 Poster: A snowHead
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My son is eyeing up a ski season after A levels. Lot's to be done in terms of talking to some companies we know of but he's thinking France as has some basic language skills. He knows Morzine well, so that would be a comfortable but not terribly exciting choice.
Is there any recommendations on where is great to be based for a few months and where to avoid?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Canada probably worth a good look. It’s possible to do your csia levels - I think you can get upto level 2. Places like whistler and big white would keep him occupied and he’d be surrounded by English speakers. In the same vein Fernie as well.
France I can’t comment on but I’m sure someone will be along
Here is an example for Big White https://www.nothinbutsnow.com/ski-instructor-courses/#course-main
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Mon 23-01-23 10:54; edited 1 time in total
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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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| Agent Orange wrote: |
Canada probably worth a good look. It’s possible to do your csia levels - I think you can get upto level 2. Places like whistler and big white would keep him occupied and he’d be surrounded by English speakers. In the same vein Fernie as well.
France I can’t comment on but I’m sure someone will be along
Here is an example for Big White https://www.nothinbutsnow.com/ski-instructor-courses/#course-main |
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EU passport status? Work permit status? Or is he going to be living off bank of mum and dad? Regardless default answer now is only 3 months not working.
If he's going he should do his own research and planning. Otherwise he's going to be ill equipped for what a seasin throws at him.
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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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I did a season in British Columbia many years ago. Loved it and if I were younger, fitter and had no commitments I’d be there again. Ended up doing a tour of resorts west to east (starting in Whistler and taking in Big White, Red, Whitewater and a few others) finishing in Fernie for 3 months.
Strongly recommend they do their own research as above and prepare their own budget so they don’t end up calling for a cash injection after a month.
Oh, and get the idea out their head that it’s like a prolonged ski holiday. It isn’t. You end up living like you’d live at home (unless money is no object) but skiing or boarding a lot. I lost a load a weight too so a belt is a good idea!
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Sorry some more detail.
Not his plan to become an instructor (£7k!!!). Just a pre-uni experience.
He's happy to consider various roles in or out of chalet life. Has good culinary skills as well as being a good people-person and grafter (admittedly biased dad!). Needs to be roughly cost neutral at worst (not bank of M&D!). He already has some decent paid work opportunities lined up either side of the season.
He will need a work permit from what I understand (UK passport). Some ski companies seem to state they'll help arrange things in this respect.
We can look into all this, my main question was around what are generally thought of as good (or bad) places to be based in, from a social-life and living away from home for the first time, perspective?
I appreciate a lot of this is subjective and the main thing would be that he get's stuck in to the whole experience and falls in with a nice crowd.
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@MHskier, i'd look at France if going for EU, as I know people are managing to get work visas out there.
If I was in his shoes, you mention Morzine, and it would be a good option, lots of Brits there, but if he knows it well and wants to try elsewhere, i'd probably go for Tignes personally.
Again, lots of Brits, but that also means a good chance of finding somewhere that is used to the visa process and can get work.
This is coming with no prior experience of doing seasons, but just having been on holidays to the locations.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I'm not sure how easy getting a work permit for EU actually is. I suspect for any job he'd be back of the line, as it's just far easier to employ those that don't need it than the hassle. You could look at Canada working holiday visa, but it's a lottery so not guaranteed.
Ime Canada isnt any more expensive than Europe for longer trips. Flights are more, but cheaper lift pass and accommodation pretty much even things out. Canada has the advantage of being English speaking and also resorts having "in bounds controlled off-piste". Being able to ski such a variety of terrain definitely keeps things more interesting than being stuck on pistes, or worse heading off piste without proper equipment/training.
I think others have said something along the lines of "if you are going out to do a season, you might as well do it properly and not work". While that's obviously not feasible for everyone I absolutely agree with the principle. Forget "cost neutral" if it means working 5 days a week. Better off just going out for a shorter timeframe and skiing everyday without the worry of a job.
From a cost and social point of view staying at a hostel is the obvious choice.
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A mate of mine’s son got the perfect gap year ski season job. I’ve no idea how he landed it, but he went out to Canada and became a liftie supervisor. He spend his days being paid to board between lifts and checking that everything was fine with the lifts and the lifties.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Main chalet resorts: Meribel, Courchevel, Val D'Isere, Verbier, St Anton - any of those are fantastic for a season
Other major resorts with chalets: La Tania, Tignes, Les Arcs, La Plagne, Morzine.
Just see who still operates in those resorts and fire off some emails asking for info on the roles and requirements, explaining his passport situation. Cullinary skills will be essential at that age if in a chalet as he's too young to drive.
I know that there are operators who will sort out the EU work visa as a friend's 18 yo son is working in a chalet in Les Arcs (1950) this winter for the whole winter on a UK pasport, and another who's daughter is in Val.
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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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@MHskier,
For his first season he is unlikely to be able to dictate where a tour operator sends him. Apply to everyone, and if lucky enough to be offered more than one job then he can get picky.
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For what it's worth, we've used leski.com several times as customers and the *sense* I get is the young Brits who work for them get a lot out of it. I'm sure they are worked insanely hard for low pay but the things that stood out was 1) there seems to be a real camaraderie between the staff, 2) the in-resort management seems pretty tight/strict in terms of the standards they expect from the chalet hosts (which may be annoying to them at the time I guess but will set them up well for the future), and 3) the staff come across as confident/assured in a way that I suspect has grown significantly over the season as opposed to being something they all had in abundance at the start. I suspect he could do a lot worse than be taken on by them if the chalet company route is of interest. They operate in Courchevel 1650, La Tania and Val D'Isere. Finally, the chalet hosts get two days off a week - as well as the down hours in the middle of each day - and all the ones we've been hosted by have managed to get a lot of skiing in, notwithstanding the extremely hard work and long hours.
