Becoming instructor without teaching experience?

A snowHead

And of course the ESF has long done this - but maybe only for kids?

A snowHead

@theriel,

CSIA level 1 (and I think 2) don't require teaching hours, or at least it didnt when mrsH did it - though learning how to teach is an important part of the course/cert. She also had no intention to teach, but did it out of interest, and due to crappy conditions when she booked it - turns out my decision to not do it and ending up skiing pow all week was also a good one snowHead

I think she found it useful, especially some years later when teaching our kids when they were starting out; though I like to think I did ok without needing any CSIA certs wink

(I do have an IFSA one, which is useful, but primarily for understanding competitive freeride and general coaching stuff)

Personally I'd tend to agree with most of the feedback in the previous replies. There are probably better ways if self improvement is the main goal.
For even better ability appraisal you could try TGR? wink

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

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Agree with everyone else that teaching qualification is not much use if you have zero interest in teaching and your goal is simply improving your own skiing.

Best suggestion is doing some kind of racing. Nothing else is going to quantify performance as much. You could set the goal of passing the eurotest.

I get your want for structured, measurable improvement. However, I'd argue it's not that difficult or vague to feel/see improvements. Especially if you are skiing off-piste and relatively technical lines.

Regarding carv it certainly gives you some measured numbers. How much those numbers correlate with ski performance/improvement is a question I don't believe has been fully answered. It's always going to be limited in that it only tells you what's going on at the end point (foot pressure).

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

I once had an interesting chat, on a T-bar on the Grande Motte, with a qualified French high mountain guide who was training to take the Eurotest for the third time......

After all it is free

@theriel, how close are you to the standard required to pass a Level 1 exam? If you think you are close you could do a Level 1 exam without needing any shadowing hours beforehand. You’ll get a week of training, feedback and continuous assessment, all of which will be useful, and then you can decide whether to go forward with shadowing hours (easily done at a dry slope or indoor slope if you have one near) and progress to L2. If you don’t think you are at the entry point to an L1 course you should probably focus on finding a a good ski school or a few instructors who you can work with as you progress towards instructor exams (if that’s what you want).

If your priority is to get external validation of your improvement without the shadowing requirements of exams, my advice would be to find a good ski school or a few instructors who you can work with as your skiing progresses. Their feedback and video analysis will show your improvement, and should help you tune in to your internal feedback on how your are skiing. Ultimately it is this which will be more important in your skiing.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

I actually think the OP may be missing an opportunity by discounting any interest in teaching. Although I started the qualification journey mostly to improve my own skiing, I have found that not only do I very much enjoy the teaching aspect but that I also have learnt a huge amount from teaching. The technical understanding you need to be any good at teaching intermediate and above skiers is immensely helpful and finding ways of imparting that insight to others deepens your own understanding. All that being said it is interesting that I now most enjoy teaching adult beginners and early intermediates, it is such a joy to start others on their own journey in our sport.

I am also a qualified spey casting instructor, and did that purely to judge/improve my own performance. But the same thing happened and I found the teaching of others helpful in my own journey. And I absolutely love doing it.

Something to think about.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

@theriel, Are you based in the UK? There are plenty of Race Clubs on dry slopes and Snowdomes who can give you year-round learning.

Help!!

Becoming instructor without teaching experience?

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