Many people who enjoy skiing recreationally and reach a certain standard might start to think about taking steps to become a qualified Ski Instructor. This is becoming more and more popular in countries like the UK, where the standard of skiers has risen in the past several years. Meaning more and more courses and programs designed to steer people towards a Ski Instructors qualification have sprung up. Many skiers who decide to embark on this route of becoming a qualified ski instructor merely do so to improve their own skills and to teach occasionally throughout the winter months.
The other reason (and many would argue the main reason) for becoming a qualified ski instructor is to embark on a career of professional ski teaching. Improvements in conditions, pay and training have increased during the past several years and becoming a full time ski teacher is an appealing prospect for people outside the traditional ‘Alpine Nations’.
In Europe, there is a wide range of salary scales between certain countries with France generally being the country where the highest money can be made. France is also the country which places the most demands on the quantifications required to work as a ski instructor, within its borders.
Money is not and should not be the primary focus when embarking on a career in ski teaching. The most important requisite is to have a love of the sport and to enjoy spending time with people of all ages and walks of life. There are many benefits of working as a ski teacher including a fantastic environment to work and live in, a social life with like minded people, a challenging job where everyday is different and a sense of achievement in helping people have fun and learn one of the worlds greatest sports.
Your level of skiing needs to be of a certain level and as a guideline to embark on the start of the training required towards qualification, you should be confident enough to ski on all marked runs and be able to perform good parallel turns on the majority of terrain.
There are various ways which you can start to become qualified as a ski instructor and in future posts, I will outline some of the ways this can be done. Of course, the better your level of skiing the easier that path will be. Get out and practice wherever you can, on a dry slope or indoor ski slope or in the mountain as much as you can.
Every country has its own organisation that trains and qualifies instructors and in future posts, I will be listing the various bodies, in the key nations. As well as detailing the courses that you would be required to undertake, towards Ski Instructor qualification.
