Latest posts for the topic "Instructor courses"

Instructor courses

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 19:47:08 GMT

Hi guys,
I am looking for a good company in Canada for my son to do an 11 week ski instructors course,I have found two that seem good,Canadian Rockies Academy and Nonstop Ski and Snowboard.Has anybody heard of these companies or info on other instructor courses in Canada.

cheers :D

Re:Instructor courses

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 19:47:48 GMT

I did a course with Nonstop, do you want to know anything specific?

Re:Instructor courses

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 19:58:34 GMT

Yes. How drunk did you get every night?

Re:Instructor courses

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 20:01:22 GMT

How good were the instuctors would you say it was value for money and did you enjoy it

Re:Instructor courses

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 20:01:38 GMT

Yeee'zir. Nonstop (Recommended by pabs)
I'm planning to go in my gap year after college, there's not really much to tell, if you read up about them they tell you everything you need to know, and also with nonstop you can send off for a handy free brochure and dvd.

Re:Instructor courses

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 20:03:49 GMT

Nigel Bray wrote:How good were the instuctors would you say it was value for money and did you enjoy it

Value for money? There's a tricky question. For me, yes.

Enjoyment? The best decision I ever made was taking a gap year to do the course, loved it.

Re:Instructor courses

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:01:05 GMT

I did the Basi Gap in Andorra in 2001. At the time there were not many about and it was pretty good value considering we got daily personal tuition from Basi Trainers who are some of the best teachers in the world.
We stayed in a 5 star Hotel skied every day and have both personal performance and ski school experience teaching and shadowing.

Since then every man and his dog have jumped on the band wagon with Basi and the Canadians franchising out the courses. The prices have more than doubled and im not so sure you are gaurenteed the quality these days as its a business and there to make money rather than create the instructors of the future.

I spend around six grand over three months but that iincluded gear, course and an so much alcohol I feel sick just thinking about it however it is still the best six grand I have ever spend.

Would I do the same thing again probably not.
I would take my six grand book accomadation for a full season not just 3 months. Approach the ski school about shadowing. (most run there own personal performancce throughout the weeks FOC) and then just ski ski and ski then do the week induction and then the 2 week exams like the people that dont do a gap. You get double the amount of skiing,twice as much direct shadowing / teaching experience plus probably paid for the busy weeks helping out. Should work out cheaper as well. Which ever way its a fantastic and life changing experience. Good luck to him. Make sure he gets a proper qualification though i sat on a chair lift last year with a guy who had shelled out 8 grand on a course in canada and he came out with a canadian 1. make sure its at least a basi 2 or canadian 2 that they get at the end or its no use without doing more qualifications.

Re:Instructor courses

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:04:48 GMT

jonah690 wrote:I did the Basi Gap in Andorra in 2001. At the time there were not many about and it was pretty good value considering we got daily personal tuition from Basi Trainers who are some of the best teachers in the world.
We stayed in a 5 star Hotel skied every day and have both personal performance and ski school experience teaching and shadowing.

Since then every man and his dog have jumped on the band wagon with Basi and the Canadians franchising out the courses. The prices have more than doubled and im not so sure you are gaurenteed the quality these days as its a business and there to make money rather than create the instructors of the future.

I spend around six grand over three months but that iincluded gear, course and an so much alcohol I feel sick just thinking about it however it is still the best six grand I have ever spend.

Would I do the same thing again probably not.
I would take my six grand book accomadation for a full season not just 3 months. Approach the ski school about shadowing. (most run there own personal performancce throughout the weeks FOC) and then just ski ski and ski then do the week induction and then the 2 week exams like the people that dont do a gap. You get double the amount of skiing,twice as much direct shadowing / teaching experience plus probably paid for the busy weeks helping out. Should work out cheaper as well. Which ever way its a fantastic and life changing experience. Good luck to him. Make sure he gets a proper qualification though i sat on a chair lift last year with a guy who had shelled out 8 grand on a course in canada and he came out with a canadian 2. make sure its at least a basi 2 or canadian 2 that they get at the end or its no use without doing more qualifications.

The CSIA don't franchise anything, that is absolute gash. More than doubled? Yawwn. Please don't start typing stuff in to the box before you really know what you are saying. Ta.

