Suggested alternatives to a Snowboard instructor course?

A snowHead

Hi there - relatively recent lurker who has just signed up.
My 22 year old son is just finishing Uni - he is lucky enough to have been offered a job straight out of it. It is a 6 month contract taking him to December 2026 and is keen to do a month or so in the mountains after. He had thought about one of the 5 week Snowboard Instructor Courses with the likes Ski Instructor Academy in Kaprun.
Reading a few of the threads on here makes me wonder if it is the best idea for him.
The advantage of an instructor course is it is easy - you are dumped in with a bunch of other 20 year olds and will probably have a great time.
The disadvantage is it is expensive and after reading some of the threads here you might not really be being coached to improve your technique but more about how to teach absolute beginners the basics - which could get a bit dull if you aren't that interested in becoming an instructor.
He is not really in a position to do a full season, just 5 or 6 weeks - none of his friends board / ski or available, he is a decent beginner / intermediate - linking turns on reds / small jumps etc.
Just wondering if there are any suggestions of an alternative to the instructor course - any development courses or other ideas.
Thanks

A snowHead

@SteveMcN,
Do his 4-5 weeks in an at least large linked ski area, and get the miles under his feet, with some good instruction early in his stay.
You don't mention date he would be looking to go out.
A potential factor on where to go would be accommodation availability.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

If you want the same type of package/experience but with the training being focused on improving his riding rather than training to become an instructor you can look at companies like non-stop who offer exactly this

They are not cheap but you are paying for convenience. You could save a lot by putting it together yourself.

My suggestion would be simply find a resort with a hostel - cheap and will provide the social element. A couple of 1 to 1 lessons each week with feedback and drills of things to work on between sessions. You will get similar results for a lot less.

For someone at his level that's even mildly motivated simply spending 5 weeks continuous on snow will create a lot of improvement. Then again I've seen enough people his age arrive at a ski resort and spend more time drinking than skiing, so really depends on him and what he wants to get out of it (which may not be what he tells his parents Laughing

)

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Look for cheap 1:1 instruction. Either by blocking the same instructor for at least two weeks and hope for discount, or looking for off peak discount. Lake Louise offers First Tracks for something like 160 CDN per 1.5hr, half the price of the usual ones.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@SteveMcN, generally speaking for 5 - 6 weeks what @boarder2020, is a better option.
and yes the level 1 ist more " how to teach absolute beginners the basics "

Check out here what are the prerequisites : drift turn on blue and red slopes safely
https://www.eng.snowsports.at/post/snowboard-instructor-level2-anw%C3%A4rter

As i did the level 1 in Germany i think i improved my technique a little bit, but its not compared with a course specific for this

for 5-6 Weeks I think its better to DIY , find an accommodation do a technique course, and then enjoy the time.

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Speaking as a skier, not a boarder, so may not transfer fully, but I would not underestimate the value, the improvement to your technique, of getting to BASI/Anwärter L2. Yes, of course there's a lot of focus on teaching, but beyond the level 1 basics you need to seriously master the whole Central Theme and be able to demonstrate it, to understand it, to explain it in body dynamics terms, to be able to spot the nuances of what each client is doing and how to correct it. It is not just about teaching the raw basics to beginners.

When my late wife, a long-time Ski Club leader by this point, went to do her BASI 1/2 in Argentina she came back an utterly transformed skier, such that I immediately decided to follow her down that route, which I'd previously considered a little beneath me (yes, arrogant shite, but hey, I was young(er) then).

I can't comment about the relative cost, but another potential advantage is the fact that on a course he'll be forced to actually get out there and concentrate each day, and with a defined end-point expectation will hopefully be motivated to achieve it. Bumming around for a few weeks, albeit with an improvement plan, runs the risk of, well, bumming around, enjoying the craic a bit too much and not really maximising the opportunity to improve.

After all it is free

@Chaletbeauroc, definitely. The question ist what someone really wants
Its only 5-6 weeks

I’ll tell you what he wants, what he…

@turms2, Oh those days before mobile phones!!

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If the kid is funding it with their own money, then I think it'll be a good learning opportunity, but probably not the one they expect.

There are plenty of commercial "camps" where people can pay to actually learn how to ski, if that's the goal. Cheaper approaches are available too. Note that those "technical progression" camps are likely taught by instructors who have trained specifically to help learners progress, which is the goal of those courses.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

are we talking about these camps?

https://cold-candy.com/snowboard-camps/

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speaking as someone who grew up skiing, and did a season 25 years ago and learned to snowboard:
don't do the instructor course. it will be focussed on teaching him to teach.
pick a resort, find some accommodation. book a week lessons. and spend the other 4-5 weeks cruising and learning and riding. (and park ratting)
if he's in resort 4-5 weeks, he should find/meet some seasonaires to hang with.

Simple enough. Find a 1-week “camp” that focus on improving technique. Get a season ticket & located lodging in a large’ish resort. Board as many days/hours as possible.

I’m a little surprised at so many think he’ll drink the days away. But if that’s what he wants, it’s his time, which he has a lot ahead of him.

Just don’t let him draw the fund out of the bank of Mom and Dad. As he’s got a job for 6 months, he should have some left over money to fund his holiday in the mountains, whether it’s a drinking one or boarding one. At worst, offer him a loan, with 1% interest (make it real). He’ll be the one who needs to start thinking about the cost and benefit, from this point on as an adult.

You know it makes sense.

@Chaletbeauroc, nobody has ever said people don't improve by doing an instructor course. But, if your goal is only improving your own ability and you have no interest in working as an instructor, it hardly seems like the best choice. Better to find a course specifically aimed at your goal, and it will likely be a better outcome.

