Becoming a ski instructor on my gap year – Part 2

In Part 1, Evan wrote about his experiences on NONSTOP's Red Mountain 11-week ski instructor course. Now he now tells how he has combined part-time ski instructing in Italy with his university degree.

After returning home and saying goodbye to everyone, I went backpacking with a friend from school which was also an amazing experience but I still missed Red Mountain. I wasn’t exactly sure what to do next

; I had planned to go to Uni but after my gap year I really wanted to go back to Canada to do another season. So I decided to defer my entry again and started looking at visas and job applications. Eventually however I decided it would be best to go to Uni first and give myself a backup plan in case ski instructing on a permanent basis wasn’t the thing for me. I have absolutely no regrets in making this decision and I think it was the right thing to do at the right time. I am however very determined to do another season after graduating and try out ski instructing as a career.

In September a big group of us all travelled down to NONSTOCK, which was a great chance to see everyone again and to meet people who had done the same courses in other resorts. The weekend was a great success and we’re already planning on the next trip. It was great to hear what everyone had been doing over summer and also discussing plans for the next season.

In this time I had discovered that there are a number of UK tour operators who are more than happy to employ ski instructors on a temporary basis especially during university and school holidays. In January of this year, me and Dan (a friend who was on the NONSTOP course at the same time as me) worked for a company called Interski in Courmayeur, Italy. The process for signing up was really straight forward; filling out a simple form on their website and then sending and replying to a couple of emails. The set up at Interski was really good; transport, accommodation and food was all included in the package and we were paid at the end as well!

I was really nervous at the beginning of the week, worried that I would forget everything that I had learnt in Red and that the kids I was teaching would realise that I wasn’t the amazing ski instructor I was supposed to be. But when you get into it you soon realise that the kids hang on your every word and trusting you to take them around the mountain. The thing I also forgot was that kids learn best from just skiing, you can stand around and tell them all the technique you want but at the end of the day the best way for them to learn is by doing.

I got to know all the other instructors really well in Courmayeur and will definitely be doing it again. Even though it’s a job you feel like you’re on holiday – ski instructing has to be the best job in the world. With companies like this, I plan to combine doing a few weeks ski instructing a year alongside my degree and then at the end have enough experience to land a really good instructor job back out in Canada.

I had an amazing time with NONSTOP on the 11-week course and would strongly recommend everyone to do it! It has given me great opportunities to continue instructing and has led to me meeting some incredible people. I have to say a huge thanks to my instructors Aladar and Jon who taught me loads and to all the guys who help run the course in Red. I’d go back today if I could!

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