 Poster: A snowHead
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This text translated from an article today in the France5 website:
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MOUNTAIN PROFESSIONS
Addicted to winter sports? In perfect physical condition? Need to work in the fresh air and are looking for a job where you interact with other people? A profession in the mountains is ‘right up your street’!
Freelance or salaried jobs with the resorts or local councils.
Most mountain professionals work on a seasonal basis. It’s true that the seasons are short – from December to April and from July to September. Equally true that the work is intensive. However, if you’re looking for a job in the mountains, close to nature and in contact with the public, take the plunge... Sports professionals, lift operators, medical/emergency personnel? Contrary to popular belief, guides and instructors by no means all hail from the Alps or the Pyrenees. More than 50% of guides are from the towns. As long as they are highly motivated and excellent skiers absolutely anyone can train as a guide, or take the ‘Brevet d'Etat’ (BEES) sports instructor (ski) diploma. Job opportunities? More than 1,500 high mountain guides are employed in France, and more than 15,000 ski instructors. The SNMS (National Ski Instructors Association) reckons that the profession absorbs 300 new alpine and 50 telemark ski instructors each year. However the main employers in the winter tourism domain are the lift companies, who employ maintenance technicians and ski patrollers; full-time (approx. 4,000) and seasonal (approx. 15,000).
The freelance route?
Fact: 90% of guides and instructors are self-employed, even if they work for organizations such as ski schools or guide companies. Only instructors of sports associations such as the UCPA are salaried, as well as the ski patrollers. [The Union Nationale des Centres Sportifs de Plein Air (UCPA) is a union of youth associations, including the National Olympic Committee, sport federations and representatives of the French Government, such as the Ministry of Youth and Sports, which co-manages the UCPA.] "A working environment which combines independence, responsibility, and the seasonal employment culture", according to Denis Poncelin, director of ENSA (the French national mountain sports and activities school). All of which means that for the summer a secondary employment is required. Numerous winter sports professionals compete additional training to qualify in another discipline. Or apply for positions in the construction industry, utilising their skills in working at heights. As for guides, more and more are completing a university degree in order to have a second qualification.
What training?
To become a guide, a ski instructor or patroller means training via ENSA in both the theoretical and practical (work experience) fields. ENSA provides a pre-training course of several weeks, after which guide or instructor hopefuls carry out their apprenticeships in situ: ski schools for instructors, guide companies for... guides. It is also possible to work indendently, but under the supervision of a qualified tutor. With respect to ski patrollers, an initial qualification is awarded by the French regional authorities, subsequent 2nd and 3rd degree diplomas by ENSA. |
The guide profession and mountain tourism organisation today
The seasonal partner issue: does it slow down tourist resorts?
And a load more trancripts of talks from the same 2001 conference, in English, all linked to the mountain tourism industry; social, economic, environmental issues...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Very interesting, alas the sentence
In perfect physical condition?
Cuts me off.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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PG, interesting articles. The question is, since addressing these issues at a conference in 2001, what steps have been taken to improve the situation for seasonal workers?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Elizabeth B, the 4th and 5th conferences in 2002 and 2003 took place - see http://www.sommets-tourisme.org/e/sommetsG/ ... but just the basic summaries and programmes available on line at present, extracts from these are on CD at 46 euros per copy!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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PG, thanks. For 46 euro, I'd want something more exciting on the cd!!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Elizabeth B, Can't say I'm falling over myself to dig out my credit card! Still, for anyone thinking about investing in a commercial venture in the Alps, this type of information is 'must-read' stuff, if just a bit boring!
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