Ski Hosting Ends In Italy Too

Following the decision to end the service known as 'ski hosting' or 'social skiing' on French slopes two seasons ago, leading British tour operators are now set to withdraw the service from Italian resorts too.

'Ski hosting' is typically when an employee of a tour operator who, crucially, may not have formal ski teaching qualifications, takes guests on a basic orientation tour of the easy slopes at the base of the runs. The service is run in many ways in many countries but is currently the subject of an ongoing legal case in France with British tour operators arguing it should be allowed, and the French authorities saying it breaches laws there.

In September, all tour operators operating in the Italian Piemonte region, just over the French border, were contacted by the local Ski School Association advising them that they were in breach of Italian regulations regarding social skiing services on the mountain.

As a result of this, the biggest operator Crystal and it is understood other UK operators have taken the decision to remove social skiing from all resorts in Italy for this winter.

"('Social Skiing')… is classed as a criminal offence, and if caught could result in our reps being fined and prosecuted," said a Crystal statement, "Due to local legal restrictions our social skiing service in Italy has been suspended for this winter. Crystal customers will continue to be supported by our expert in-resort teams and the new Crystal Ski Explorer app."

Oh no. Jeffweee in Champoluc will be devastated. No more day trips to Peewar

The Ski Club of Great Britain will still have their Leader service going in Italy for the 2014/15 season, as far as I know, although they have given up doing it in France for now at least.

Not really surprising in light of events in France. According to article 18 of Italian law no. 81 "Legge-quadro per la professione di maestro di sci e ulteriori disposizioni in materia di ordinamento della professione di guida alpine", only qualified ski instructors or mountain guides are allowed to provide this service. As in France ski instruction / mountain guiding is defined as paid accompaniment ("l'accompagnamento retribuito di clienti"), as these are regulated professions abusive practice is subject to criminal sanctions. If the authorities catch someone working illegaly they are prosecuted under article 348 of the penal code "Abusivo esercizio di una professione", in April the Senate voted to dramatically increase the penalties for this offence (I don't know if they have come into force yet). Anyone found guilty can be issued with a fine of 10,000 to 50,000 Euros and be imprisoned for up to 18 months, anyone employing an unqualified person can be fined the same amount and imprisoned for up to 2 years. If someone is killed or injured whilst being accompanied by an unqualified person the terms of imprisonment are up to 18 years in case of death and 3-12 years in case of injury.

If that wasn't bad enough, under article 2048 of the Italian Civil Code ski instructors / guides are responsible for any damage caused to third parties by their clients. If it was found that they were working illegally their insurance would most likely be void.

It will be interesting to see what the SCGB do about their Leader service, I think continuing it would be very risky.

I also heard about this a few days ago. Very sad news for the tour companies as I do not think they took any business away from the ski schools. In fact I think they brought work to them. Very short sighted of the local ski schools.

I also do not believe that the SCGB should continue with their programme. I see very little difference between what they offer and what a tour operator offers. In fact when you add the 'Off Piste' that the SCGB do without qualified Instructors, IMO I would think they are far more likely to have legal problems if there were an accident. I have friends who still lead for them and I know many have withdrawn for this season at least.

snowcrazy2005 wrote:In fact when you add the 'Off Piste' that the SCGB do without qualified Instructors

I thought, officially at least, they stopped that a few years ago - following the Verbier tragedy and subsequent proceedings? Still, doesn't sound like they'll be On the piste in many places either from now on...

SwingBeep wrote:As in France ski instruction / mountain guiding is defined as paid accompaniment ("l'accompagnamento retribuito di clienti"), as these are regulated professions abusive practice is subject to criminal sanctions. of imprisonment are up to 18 years in case of death and 3-12 years in case of injury.

Ski hosts are neither trying to be ski instructors or mountain guides. They aren't taking any work away from those professionals, in fact they regularly refer work to them.
The problem is they are providing a service which isn't recognised in law. Rules that quite rightly apply to mountain guides operating in a highly dangerous enviornment, are being applied totally inappropriately to ski hosting.
No one gains a thing from the end of ski hosting. Many people lose. ESF will lose the most.

Hi Admin, in fact the SCGB in theory changed what reps could do and called them Leaders, but in reality some leaders still go off piste, often without really knowing where they are going. Still only give out transcievers (which is crazy). Some leaders still just take advice from members of their groups. So really very little has changed.

Andyhull, I agree with what you have said. I do not think what ski host for tour companies do was bad. It was very social and low risk. In fact much safer than the SCGB programmes. Ski hosts stayed in the resort all season and learnt the runs well. Some SCGB leaders do not know the resort they come to and then lead people around with little knowledge.

It will be interesting to see how this develops.

I think SCGB might come unstuck in Italy as the authorities there tend to be much more proactive in this type of offence once they choose to enforce a rule. I would think this is why the tour companies have chosen to halt their prorammes rather than take a risk of trouble.