Re:Instructor courses

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:25:40 GMT

Pablo Escobar wrote:

jonah690 wrote:I did the Basi Gap in Andorra in 2001. At the time there were not many about and it was pretty good value considering we got daily personal tuition from Basi Trainers who are some of the best teachers in the world.
We stayed in a 5 star Hotel skied every day and have both personal performance and ski school experience teaching and shadowing.

Since then every man and his dog have jumped on the band wagon with Basi and the Canadians franchising out the courses. The prices have more than doubled and im not so sure you are gaurenteed the quality these days as its a business and there to make money rather than create the instructors of the future.

I spend around six grand over three months but that iincluded gear, course and an so much alcohol I feel sick just thinking about it however it is still the best six grand I have ever spend.

Would I do the same thing again probably not.
I would take my six grand book accomadation for a full season not just 3 months. Approach the ski school about shadowing. (most run there own personal performancce throughout the weeks FOC) and then just ski ski and ski then do the week induction and then the 2 week exams like the people that dont do a gap. You get double the amount of skiing,twice as much direct shadowing / teaching experience plus probably paid for the busy weeks helping out. Should work out cheaper as well. Which ever way its a fantastic and life changing experience. Good luck to him. Make sure he gets a proper qualification though i sat on a chair lift last year with a guy who had shelled out 8 grand on a course in canada and he came out with a canadian 2. make sure its at least a basi 2 or canadian 2 that they get at the end or its no use without doing more qualifications.

The CSIA don't franchise anything, that is absolute gash. More than doubled? Yawwn. Please don't start typing stuff in to the box before you really know what you are saying. Ta.

Ok Pablo Maybe Franchise was not the best word to use. What i meant was that Basi for instance used to only run instructor courses themselves so they were in control of quality and content but now there are a dozen companies and ski schools undertaking the gap courses and training churning out a vastly increased number of instructors and Basi do the examining at the end. I admit im not totaly in touch with the Canadian system but I think im right in saying that they work in a similar way. With regards to costs I paid GBP3000 for my course to do the same course now is a few quid under GBP7000 even allowing for inflation over the 8 years thats a lot more expensive.

Re:Instructor courses

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:47:15 GMT

The quality of the exams is totally open to debate and I don't think you can make a comment based on what you 'think'. Just because more people are doing them doesn't mean the quality isn't the same. If the respective instructor bodies do the examinations for their qualifications, how can you argue the standard is lower?

Supply and demand changes, just because it was a certain price in 2001 doesn't mean that price (plus inflation) should apply now.

Re:Instructor courses

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:17:25 GMT

Hi
Both of my sons have done a course with Kicking Horse which is very good value for money GBP5000. The course is for 3 months and is run directly by the ski school. Both of my sons are now working for the ski hill so it is not just for fun but a real chance to work as an instructor. The resort is mainly for expert skiers so learning to ski there means everwhere else seems easy. For details check the resort website kickinghorseresort.com

Re:Instructor courses

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:53:58 GMT

Thank you all for your replies and info it has been of great help to me in picking the right company,Its a lot of money but my son hopes to do this as a career so it is well worth it.

Cheers :D

Re:Instructor courses

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:24:10 GMT

Hi Nigel,

I think there are a few important thing to consider when choosing between the myriad different instructor courses out there. Price is always a massive consideration but, in all honesty, most companies are charging roughly the same amount of money and differences of GBP500 tend to be caused by minor additional extras being added to the package or not.

Other things to look out for:
- What qualifications are on offer - most companies offer one or more from CSIA/ CASI (Canadian), BASI (British) and NZSIA/ SBINZ (New Zealand)
- The quality of instructors being used to teach the course. In Canada, instructors have to be minimum Level 3 AND Level 1 course conductors. In NZ, you need NZ examiners or senior examiners and in Europe, you want BASI ISTD instructors.
- The resort...your son is going to spend 11 weeks + here and so it needs to have diverse terrain and good snowfall
- The feel you get from discussions with the company. This is a massive investment (time-wise and money) and so you want to feel that the company you are considering booking with is giving you due attention.

At SnowSkool, we offer instructor courses in Canada, France and NZ. If you want to discuss these any further, please contact me at team@snowskool.co.uk

Cheers, Phil P