Being a ski instructor in Canada -Is it really the best job?

Ski Instructors have an awesome time at ski resorts in Canada, but what is it actually like to be a Ski or Snowboard instructor in Canada?

Katharine Ely shares the epic experience she is having over in Canada, now she is working as a ski instructor at Lake Louise getting paid to ski – part of her ski instructor course!

So I can’t believe that we have been there for 2 months now. The time has flown by so quickly. The last month has been really busy with Christmas then New Years and working. Instructing has been so much fun, there have been harder days but I still feel a bad day on the mountain is better than a good day in the office. It’s mad to think how much my life has changed in the last two months since being in Canada, it has been awesome and I don’t want the season to end.

We had lessons everyday over xmas and new years, January has been quieter, but we have had to do other jobs like shovelling snow. When we do this we all sing ‘Everyday I’m shovelling…’ we only have to do it for two hours and we do it with other instructors so it’s fine! At least we are still earning money.

We had avalanche training as well, two days of what we should and shouldn’t do if we go to the back country. We had theory and then went out and learnt how to use the transceivers, probes and the shovels. It was all very interesting and really showed the importance of having a transceiver if we are going back country skiing as your survival time is 10 minutes in an avalanche. We had to find ‘bodies’ in the snow aka backpacks with and without transceivers, the backpacks with transceivers we had them dug out within 5 minutes the ones without it was closer to 15 minutes.

On a weekend I have Bow Valley Kids, one group on a Saturday and one on a Sunday. This week we had to concentrate on pivoting. So we had a fun session and I was getting them to ski backwards and do 360’s. All the kids loved it so it was happy with the way that the sessions went. We managed to get in loads of runs as well so the parents were happy when they picked up the kids. Working on Bow Valley Kids is great as you get to meet loads of local kids and their families too.

The last month has been awesome and I really can’t believe how quickly the season is going, the snow will be melting soon and everyone will be moving on. We have all definitely made friends and memories to last a life time… snow please stay for as long as possible so we don’t have to leave!!

Katharine took part on one of EA’s Ski Instructor Internship Courses which is unique because it involves a guaranteed job offer.