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Ski Seasons – Why you’ll keep going back

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If you’ve done a season or not,  you know that it’s a unique experience. The stories about the epic powder days and crazy nights make it sound pretty glamorous.

We’ve made a great choice – we chose to become ski instructors and make the mountains our office. But many people start out as chalet hosts, bartenders or ski technicians, and often fail to mention to their friends at home all the grim bits. Talking about the reality of cleaning toilets everyday or having to fit the ski boots of someone who clearly didn’t shower after yesterdays aprés doesn’t go down so well.

Yet once we’re home, we drop into the post-season blues. So what keeps us going back for more every year?

  1. You get to live on a mountain! The Yorkshire dales, London skyscrapers or even the Munros in Scotland don’t quite cut it as a morning view. The excitement of looking out onto fresh powder fields on a glorious bluebird day gets you fired up and excited for the day ahead. Seeing the drizzle of the British “summertime” doesn’t really encourage you to go outside…Bluebird_day
  2. You never stop learning. How do you avoid avalanches? Hit a rail without stacking it? Stop your goggles from fogging up? You learn something new every day and find out loads about your mountain environment. What’s more, you actually love learning about it all.
  3. Like-minded people = lifelong friends. You’ll make friends for life on your first season as you bond complaining about rude guests over a Mutzig. No-one else quite understands what it’s like to live in a resort, or the passion for the slopes that drew you there in the first place.mountain-view-season
  4. The commute. The number of times we’ve heard people say “This is MUCH better than the tube” as they travel to work on a chairlift or on a pair of skis is impossible to count. When you return home and find yourself crammed into a roasting hot carriage with disgruntled commuters, you quickly start thinking about how to get yourself back to the slopes as quickly as possible!
  5. The nightlife. It’s a unique night-out when you hit the resort bars – there’s something refreshing about going to your local and not worrying about wearing the right shoes, or dressing up in your smartest clothes to attract the attention of someone special. Wear your favourite beanie, grab a glass of wine or beer at rock bottom prices and enjoy some of the coolest bands around for free! Suddenly wearing high heels or paying £70 for a Drake concert ticket doesn’t seem so appealing…valley-rally-funky-fox
  6. Improving your skiing. If you have a mountain on your doorstep and a lift pass in your hand, you’re bound to get better. As a seasonaire you’ll be offered massively discounted lessons withyour local ski schools (i.e. us!), and the time you spend on skis just cruising around on your time off will do your confidence wonders. If you’re training with us, you’ll receive the finest tuition available and improve beyond what you could ever have imagined. Although training at the UK snow domes and dry slopes is invaluable, nothing beats the real thing for taking your skiing further.
  7. The memories. Season jobs are not always the best paid – which is just one reason why many people train to become instructors. The upside to these salaries is that you learn that experiences are something you can’t pay for – you’ll have amazing adventures with some incredible people, and it will teach you to treasure every minute. Money comes and goes, but memories are forever.
  8. FOOD! The currency of any ski resort is food. People trade all manner of things for food, and if you want something, often the best way to get it is by taking cake with you when you ask. Somehow that doesn’t work so well in the UK… And don’t even get us started on the cheese. Fondue is life.fondue-le-praz
  9. You’ll gain some valuable life experience. When people are on holiday, their brains sometimes go on holiday too. As a season-long resident you become very patient – the ability not to laugh when someone asks “What’s French for aprés?” or “Is the snow on red runs actually red?” is a real skill. Whats more, you’ll meet people from all walks of life and pick up the local lingo. There’s no excuse not to!
  10. There’s nothing else like it. If you do one season or fifteen, it will stay with you forever. Everything we’ve mentioned above means you have the experience of a lifetime, with the fun, interesting and exciting people.

No matter what your reasons are for doing a season, you’ll find it very difficult to stop!

If you want to make the mountains your office, check out our BASI 1/2 Residential courses to become an instructor. Getting paid to ski is a no-brainer – what are you waiting for?