Instructor Training

I was just wondering how good a skiier you have to be to undergo instructor training. Whilst I'd describe myself as an advanced skiier (being able to ski all pistes in almost all conditions, and skiing most off-piste in good conditions), I wouldn't say I was an expert skiier. I've been skiing for about 8 years, and am currently 19, but probably wouldn't be looking in to training until I was 22. Am I doomed having not been skiing since before I was walking? I think I'd like to either teach in Austria or Colorado.

Thanks for any advice!

Gooseh wrote:I was just wondering how good a skiier you have to be to undergo instructor training. Whilst I'd describe myself as an advanced skiier (being able to ski all pistes in almost all conditions, and skiing most off-piste in good conditions), I wouldn't say I was an expert skiier. I've been skiing for about 8 years, and am currently 19, but probably wouldn't be looking in to training until I was 22. Am I doomed having not been skiing since before I was walking? I think I'd like to either teach in Austria or Colorado.

Thanks for any advice!

To start training, that's not such a high standard. The problem for a lot of skiers is that they're locked into a mindset where they're not taking lessons and reinforcing some bad habits, it's harder to unlearn some bad habits than to learn good ones from the start.

As for working in Austria, that's harder than anywhere in North America but not impossible. It makes sense then to qualify under the BASI system to work across Europe, it's not that you can't work in Europe with an American or Canadian qualification it's just not the simplest route.

There's a lot of gap courses around, a couple of training providers are :

http://www.icesi.org/
http://www.skiacademyswitzerland.com/

Get a day or two next season with a BASI instructor and they'll give you some pointers about your skiing and how to achieve your goal.

Some more info' at the BASI site :

http://www.basi.org.uk/

www.nonstopski.com

www.snowpro.com/csia/e/

Did a course with Nonstop, unlike BASI you can teach with CSIA level 1. (Unless things have changed with BASI?)

Rossfra8 wrote:www.nonstopski.com

www.snowpro.com/csia/e/

Did a course with Nonstop, unlike BASI you can teach with CSIA level 1. (Unless things have changed with BASI?)

That's a bit misleading, CSIA level 1's can't really teach much outside of Canada so they're no more or less able to teach in across Europe than a BASI 1 would be.

You need a CSIA level 3, i.e. ISIA, to be an instructor in Europe in general terms without being too specific.

The training paths are a little different so it's hard to make comparisons until that ISIA level.

for Austria, I just found this :

http://www.peakleaders.com/austriaskiinstructorcourse.asp

That's interesting, you'd need German of course for that.

You can teach in Europe with CSIA level 2 but level 3 is preferred really. Don't know why because level 3 is pretty advanced, more than most ski instructors are qualified to! I may do my level 3 next year, or at least the course if not the exams.

As for standards of skiing for instructor courses, you can do them right from beginner although its not really recommended. On my course, someone had only done 3 weeks real snow skiing and in the 12 weeks they passed their level 1 and 2.

bennyboy wrote:You can teach in Europe with CSIA level 2 but level 3 is preferred really. Don't know why because level 3 is pretty advanced, more than most ski instructors are qualified to! I may do my level 3 next year, or at least the course if not the exams.

As for standards of skiing for instructor courses, you can do them right from beginner although its not really recommended. On my course, someone had only done 3 weeks real snow skiing and in the 12 weeks they passed their level 1 and 2.

I'm really pretty sure that's not strictly true, the reason CSIA level 3 is required is that it is ISIA level, a CSIA level 2 can't really teach in Europe as the requirement is to be ISIA, below that there's a few training opportunities and it's a little different from country to country.

I'm not sure I'd agree level 3 is advanced either, that's ISIA level or the old BASI 2 and it's the first level where actually it's required to be a reasonable skier with some experience across all terrain, the lower levels are accessible to skiers with a few weeks experience.

The real difference between these courses probably matters most if you're aiming to make a career of it. If you're wanting a career in Europe it's probably better to qualify under a European system, either your home nation or that Austrian option looked pretty interesting. Likewise, for North America, probably best to use that local system.

A good friend of mine has been offered work with CSIA level ONE yes, level one, in both Switzerland and Italy. 99% of European resorts (ex France) accept level 2 and actively employ those to that level provided they are of a proficient skiing standard. Level 3's have to be pretty handy. All the levels are accessible to anyone with the prerequisite level-does not mean they will pass them.