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You know it makes sense.
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Quite a few mentioning Canada and Whistler specifically. Be aware lots of the Canadian resorts are experiencing extreme housing shortages currently. The main employer in Whistler is Vail Resorts, they offer some affordable staff housing but prioritise it for essential workers leaving the rest to the private rental market. This year typical prices for a shared room/sofabed have been anywhere from £1-1.5k/month and for a private room more like £2k+/month.
I think a bonus of Canada is that lots of the jobs provide more regular short periods of time off for skiing when you compare with European chalet roles, which might only have 1.5 days off per week to ski.
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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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Whistler has had a housing shortage for years. Even pre Vail days lack of housing was the piques main story every other month. I don't disagree though, if you want to do a cheap season in Canada whistler is not a good choice.
As for extreme housing shortages in Canadian ski towns - yes and no. Buying and long term rental is difficult/expensive but not really relevent for a seasonaire. Plenty of hostel bed availability in Banff and golden, fernie etc.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Take a look at workaseason.com - lots of ski related jobs on there (although I think most of the positions require a EU passport...).
My son is currently working as a ski instructor in Japan post-uni - whilst I know that this is not your son's intention, DS tells us that he knows lots of people that are working in the ski lodges in his particular resort. Something to consider?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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If I can share my experience...
If he's willing to work, consider how much mountain time there will be - less ski time, but certainly much more socialising.
Not working, may take a little longer to make buddies, but really the greatest way to learn, improve, live, etc.
If working - get applying ASAP. TUI have a ton of businesses for the snow market outwith just Crystal for example. The interviews are actually pretty tough (at least when I applied in 2015, and I was way over qualified!). He'll definitely not get a final say in where he ends up, but certainly the companies I applied for let me give at least 1 preference of resort.
Les Arcs is a good place - you can get a rental in Bourg waaay cheaper than anywhere else, and have great access to the SuperU and Lidl for cheaper consumables. If you're on a mountain then its easily a 40min+ drive to a good supermarket to stock up. Pubs and restaurants in the valley are a lot cheaper than on the mountain as well for eating out.
I went out to ski and work, with the intention of doing a season in NZ after France, ended up meeting some likeminded skiers and skied every day. It was amazing and wish I could do it again and again.
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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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My son is two months in to working in tignes post. A levels Having a blast. Watch out a lot of costs eg rent lift pass are up front. My son had a fair amount of money saved up from a good summer job and isn’t funded by us.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Only trouble now talking about a second season before uni. May have to take a year out myself
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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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@MHskier,
These should pages cover most of the UK TOs (though some may have folded).
igluski.com/ski-operators
alpineanswers.co.uk/ski-chalet-tour-operators
A bit of searching online by your son should lead him to what jobs are available & what qualifications/experience/skills are needed. Most TOs start recruiting May/June, so tell him to keep checking on those he is interested in as the number of applications per role is high (back in the day of filling in paper application forms it was 10+ per role. Now with online applications it'll be off the scale).
He should also check if accommodation, food, lift pass, travel to & from resort, ski insurance, kit hire are included in the deal - as Dan says paying up front is eye watering, and accommodation for the season can be hard to find.
If he is looking to run a chalet he may be expected to go on a chalet cookery course over the summer. And if he gets a chalet job he shouldn't expect much/any mountain time before the quiet period after New Year. If he lands chalet-hotel or bar-restaurant work then he should be up the mountain as soon as the place is up and running.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| dan100 wrote: |
| Only trouble now talking about a second season before uni. May have to take a year out myself |
He's still planning to go to Uni? Not become a life-long seasonnaire?? 
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You could have a look at Andorra if he wants to work. He’d still need residency to work, but if he finds an employer that should be a formality. There’s certainly no barrier to a British person getting residency over any other nationality unlike the EU. He’d need to secure employment before heading out though and have somewhere to live. That’s probably the toughest part because they’re also a housing shortage here. I’m pretty sure the cost of living is much lower here than most places in the Alps.
If the instructor thing is interesting, it’s much cheaper to get the Canadian qualifications in Andorra (often the same instructors and assessors as in Canada).
https://instructor-academy.com/csia-ski-jan-feb-dates-prices/
Jnr had BASI L1 and now has CSIA L2. He’s coming out here and has got work for Feb and March. He’s been asked to work elsewhere in Andorra too. They want English speaking instructors.
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@hammerite, was he able to get work permits etc for just a couple of months? Want to try and do similar next season myself
Wonder if there's a need for just Feb half term this season...
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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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@swskier, yes. It helps that I live here so he can live with me - that was a big part of the residency process. For those two months it’s worthwhile because they’re the busiest teaching months (except for new year week). January is relatively quiet so they couldn’t guarantee him much work so he stayed working in England.
He’s not got his residency card yet but he has completed all of the fairly long winded steps to get it (paper work, apostilled, medical, approval from the governing body here). He’s been told to collect his uniform as soon as he gets here and he’ll start working the following day. I assume they’ve got his residency card sorted if they’ve told him that (the company sort it all out for him).
PM me at the end of the season and I might be able to give you some contacts who might be able to make things a bit easier.
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@hammerite, that's great thanks, Feb and Mar could work well for me as an option next year.
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