Instructor tips & tricks

1. 4–6 months beforeBook your next qualification course or exam, update your profile with verified certificates, and start applying. Many Austrian and Swiss schools fill their teams between spring and early autumn.
2. 12 weeks beforeStart the pre-season training plan below. Get your boots checked by a bootfitter while shops are quiet.
3. 8 weeks beforeSort working rights, health insurance, a bank account you can use abroad and copies of your certificates and passport (stored safely in the cloud as well as on paper).
4. 4 weeks beforeService your skis or board, replace worn gloves and base layers, and practise your teaching language every day.
5. 1 week beforeArrive early if you can. Ski the resort, learn the lift names, the meeting points and where the toilets and first-aid posts are — guests will ask you on day one.

lightbulbAsk your school for its uniform list before you buy anything. Most schools provide the jacket and trousers, and some insist on particular helmet or glove colours.

lightbulbEx-demo and ex-rental skis sold in spring are a good way to own a second pair. Check the edges, the base and the binding mounting holes before you pay.

• See a bootfitter, not just a shop. A shell check (your toes touching the front, one to two fingers of space behind the heel) is the starting point.
• Custom or moulded footbeds stop your feet collapsing and reduce cold, cramped feet. They move with you to every new pair of boots.
• Flex: instructors usually ski a stiffer boot than holiday skiers, but not a race boot. A boot you can flex at slow speed is better for teaching than one that only works at 60 km/h.
• Heat-mouldable liners and shells can be adjusted for bunions, wide forefeet or high insteps — ask before you suffer.
• Never wear two pairs of socks. One thin ski sock, never cotton.
• A boot dryer is essential. Wet liners mean cold feet and blisters the next morning.
• Bindings: have the release value (DIN) set by a technician for your weight, height, age, boot sole length and skiing style — and checked again if you change boots.

lightbulbTeaching all day in the cold? Heated socks or boot heaters are worth the money in January and February, especially for kids’ groups where you stand still a lot.

lightbulbThin touchscreen liner gloves under your main gloves let you use your phone, sign lift passes and fix bindings without exposing bare skin.

lightbulbPack hand and toe warmers for children who get cold. A spare pair of kids’ gloves in your pocket has saved many lessons.

• Helmet: many schools require instructors to wear one, and in most Austrian provinces children under 15 must wear a helmet. Replace it after any hard impact.
• Goggles: carry a low-light lens (yellow or rose, filter category 1–2) for flat light and a darker lens (category 3) for sun. Spare lenses weigh almost nothing.
• Sunglasses for spring and for lunch on the terrace — your eyes take a lot of reflected light all season.
• In your pocket: a small first-aid kit, tissues, a whistle, a piste map, a fully charged phone with the ski school and rescue numbers saved, and a power bank on cold days.
• Know the local rescue number. 112 works across the EU and in Switzerland; many resorts also have their own piste rescue number on the lift pass or piste map.

warningOff-piste: never take guests off the marked runs unless your qualification, your school and the local law allow it. In many countries leading guests off-piste is reserved for mountain guides or instructors with specific off-piste qualifications.

lightbulbIf you are coming back from an injury, ask a physiotherapist for a plan. A bad knee in week two can end a whole season.

• Ski the first lift before your lessons when you can — even three runs of focused practice add up over a season.
• Practise demonstrations at walking pace. Slow, clean demos are harder than fast skiing and they are what your students actually copy.
• Film each other on your phones. Watching yourself in slow motion is the fastest way to fix habits.
• Learn your association’s technical model inside out — the reasons behind each element, not just the look. In Austria that is the Austrian ski teaching curriculum; for BASI, CSIA, PSIA and others, their own manuals.
• Ski every type of snow: ice, slush, crud, bumps and powder. Exams rarely happen on perfect corduroy.
• Shadow the strongest skiers and trainers in your school, and ask to join in-house training sessions.
• Snowboarders: ride switch every day — you will need it to watch students and in your exams.

lightbulbBefore an exam, practise each task in front of a trainer who does not know you. Nerves change your skiing more than you expect.

• Demonstrate more, talk less: one demo, one key point, then let them try.
• Feedback: start with what worked, give one thing to change, and finish with encouragement.
• Choose terrain one step easier than you think — confidence comes before progress.
• Lift safety: on chairlifts sit children in the middle, lower the safety bar and teach them to wait until the unloading point. On drag lifts, go first or last depending on your school’s rules, so you can help.
• Know your school’s lost-child procedure, first-aid procedure and the meeting points before your first lesson.
• Teach and model the FIS rules for skiers and snowboarders — respect for others, control of speed, choice of route, overtaking, entering and starting, stopping, climbing and walking, signs and markings, helping at accidents and exchanging details.

lightbulbWrite down what each private client wants and what you worked on. When they rebook next year, you can pick up exactly where you left off — that is how regular clients are made.

lightbulbLearn the local words for lifts and pistes too: Sessellift, Schlepplift and Gondel in German-speaking resorts; télésiège, téléski and télécabine in French ones.

• Pay can be hourly, daily, monthly or per season, gross or net. Compare offers on the same basis — the job adverts on Snowsports Central always show the period and whether pay is net or gross.
• Ask how private lessons, commission and peak weeks are paid, and whether you are paid when lessons are cancelled for bad weather.
• Check what is included: accommodation, meals, ski pass, uniform, training, travel and course fees all have real value.
• Get the offer in writing with dates, hours, pay and housing. Keep your payslips and contract all season.
• Tips are common, especially after private lessons — but never ask for them.

warningWorking rights are your responsibility. EU and EEA citizens can work across the EU; others, including UK citizens since Brexit, usually need a permit or visa. Check before you accept a job — our job filters show which schools sponsor visas.

• Budget for the first month before your first payday: rent deposit, food, a phone plan and the kit you forgot.
• Cook with your housemates — eating out in resorts adds up quickly.
• Peak weeks (Christmas to New Year, school half-terms in February and Easter) are long and tiring. Plan rest days around them.
• Keep in touch with home and look out for colleagues. Long dark evenings, injuries and homesickness hit everyone at some point; talk to someone early.
• Respect the locals and the mountain. Your behaviour in the village reflects on your school.