 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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[quote="alex_heney"][quote="SlipnSlide"]
| HoneyBunny wrote: |
| but I don't imagine ski instructors are particularly low paid |
I can imagine it's very low pay actually. Mainstream instructors seem barely able to scrape a living from it. The reason private lessons are expensive is demand and supply and often a monopoly situation in many resorts. Most of the money is not going directly to the actual instructor.
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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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| SlipnSlide wrote: |
| Why are private lessons so expensive anyway? I know you're paying for a professional's time, but why are ski lessons so much more expensive than say private music or driving lessons which tend to cost around £30 an hour? |
The last I heard, a driving instructor doesn't have to prove he can drive around a track within x percentage of the Stig's time.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@SlipnSlide,
| Quote: |
private music or driving lessons which tend to cost around £30 an hour
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That would be very cheap for a private music lesson. Going rate amongst the singing teachers I know is £60 an hour.
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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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Private lessons in Les Saisies cost from 39 - 50 euros an hour, depending on the season. A bit less if you book a series. The instructor will, happily, see most of that.
It's pretty easy to qualify as a driving instructor. Not nearly so easy to qualify as a music teacher. 
I paid £31 for a short chiropody session last week. Was nowhere near an hour, but there are premises and equipment involved in that.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Hurtle,
£20-£30 for a piano teacher down here in Dorset. If they charged £60 they wouldn't get much business.
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@pam w, but a music teacher (let's say a flute teacher) doesn't have to maintain their flute and ensure that it's insured for idiot children that will crash it
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Had a 2 hour offpiste lesson today. Went places I would never have known about, all lift accessed, and made me realise you are also paying for local knowledge in this sort of case.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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As instructors have lessons each season, then I can't see any reason why any of us should think that we never need them!
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| musher wrote: |
@Hurtle,
£20-£30 for a piano teacher down here in Dorset. If they charged £60 they wouldn't get much business. |
Is that to teach beginner to play a song? Or to teach a middling level student to advance to the upper level?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
As instructors have lessons each season, then I can't see any reason why any of us should think that we never need them!
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They NEED them because they are professionals and are obliged to keep on top of their game. Lots of holidaymakers don't have any NEED to do that (they may very well want to but we have covered this). NEED does not equal WOULD BENEFIT FROM
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| jedster wrote: |
| NEED does not equal WOULD BENEFIT FROM |
This. Nobody needs lessons, not even the most dangerous skier on the hill. All of us could benefit from lessons with a (good) instructor, but that's not the same thing.
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| Scrumpy wrote: |
| As instructors have lessons each season, then I can't see any reason why any of us should think that we never need them! |
I don't need lessons because I'm not a ski instructor. Simple.
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You know it makes sense.
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My sons piano teacher charges £15 for a half hour lesson, and teaches up to Grade 8 the highest grade. The price is the same for beginners and advanced. I think that's fairly standard.
Compared to a driving instructor a ski instructor's overheads would be far less. (maintenance and insurance of a pair of skis is less than a car!)
I'm not sure what the relevance is that a ski instructor has to ski a course in a fast time? 
So my guess, is that like someone said, its purely down to supply and demand. Private ski lessons cost £70 per hour (or whatever) because enough customers are prepared to pay that.
Not everyone who goes on skiing holidays is rich but I guess a fair few are. Also because its often a one off thing, once or twice a year on holiday, people would be prepared to pay more for it rather than if it was every week of the year back home, like piano or driving.
Surprised at the comments that ski instructors just scrape by. If they only get a small portion of the fee the companies they work for must be raking it in.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@SlipnSlide,
consider that also they have a fairly short earning season
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Poster: A snowHead
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Also i think most of them spend a fair amount of time 'on the bench' waiting for an assignment.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| SlipnSlide wrote: |
Surprised at the comments that ski instructors just scrape by. If they only get a small portion of the fee the companies they work for must be raking it in. |
I'm pretty sure it's a low paid job, I looked into it briefly when I was a teenager. I had a couple of older friends who were BASI instructors and neither of them had much money. They both drove mini-cabs in the summer to get by. An instructor I know now works as a building site labourer in the summer months and basically lives in a cardboard box at the resort. We also got approached to rent out our condo to a married couple who were both ski instructors. They couldn't afford it, even with a joint income. So no I don't think they are raking it in, except for the likes of Warren Smith running their own successful business.
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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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| SlipnSlide wrote: |
| Surprised at the comments that ski instructors just scrape by. If they only get a small portion of the fee the companies they work for must be raking it in. |
Even if their hourly rate is good (which I suspect it isn't) you have to take into account the fact that they will have limited working hours, plus tax etc. I wouldn't be surprised if many of them are self employed so would have the ballache of that to consider too. Plus they have to have a job that they can do for the other 7-8 months of the year, and one which doesn't get hampered by them disappearing in the ski season. It's a long way from being a cushy job.
Although the guy that my dad had lessons with was a water ski instructor during the summer months and didn't seem too bad off.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| jedster wrote: |
| consider that also they have a fairly short earning season |
They have a 12 month one. Just not all of it ski instructing in the northern hemisphere. In what parallel universe is there an entitlement to make a year's income in 4 months?
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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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| dogwatch wrote: |
| jedster wrote: |
| consider that also they have a fairly short earning season |
They have a 12 month one. Just not all of it ski instructing in the northern hemisphere. In what parallel universe is there an entitlement to make a year's income in 4 months? |
The problem is finding another job that pays well and allows 4 months off straight during the winter. Not many of those around, which is why most instructors I know seem to bumble around in the summer doing fairly crappy temp jobs.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| SlipnSlide wrote: |
| Surprised at the comments that ski instructors just scrape by. If they only get a small portion of the fee the companies they work for must be raking it in. |
Sadly, that's just not the case. Some instructors do reasonably well, and these tend to be owners of their own ski school or those who are very senior in cooperative associations (which is a very small percentage of the total number of instructors), but for many it is paid by the hour and if there are few bookings (which isn't unusual outside the school holidays, or if the snow is disastrously poor as it was in many resorts easy this season) it will impact on your earnings. But having said that, there seems to be no shortage of people who want to do it, so it can't be that bad...
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FAQ
What I meant was that I hadn't realised that instructors might only get a small portion of the lesson fee. If that's the case I meant that the COMPANIES must be raking it in, not the individual instructors.
