on gaps year who have the issue.

Oh and, going through one of these programs for Canada is not cheap so best to manage expectations there and research thoroughly.

im not a ski instructor but I did a ski season where I was a ski guide for a uk company that had a number of chalets. My job was to take the guests around the mountain, stop for morning hot chocolate, take them to a pre booked restaurant for lunch and bring them back for apres or to the lodge for afternoon tea. Best job on the mountain I swear, I just got to ski with a bunch of guests all of whom could ski and literally show them the best/quiestest/most interesting runs, without the hassle of teaching/requiring a qualification- just the ability to ski well already.

i sported some major goggle lines for the majority of the season.

the other part of my job back in the chalet-hotels was to run the back before/after dinner. It was great.

"im not a ski instructor but I did a ski season where I was a ski guide for a uk company that had a number of chalets...."

That particular job, along with instructing in Europe, is no longer open to British passport holders due to ... well, you know. 🙁

My son did a ski internship in Canada in his Gap year in 2023. He did his CSIA 1 and 2. He would highly recommend it. Happy to give you more info if interested 😊

Even if he gets a qualification the chances of him getting a job in Europe is fairly remote. Dd tried to get a student visa for Italy and was rejected, cost a fortune and loads of appts. Getting a working visa in Italy is even harder and you can’t work on a student visa. I don’t know if France or Austria is easier but even before Brexit there was a big anti English ski instructor thing going on in France. That may have been related to them thinking (maybe correctly) that English people were instructing without being fully qualified and calling themselves “guides” instead. I remember a chalet host guiding us one day and he didn’t wear his Esprit coat because he said he’d be chased off the mountain!

My DS qualified in Europe pre Brexit and then went off to Canada for a couple of years. To be honest, the British/European route is somewhat of a dead end now. The US/Canadian qualifications are also not helpful outside North America unless they are ISIA recognised at Level 3 which is generally much harder to obtain and takes several years of teaching experience.

Friend of mine her niece spent 6 months in NZ getting qualified. Don’t think she’s actually planning to work though. Just gap year fun.

Not strictly true re Canadian qualifications only being useful in North America. 2 of my daughters instructor buddies from Whistler last season - who had both level 1 and 2 from Canada - did a season in Australia (Perisher) as instructors and are currently in Japan also instructing.