It's kind of weird that this is even a thing in skiing. If you said you wanted to improve a second language/musical instrument/golf etc. there would be no suggestion of training to teach/coach it.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@boarder2020, I speak from experience, both my wife and myself improved immeasurably through doing it, compared with the high-level tuition we had done quite a lot of over the years. Others I know have a similar experience.

It's the detailed level of understanding you need to be able to demonstrate, to explain and to consistently reproduce that makes the difference. In other courses yes, I can learn a new "tool for my toolbox", but once I've found what works for me, most of the time, that will be considered job done; having to use different analogies and explanations for why somebody else struggles until you find the one that works for them means that instead of just one way to achieve a given outcome you need to learn several.

I still find to this day that the analysis of somebody else's skiing is what mostly helps to improve my own skiing. And yes, I'm still improving year on year, even at the ripe old age of 65, and hope to do so for some time to come.

A snowHead

A snowHead

It's hardly a great advert for their tuition though.

Don't learn how to snowboard from their lessons. Instead, their own teachers suggest you learn how to teach those lessons.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@phil_w, I think the real issue has to do with the students. Some people are inquisitive and studious. They benefit from the sort of analysis and refinement in the instructor training. People who just want to do it well enough (even to a reasonable proficiency) to enjoy the activities tend to find such “slow” progress boring, and won’t benefit enough from such.

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@phil_w, if becoming an instructor ireally was the best way to improve performance it's strange we don't see any Olympians with coaching qualifications Laughing

I don't doubt it improves people, however I can't see how it can possibly be as effective as a course aimed at actually improving your skiing.

The issue is we don't have any proper comparison. Those that did the instructor course don't know they wouldn't have improved twice as much on an improver course over a similar length of time. Often for those doing instructor courses it's their first time spending 4+ weeks consecutively on snow - so it's hardly surprising they see lots of improvements simply from that alone.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Olympians mostly start aged 3 or 4, they don't need to learn new skills, coaching is not the same as teaching.

For myself, and my wife, we were living in a ski resort and skiing 30+ days per season before we each did our BASI stuff.

I'm not trying to force a point of view on anyone here, just that aged 50+ when I started down the instructor road I have found a level of improvement I don't think I could have imagined. Yes, of course, spending that much time on the snow over the years is a huge advantage in itself, but we were already doing that, and regular training courses with Phil Smith and the like, without such clear breakthroughs.

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@SteveMcN, I think we’re a bit off topic, but honestly the best option is to let your son decide—or base it on your budget.

If he takes an instructor course, he might really enjoy the whole vibe and want to take it further. If he chooses a technique course, he’ll have fun as well.
You mentioned he’s a solid beginner/intermediate—linking turns on red runs and doing small jumps—so either way i think he’ll improve his skills. You really can’t go wrong here.

Whichever option you/he choose, I only see benefits.

After all it is free

Hugely off topic, but this is snowheads after all....

I think possibly why people like the instructor route is because it provides a structure to know where to go with improving. Similarly for olympic athletes, be that in alpine racing or freestyle, they have competitions to aim at and different levels etc. For alpine racing you have FIS points, which sort of work like a golf handicap, there's always an end goal and definite way to see your improvements.

When it comes to just getting better at skiing or snowboarding, if that's an open ended objective, then perhaps people don't know what to improve or which route to take in order to do so. They ski/board as much as they do within a season and then don't have to think about it until the next season.

I guess that's why CARV is quite popular amongst skiers, specifically those that like goals and "tabgible" results.

Thanks for all the replies - they are very helpful - from them it seems there is no right answer!!
His time constraints rule out doing a full season DIY and to do a few weeks DIY it could be difficult to fall in with a crowd and he will end up just carving pistes - as mentioned he would need some structure to force him to ride switch etc
On first searches I could only find instructor courses that fitted with his dates / time constraints, but I have found a 3 week snowboard technique course with Snowminds in dorfgastein austria which might fit the bill. It is a bit cheaper than the instructor courses so he could use the balance to stay on for a few weeks after the course.
I also think from reading the replies he would enjoy any of the options, so I'll do the donkey work of looking into each and costing and then go for the
but honestly the best option is to let your son decide
advice

cheers

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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

I think there’s a fundamental difference in needs with skiing and snowboarding. Skiers get excited about perfecting the turn etc, and maybe that’s where learning to teach others works. Snowboarding is just shite imo when it’s homogenised. All my mates who have gone through to level 3 instructor snowboarders are basically uninspiring to
Watch as riders. They don’t send it hard. You can’t learn that by being an instructor. Just go ride with mates a lot and hit some big lines.

That’s where imorovment as a snowboarder will happens.

Just my opinion…but snowboarding isn’t defined by perfect technique. It’s defined by the size of the smile on your face.

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why uninspiring ? theoretically with level 3 you can hit the park, and leave pencil lines on every slope ecxept the black ones.
I find it really inspiring.

You must excuse my colleague, he comes from Queenstown…. Wink

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Thanks - will look into all of those options. Really helpful.

A snowHead

Having just done BASI L1 and L2 ski courses (I didn’t quite pass the L2 but the only downside of that is that I will have to go for some more top-class tuition) they’re easily the best three weeks I have spent learning to ski. Hands down. And I’ve had some excellent lessons with excellent teachers.

First the learn-how-to-snowplough-properly part of the course was off-the-scale helpful for my technique

Secondly the technique improvement succeeded for me because it’s done on the basis of “that wasn’t good enough go and do it again until it’s right”. There are very few ski instructors who will put their paying clients through that sort of hell.

Can’t speak for snowboarding courses, they may not get beyond spliff rolling. Proper boarders don’t even have lessons do they?

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Oh and, even if your technique is good enough to meet the minimum standard to pass, that isn’t good enough to pass. You will be expected to make changes and improve on order to pass.

Help!!

Suggested alternatives to a Snowboard instructor course?

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