• Women skiers, this is the place for you -- an online community without the male-orientation you'll find in conventional ski magazines and internet ski forums. At TheSkiDiva.com, you can connect with other women to talk about skiing in a way that you can relate to, about things that you find of interest. Be sure to join our community to participate (women only, please!). Registration is fast and simple. Just be sure to add [email protected] to your address book so your registration activation emails won't be routed as spam. And please give careful consideration to your user name -- it will not be changed once your registration is confirmed.

Instructors and free skiing

Skisailor

Angel Diva
Our level 3 instructors are expected to stay in uniform and they understand that they may be interacting with guests who have questions, etc. at any time while they are free skiing - so they are working while free skiing in a way that we lower level instructors are not.

I know that Ursula has also assisted skiers to get them safely down terrain that was way over their heads while she was free skiing, on many occasions. Yeah - one way to get a free emergency lesson is to show up at the top of Liberty Bowl and fall on your first 4 turns. . .

When teaching we are allowed to cut lift lines. However - that's rarely even necessary at Big Sky - except for the Tram, where locals have made their displeasure known on occasion in the past - especially on powder days. It got ugly at times - to the point where a back stairway was added to the tram station so that instructors with guests and ski patrol can board the tram without being quite as obvious.

Free skiing instructors can never ever ever cut lines!!!!!
 
Sorry, if I saw free-skiing instructors just jumping ahead by using the ski school line, I'd be pissed. As instructors, we were always told NEVER to do that. The customers always come first!

I was never allowed to free ski in my ski school jacket; I had to change out. And, that was fine with me.....I was just a Level 1 instructor teaching on the bunny hill, so I'd rather be free-skiing in my "civvies" because I was nowhere near the level of many of my colleagues.

Customers absolutely come first and my intention is never to piss someone off. I'm only doing what I'm allowed to do. We don't cut when there's no ski school line or when we are free skiing with non ski instructors. Whether I'm with my students on the bunny hill or on the main mountain we use the ski school line. However, we are told by the ski school director that we when we are free skiing with each other or alone that we are allowed to use the ski school line to get on the chair. I free ski in my "civvies" when I'm not working. However, when I am working the ski school also has us act as ambassadors when we are free skiing on the mountain aiding anyone who has a question or otherwise needs help so the jacket is a bonus because skiers/boards on the mountain know who we are and who to ask for help if they need it.
 
When I took my level 2 ski off (which they don't have now!), the examiner stated that he wanted to picture the skier in his ski school jacket and it would be the perfect advertisement for his ski school. So skiing in the uniform has it's advantages as a promo for the ski school. But if the instructor is not up to par, then that's just plains back fires. Whenever I was in uniform I was always skiing to my best potential.

Agreed. I take wearing my ski school jacket VERY seriously as I'm a representation of the ski school and my mountain. I always make sure I'm on my best behavior and skiing to my best potential.
 

SkiGAP

Angel Diva
Powder days aren't something we really deal with here in the northeast... so when DH and I get to ski together for a bit we have to wait in line.

In fact lines aren't something we really deal with here in Europe. :tongue: It's just a mass of people, and getting to the front in the most efficient manner is actually a learned skill...but yes, the mass of people can be large, and the wait long...

But there are school lanes, and even "singles" lanes
 
The single line is another way to avoid much of the mad rush. When I'm at a different mountain than where I work and I'm skiing solo the singles line is another way to not have to wait as long.
 

tinymoose

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
In fact lines aren't something we really deal with here in Europe. :tongue: It's just a mass of people, and getting to the front in the most efficient manner is actually a learned skill...but yes, the mass of people can be large, and the wait long...

But there are school lanes, and even "singles" lanes

This is my worst nightmare. Lol. Gimme my queue.
 

santacruz skier

Angel Diva
It's so true what @SkiGAP posted. It's a challenge and can be a free for all. Same with ski shuttles . There's no "excuse me , you go ahead "
 

nopoleskier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
at my home MT we can ski free in between lessons or if it's our day off (we still have to go to each class line up) we HAVE to wear our name tags and OR our jackets/vests. without them we won't get on the lift (unless the lift guy is in a good mood)

We do ski w/respect, in control and you have to pass a pre-season pre lesson test w/our director to show you can ski & teach. We do a lot of clinics in house and the Mt is small so we rarely have a line but we could never jump the line!

Many times I've helped novices that were coerced to go to the top and freak out so they are thrilled w/coaching to get safely back down the MT. and I've sold several lessons to people that then say "yes I need a lesson".

we don't have a singles line at my home MT. We do have a lesson line Only for lessons.

I too run the single line at other Mt's I ski at (Okemo on busy days we'll split up and get in the singles line)
 

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Reversible jackets for ski instructors could be a good solution.

That's an interesting idea.

A lot of ski instructors I know don't love the fit of the jackets and enjoy expressing their own personality when free skiing. But that's different from skiing on days when you're planning to be at lineup.
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
When I've worked, unless we're ready to work, no uniform. We even have to leave it with the ski school and wear civvies home.
 

Gloria

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I have to wonder how much workers comp plays into this. If you are not in uniform, it's more clear that you aren't working. On the flipside if you are required to show up for line up, wear your uniform, and have certain expectations and you get hurt, it is less clear. Kind of like when the sub-contractor becomes an employee between the roof and the floor. A somewhat famous lawsuit that was circulated around to business owners awhile back.
 
Before we are even hired we have 2 days of on snow training which includes skiing with the ski school director and supervising instructors. Part of the on snow training is attending class simulation modules so they can see how we'd be as an instructor. Once you get past these 2 days of on snow training then you get an interview and hopefully hired.

Reversible jackets are a good idea but at my mountain they like us to have our ski school jackets on and when we are free skiing we keep our school jackets on as they like us to be a visible presence on the mountain in case anyone needs anything while we are free skiing around the mountain. When I'm at my mountain and not working that day I have to at a minimum check in to make sure I'm not needed and then I'm free to ski on my own. On days off we must ski in our own jackets but have our employee badges which provide lift access. When working we have these fabulous Helle Hansen jackets. They provide us with 2 jackets, a lighter one for warmer days and a bigger one for cold days so you can layer as necessary.
 

W8N2SKI

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I don't get why anyone would have a problem with a free-skiing instructor cutting the lift line. They get paid crap, they often don't even know if they are going to get paid at all for the day they've showed up, and they are some of the best ambassadors and advertising a resort can have. In my mind, cutting in on a free ski day should be a perk of the job. There are so few others.
 

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I don't get why anyone would have a problem with a free-skiing instructor cutting the lift line. They get paid crap, they often don't even know if they are going to get paid at all for the day they've showed up, and they are some of the best ambassadors and advertising a resort can have. In my mind, cutting in on a free ski day should be a perk of the job. There are so few others.

It all depends. At Breck, I've heard there are over 800 instructors. Now imagine a good percentage of them are floating around in their uniforms, skipping the lines to get ahead of paying customers.

It makes sense to me that different resorts have different policies to emphasize different priorities. It's possible (pure speculation) that some of the places that want ski instructors out there to "represent" are also places with a relatively smaller staff for ski patrol, greeters, and mountain services.

Me - unless I'm being paid, I'm not keen on being obligated to help other skiers. (That's not to say I don't try to help when I can, but I don't want to be obligated.) As @Gloria said, I would also wonder about insurance. If I'm skiing in my uniform with the understanding that I will help out and am representing the company - what happens when I'm injured while wearing the uniform, but not being paid? Do I get worker's comp?
 

Forum statistics

Threads
26,237
Messages
497,618
Members
8,503
Latest member
MermaidKelly
Top