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Section 8 Snowsport Institute - SLT - Snowsport Leadership Training

So you want to be a ski instructor............ By Nigel Harrison

It’s a dream job, to be sure. It could even be the dream job, but it’s not as easy as you might think. It takes drive, determination and dedication, but the rewards are great, in fact they’re out of this world.
It started for me on a dry slope, and I won’t pretend that those things don’t have their downsides. For a start, they hurt like crazy when you fall, (which you will) but your skiing will improve. I finished one summer with both arms in plaster, so no climbing for me, couldn’t even hold a knife and fork, and turned up for my interview for my first on snow season in Scotland with a broken nose and 2 black eyes from a slalom gate to find that skiing in Scotland is what turns boys into men, and men into quivering wrecks. But, oh, what a party. I had one night all season at home; the rest, well, I have to say I’m not too sure. And I made good money, though, to paraphrase George Best, I spent most of it on beer and skis and climbing gear, the rest I just wasted. I know I spent some of it on the next course on my way to getting the certification I was after.
Season two, after another summer on the dry slopes, and doing a lot of climbing, I headed out to Europe, and that’s where I stayed for the next few winters. Austria, Andorra, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and France. Teaching skiing is a ticket to travel, and no mistake. It started to dawn on me that teaching on dry slopes, and to a lesser extent in Scotland does wonders for your teaching. In those places you are forced, because the runs are short, to keep your lessons moving along. You can’t just tap the poles behind you, and throw a ‘follow me’ over your shoulder, the lesson, as much as the skiing has to be the pleasure for the client and a good teacher should focus on that. Make sure you take your days off, put your skins on, and ski the real alps. That’s where skiing is at. And I did more courses; teaching courses, technical courses, coaching courses, avalanche courses, mountaineering instruction courses.
In New Zealand you ski surrounded by countless peaks and deep, dark valleys trailing away into the haze of distance. The club fields are an experience not to be missed but don’t go to them if you look for creature comforts more than you look for great turns. The sight of wallabies and kangaroos on snow in Oz’s snowy mountains is something that will stay with me. There, when it hasn’t snowed for a few days the snow turns red with desert dust and you leave white pencil lines behind you. The backcountry skiing is awesome in both countries, and the climbing, well.......
I’ve skied in Morocco, in Greenland, Norway, Spain, Venezuela, the States, Nepal, and I’ve climbed all over the world, from Spain to Hong Kong. People ask what I do in the summers. They will ask you that too. Make sure you have cool things to tell them. I’ve sailed to Greenland to ski and climb, to Africa and South America to do the same. I’ve hitch hiked with ski and climbing gear from Los Angeles to Canada, I’ve driven in an old school bus from South America to Vancouver Island. I’ve been bitten by snakes, spiders, I’ve had dengue fever, dysentery and I’ve dislocated my knee and knocked myself out and god only knows what else. All my partners for this stuff have been people I’ve met teaching skiing and climbing and mountaineering. You’ll meet them too, and you will have awesome stories to tell when you get back on snow. Summers, I’ve found out, aren’t all bad.

And now I work in Canada. I’m thirty five, my knees hurt, and while I’m not rich, and never will be, I get by and I will do it all again, and again, and again, every year, till I just simply can’t. There’s a guy at my ski school who’s eighty, still skis every day, still gets better, still loves it. I want to be like him. It’s all awesome. You even appreciate getting up at five thirty to cycle to town and catch the slow and noisy bus up the hill because you get to see the sun come up over the ocean and the mountains, and you get to see the season swell and grow, and you get to go, late in the season, from spring in the valley to winter up the hill, ski all day, and cycle home in a t- shirt. I’ll never stop because it’s the best job in the world. I have great friends, colleagues and clients. I have an awesome ski area just up the road, and another one 2 hours away if I feel like skiing lifts on my days off. I get to ski backcountry snow any time I want. It’s June just now, and I will be skiing powder this month, but I’m not going to tell you where. You’re just going to have to find out for yourself. Taking a ski teaching course was the best thing I ever did. This is the dream job.

Nigel... lost somewhere in Europe!

Nigel Harrison teaches private ski lessons for all ages and abilities with the Mount Washington Snow School. To ski with Nigel click here or click here to check out Section 8's ski instructor training course.