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a skiing job for me

Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 2:20 pm
by zachjowi
I have been thinking about getting a job at a ski resort like this one. what would be a good starting job? ski instructor. One of my friends that snowboards is an ski instructor at another place and says sometimes they have to teach 30 people. I see many advantages of getting a job here such as a free season pass so I can test my skis :D , I get paid to ski, and its fun.

http://www.sundownmtn.com/index.cfm

any comments?

thanks

Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 4:41 pm
by zack726
I"g go for it. I wanted to work at a ski resort but then moved to SoCal. I've heard its all kinds of fun (if you like skiing...) and the pay is fine. You just have to be able to get along with morons who say they are trying to learn but ignore what you say ; )

Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2006 12:24 am
by davide
So, imagine there will be half meter of powder during the night, and in the morning you have classes (in piste of course) for the all whole day, while the followig day it will be all tracked...

I think ski instructors (or any other job in the resorts) have few free time for skiing on their own.

Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2006 8:24 am
by zachjowi
davide wrote:So, imagine there will be half meter of powder during the night, and in the morning you have classes (in piste of course) for the all whole day, while the followig day it will be all tracked...

I think ski instructors (or any other job in the resorts) have few free time for skiing on their own.
I am not really sure what you are trying to say? I think that they only have to teach ski leasons every few hours or so and in the meantime they can ski fir fun while being paid. I have school from 8-3:22 and then I get home at 4, the ski resort is open from 10-9 M-F so I would have some time to work. on the weekends I could work all day 9-9 and some days they are open until 10 or 12

Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2006 9:23 am
by mattman
i have worked many jobs at local ski mountains and here is what i learned:
*ski instructing sucked if you wanted to make money...the way all the instructing jobs worked was that you got paid for the lessons you taught, thats it. whenever you went freeskiing, you were not paid. but we were able to sneak out almost any time.
*lift attendant is far better...you ski on your breaks (usually two people man the lower lift, so that one can warm up inside while the other is outside) on your inside time, we could usually get away with sneaking in some runs. i loved this job!! in fact its putting a burden on my desire to finish getting my MechE degree, because i know that when i graduate i would much rather be a lift attendant than an enginneer for some other company.
-note: my best friend preferred ski instructing because he was really good at it. if you enjoy teaching, go for it...you get to ski more, but not on the good runs...lifties get to ski good trails, but less often. on dead days when nobody shows up, you will be glad to be an instructor. its a tossup

Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2006 10:31 am
by zachjowi
mattman wrote:i have worked many jobs at local ski mountains and here is what i learned:
*ski instructing sucked if you wanted to make money...the way all the instructing jobs worked was that you got paid for the lessons you taught, thats it. whenever you went freeskiing, you were not paid. but we were able to sneak out almost any time.
*lift attendant is far better...you ski on your breaks (usually two people man the lower lift, so that one can warm up inside while the other is outside) on your inside time, we could usually get away with sneaking in some runs. i loved this job!! in fact its putting a burden on my desire to finish getting my MechE degree, because i know that when i graduate i would much rather be a lift attendant than an enginneer for some other company.
-note: my best friend preferred ski instructing because he was really good at it. if you enjoy teaching, go for it...you get to ski more, but not on the good runs...lifties get to ski good trails, but less often. on dead days when nobody shows up, you will be glad to be an instructor. its a tossup
do you think that a 17year old junior in highschool would be qualified to be a ski instructor? I have only been skiing about 15 times, how ever I ski blackdiamonds and everything else

Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2006 10:57 am
by mattman
i started instructing when i was 13 and plenty of the instructors had pretty bad form...you become experienced and good at skiing quick when you are an instructor. a good thing to do is attend as many of the early morning "clinics" for instructors that you can. i dont think you would have any problem getting the job. skiing black diamonds has NOTHING to do with being a ski instructor at the high school age. you will be teaching 6 to 10 year olds...and sometimes (if you get stuck with it) tykes, which are nursery school kids. most of these kids have probably never skied...and the first half of the day you will may never even get on skis...just get them used to walking and shifting their weight on ski boots. but ya, just make sure to "shadow" a couple of good instructors and you will do great! if you love skiing, they will have a good time.

Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2006 11:08 am
by zachjowi
mattman wrote:i started instructing when i was 13 and plenty of the instructors had pretty bad form...you become experienced and good at skiing quick when you are an instructor. a good thing to do is attend as many of the early morning "clinics" for instructors that you can. i dont think you would have any problem getting the job. skiing black diamonds has NOTHING to do with being a ski instructor at the high school age. you will be teaching 6 to 10 year olds...and sometimes (if you get stuck with it) tykes, which are nursery school kids. most of these kids have probably never skied...and the first half of the day you will may never even get on skis...just get them used to walking and shifting their weight on ski boots. but ya, just make sure to "shadow" a couple of good instructors and you will do great! if you love skiing, they will have a good time.
my snowbaording friend that teches skiing just has the people go down the hill a few times.

do you think they could hire me to both teach lessons and help with tthe lift

Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2006 2:20 am
by davide
zachjowi wrote: I am not really sure what you are trying to say?
I meant that if you like skiing, don't do anything else than skiing. I think that having a good job in town, will let you more time and money for skiing than working in a resort.
Many scandinavians have regular, well paid job during the summer, and in winter they come down to the Alps for 4/5 months and do nothing else than skiing, every day, all the day long, without fighting to have few runs during lunch break or whatever.