Welcome son of
@Jwrags !
I am in between
@raytseng @HDSkiing and
@markojp on this issue.
Longer skis are hard to manipulate when you are trying to untangle students while in your skis. Shorter skis are easier when moving in and out of students.
You don't need to use rental skis (they will be way too soft), but I believe that a student benefits from your demos more if when they look at you demoing a turn of a certain radius/type they can make the same movements that you are making with your body to make those turns.
To make the same radius/type of turns that you want your students to make, you need to be on a ski similar to the skis that they are on because it will require you to use the same body/leg movements to make that same radius/type of turn.
For instance, if you want to teach your students to turn quickly into and out of the fall line by putting 90% of their weight their outside/downhill ski and simultaneously sliding their inside/uphill ski to parallel their downhill ski while on their short wasp-waisted rental skis, your demos will be a "confusing fail" if your body movements show a flat pivot of your long, wide-waist ski.
For instance, "Look at me, follow me and stay in my tracks" works best when your skis can make somewhat the same radius turns as your students' skis.
(Remember to tell students that one-half of turning is "Look where you want to go, so don't look at another student or a tree or a fence.")
It's been a while since I have taught never-evers and while all instructors must pay their dues by doing so, if you are good at teaching wanna be intermediates, you will be quickly used to teach them. Believe it or not, I teach intermediates on my $1,200 Stockli Laser SC's in 170cm. I have gotten pretty good at avoiding them running over the top of my skis, but if they do, oh well.
Join PSIA, you will get a discount on equipment.
Finally, you may want to think about teaching this way: You don't work for a ski school. You work for your students. If your students are safe, have fun and actually LEARN. They will be stoked. You may get tipped. And if you let your students know that, if they have the time and the inclination, it would help you out if they mentioned something nice to your ski school about you and the lesson. In this fashion, your ski school ultimately benefits.
Update: If you want to work allot of hours. Teach kids.
If you want to free ski and work fewer hours. Teach adults.
The terms "French fries" and "Pizza" apply to both.
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