 Poster: A snowHead
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I'm just at the tail end of a second season in a row instructing in Japan and I'm almost certain I want to spend next season somewhere in the alps. As much as I love skiing out here in Japan I think I'd love a change of scenery and also a new technical challenge. As I am a UK citizen and I only have a level 2 cert, I don't really see working on the hill as something that is possible in Europe, so I have set aside some savings and I have some other sources of income now which would make it feasible to do the next season as a ski-bum.
My real question is where do I go? Right now the top of my list would probably be renting an apartment in Innsbruck for the Winter and getting a Type D visa, as that gives me access to a variety of resorts within an hour away and the stability of actually being in a city. There is other options like Bourg-st-Maurice which also looks like a decent choice, or even Chamonix, and France has a similar longer stay tourist visa. What would it be like to stay in a town away from the mountain vs in resort? I don't have a driving license yet so I would be reliant on public transport. How much do the costs differ between in-resort and in a town? I have so many questions.
Another big question I have is how do I build a social circle when I'm going out on my own? In the past I have always been at a ski school which makes it really easy to make friends and find people to go and ski or tour with, and not skiing alone is something that is really important for me, as I love sharing the stoke with others.
Has anyone done something similar to this recently that could provide me with some advice? Thanks!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@1nf, Innsbruck is a good base, and if you buy the Tirol Snowcard that'll cover you for everywhere except the St Anton ski area. Getting to them all is easily done as well using local buses and trains.
Another option you could look in to is to base yourself in Aosta with the Aosta valley pass and then you could try and get some work for someone like Interski as Aosta have a special rule allowing Brits to work 90 days in a season.
In terms of meeting people, you could look at the Oak App, which is designed for what you're after.
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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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| swskier wrote: |
@1nf, Innsbruck is a good base, and if you buy the Tirol Snowcard that'll cover you for everywhere except the St Anton ski area. Getting to them all is easily done as well using local buses and trains.
Another option you could look in to is to base yourself in Aosta with the Aosta valley pass and then you could try and get some work for someone like Interski as Aosta have a special rule allowing Brits to work 90 days in a season.
In terms of meeting people, you could look at the Oak App, which is designed for what you're after. |
Thanks for the advice! I definitely like the look of the Tirol Snowcard as it seems like really good value. In terms of Interski, I'm honestly not planning on working as an instructor for next season for various reasons, even though I do love it.
I have tried the Oak app out here in Japan, even in Niseko, and I haven't really had any luck, but luckily I have always been able to fall back on my ski school friends. I hope it's been adopted a bit more in Europe, as it seems like a pretty perfect way to find people to ski with. I do feel like I would be apprehensive though, because over the years here I have met people I would absolutely trust my life with, but going into avalanche terrain with someone you just met in the car park seems slightly disconcerting. I wonder if it would be possible to make friends like that just around town.
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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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@1nf, does it have to be the Alps? And are you 100% against not instructing? If it's no to either of those, have you thought of Andorra?
You can instruct on an L2. Andorra isn't in the EU so you stand as good a chance as anyone from anywhere in getting a job. Most seasonal workers are from South America. It just gives you an option to be earning a bit of money and being able to live/stay for the whole season. It's low tax so you keep most of what you earn (93.5%).
Plenty of Brits/English speakers in all the Andorran resorts with Arinsal, Soldeu and Pas de la Casa being particularly popular.
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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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| hammerite wrote: |
@1nf, does it have to be the Alps? And are you 100% against not instructing? If it's no to either of those, have you thought of Andorra?
You can instruct on an L2. Andorra isn't in the EU so you stand as good a chance as anyone from anywhere in getting a job. Most seasonal workers are from South America. It just gives you an option to be earning a bit of money and being able to live/stay for the whole season. It's low tax so you keep most of what you earn (93.5%).
Plenty of Brits/English speakers in all the Andorran resorts with Arinsal, Soldeu and Pas de la Casa being particularly popular. |
The reason why I don't want to instruct this next season is because I have some laptop stuff (uncompensated obviously) I need to do, and combined with ski instructing it's just got to be too much work and I have really struggled with a balance this season, so for the time being I'm just going to stick with the laptop stuff, and spend my free time actually skiing, if that makes sense.
In terms of it necessarily being the Alps, it doesn't matter too much, but it seems like it would be the best fit for me, and I'm not interested in Japan or Canada this time round.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@1nf, there's a "Freeride Tirol" group on Oak, you could check that out to get an idea of the level of activity. I tend to see a message on there most days.
Meeting other skiers, I'm sure it would be possible, although I suspect living in Innsbruck is possibly more difficult than in a ski resort as it's a bigger place with a lot more people, so perhaps not so easy as a ski resort where you just rock up at the locals hang out and see the same people every day. That said, I don't live in Innsbruck so couldn't confirm exactly.
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@1nf,
If you want people to ski/ride with them you should really be looking at living in resort. Chalet Chardons have a long stay place in Tignes, which would help with meeting others.
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@1nf, that makes sense. There's not much of a scene here on Oak at the moment so Andorra would probably not be a right fit at the moment. It's also recently come to light that days in Andorra will begin to count as days in Schengen which is annoying for visitors trying to avoid adding more days. Not sure what it means for temporary workers.
Something to think about if you want to do an working season in Europe in the future.
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