Training and working as a ski instructor, all in one season

With an early season ski or snowboard instructor course, it is possible to start working in the same season. Nadine Wilding tells us how she did just that with NONSTOP's Banff programme:

It's a rare thing when you experience a trip abroad where the reality of it matches the advert, especially when it’s something as huge as a whole season abroad where it feels as if there is the potential for too many things to go hideously wrong. So you can imagine my surprise when my year in Canada panned out perfectly

, except perhaps for the odd morning spent with my head in the toilet, for which I should probably assume responsibly.

A productive 'Google' session:

I stumbled upon NONSTOP through one of those strangely interesting Google search sessions. The type of search that enhances your general knowledge of irrelevant facts, may assist your winning with a Christmas game of Trivial Pursuit, but generally is of no real relevance. I must admit that I was a little lost at the time. After 14 years of compulsory classroom sitting, I didn't feel inclined to throw myself straight onto the university band wagon – and yet if I were to take a year out, it wouldn’t be to substitute science videos with Eastenders and gym class with my hourly stroll to the fridge. I thought that a season of skiing would be grand, if not a little ambitious, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to browse some instructor courses anyway. I didn't think for a second that I would discover a company who would make this hair-brain scheme of mine so accessible!

I can't tell you what a weight off my mind it was to hop onto Air Canada's Heathrow to Calgary flight, knowing that my season’s accommodation was waiting for me (fun, like-minded house-mates included), 3 weeks of top-notch instruction (plenty of fun as well) and a full time instructing job to walk into afterwards! I thought that planning necessary details of the next six months of my life from the opposite side of the Atlantic would have been a mammoth task, and it would have been without the assistance and contacts that NONSTOP provided; and so on this very rare occasion my year turned out exactly as I'd dreamed it.

Three week instructor course:

I feel slightly horrified as I nosily peep around at my other NONSTOPers. A lifetime of Spring time ski trips in Europe has clearly had it’s effect. I stand wearing sunglasses with a neat little ponytail trailing down my back (hatless, of course) and begin to understand why, in minus15, the others seemed to think that hats and goggles were the way to go. I must look as if I'd just walked out of the 80's, headband and all. On this rare occasion I feel misguided by my parents with regard to ski fashion. A smirk spreads across my face as I think back a few years and remember my brother, then 18, sporting a bright blue one piece with florescent pink stripes; my other brother in the purple version. Poor lads. I feel sudden relief that I never went on a school ski trip. Needless to say, I went and purchased some more suitable clothing for the next day.

Aside from that first morning's fashion trauma, those three weeks were truly unforgettable. It’s astounding how in just three weeks such friendships and group dynamics can be established. Judging by the familiar banter between us all, you’d think that we’d known each other for years – not weeks – and I’m including the instructors and course leaders in this! It’s like a wonderful breath of  fresh, Rocky mountain air into your life, where routine and familiarity may have let it stale slightly. My days were spent setting tracks down powdered pistes and acquiring new skills to show-off on the next family ski trip and, at the same time, quietly building up confidence and eliminating any reservations that I had about the upcoming assessment.

I am one of those people who switches off easily, but the instruction was of such high calibre that every day my skiing improved and at the end of the three weeks it was totally transformed! If I wasn’t a show off before, I sure am now.

Come night time, the hot tub would bubble away waiting to relax those tired muscles, flavour-oozing food would be ready to fill my stomach and a whole jungle of activity would be awaiting my discovery in Banff town. Bars were buzzing and the clubs were ready to show me that every night in Banff is a good night. You could take yourself for a swim, a fireside ice skate at the Fairmont; you could treat yourself to a movie or a game of bowling. My best nights were spent enjoying a few beers, appreciating some Alberta beef and being in the company of good friends in one of the local taverns: the ‘Rose and Crown’ is always a good shout. I don’t think I would have found myself bored in Banff if I was there for a decade.

Gap year Canada.

Many of the NONSTOPers were also seeing the season out and had jobs lined up at Mount Norquay. Unfortunately we had to say ‘goodbye’ to a few who flew back to the UK. Thanks to Nonstop, I was put in contact with a Banff based company called ‘Gap Year Canada’, who provided my season's accommodation, with about 40 others living in Banff for the season. It’s probably similar to the ‘student’ lifestyle; except you spend your days building up your goggle tans and not writing dissertations. Excuse me if I sound smug there – I am.

Our chalets were gorgeously Canadian with the benefit of being situated about a 5 minutes walk from Banff Ave (the only street you need to be familiar with in Banff). I would always be appreciative of this when it was minus 30 something and I was venturing out for the night. It was difficult not to revel in this advantage when various work friends would have to walk 25 minutes to their own staff accommodation. The energetic young couple who run ‘GapCan’, as we call it, devote their time to organising trips and adventures to guarantee that we get the best experience of Banff. It provides a secure base and network of friends that allows you to pursue whatever it is that you hope to gain from the season.

Instructing at Mount Norquay:

I know that I took this course for the right reasons. I loved my job. I would wake up late every morning, struggle to get dressed in a frantic rush, fail to remember my lunch in the fridge and scamper out the door with my room mate in tow to get to the bus stop in time. By the time we got there, one of two things happened: I’d either be caked in brown splodges where my tea had sloshed out of my thermos by my ungraceful, hurried walk, or, and this was most often the case, we’d round the corner and see the bus fully loaded waiting to leave, and have to run in full gear, clutching my thermos the last 100 metres in front of a bus full of amused co-workers. Fortunately for us, the driver had a great sense of humour and at least we amused everyone else. Once the banter died down I’d peer out of the window on the Norquay road and watch the sun peep out from behind Mount Rundle – continuously amazed that not only was I lucky enough to be there at that moment in time, but that I had a season of it! Gorgeous views aside, I had a real passion for the teaching. It wasn’t always perfect and you would have those days where you’d be teaching groups of three year olds for 5 hours straight. Sometimes you have those kids who just decide to keel over every 5 seconds when they’re stationary. They go all floppy in your arms and refuse to stand up and put weight onto their own legs. They clatter to the ground and then lay there, shovelling snow into their mouths with their mitted hands. They think it’s a game. I think that games are supposed to be fun. You get exhausted and achy but then something clicks into place, and as soon as you see them doing their first snowplough, the previously painful lessons are suddenly worth every unceremonious clatter to the ground. I had a lot of fun teaching and it was thoroughly rewarding. The ski school was collectively, the funniest group of people I’ve worked with. I’m off to do a ski season with a couple of them next winter, and in good contact with the rest; plus it’s always handy to have good contacts around the world. The truth is that when I plonked myself in front of ‘Google’ and searched for instructor courses, I just didn't think that everything I’ve done this last year would have been as feasible as it was.

Tea splodges and floppy three years olds aside, I have just returned from the best year of my life, so far anyway, and I’ve got a feeling that it's going to take some beating. I took one big, exhilarating leap of faith and landed safely in two feet of powder in the Canadian Rockies. Uni will have to wait – I'm off to the Alps!

Nadine Wilding took NONSTOP's early season 3 week Instructor course in Banff before working in the same season. Check out all instructor and improvement courses on offer below: