Hi everyone, this is my first or second post here on Pugski, now that I've finally finished the period of mourning over epicski. I'm an instructor based at Grouse Mountain, in Vancouver, Canada, formerly at Whistler-Blackcomb. Anyways...
When I was training for my level 3 exam, I noticed there were three distinct demographics:
First you had gap year kids on two year visas, attempting to get their 3 for bragging rights, before they went back home to “real” jobs, back to school, or simply before their visas ended and they faced deportation.
Next semi-retired weekend warriors doing it just for the fun and experience.
Finally, you had a small but determined group of professional instructors who lived the lifestyle, often jumping from continent to continent with the seasons, who either came from money, or had managed to marry a local and didn’t have to worry about being stuffed into a van by federal immigration agents.
The “professionals” notwithstanding, the ones most likely to pass were the gap year kids who were both young enough, to be physically capable of the skiing techniques demanded without being bogged down by years of injury and hard skiing, but also inexperienced enough as to be just impressionable enough that they were able to adapt to whatever teaching techniques were accepted of them.
The weekend warriors had a harder time, for a variety of reasons, be it real jobs, other commitments which precluded training, old injuries making it impossible to turn left properly, (in one case, I knew a fellow who would make wonderful right turns, but was unable to made left turns properly because he only had one leg, and his prosthetic on his right leg didn’t do him any favours) or simply because of their years of experience. Some of the people in this category had been working as instructors in one form or another for longer than some of the kids on the exams had been alive. Of course, this meant that they had to suppress years of habit and experience in the name of whatever is currently prescribed as “correct” by the CSIA. (I’m not sure if the PSIA is the same way, but the CSIA has been changing the methodology and some of the “proper” terminology every few years)
The problem is, that many newly minted level 3s pass, then their visas expire and they exit the industry. Very few make the jump to being a professional lifer. There are a few locals, but for the most part, locals get tired of the lifestyle and the low pay and end up going into real jobs. I know someone who took up bartending because it paid twice what a L3 got paid at Whistler. The result is that the Level 3s (and 4s for those of us in Canada) tend to be largely older, and ones who were certified a long time ago, then went on to real jobs and do this as a weekend warrior. Younger upper-cert instructors are less prevalent.
Anyways, I’m curious for all the other instructors here on this forum, do you find that the demographics of higher-cert instructors skews towards the older end of the spectrum? In your mind, do you think this is a positive or negative thing?
When I was training for my level 3 exam, I noticed there were three distinct demographics:
First you had gap year kids on two year visas, attempting to get their 3 for bragging rights, before they went back home to “real” jobs, back to school, or simply before their visas ended and they faced deportation.
Next semi-retired weekend warriors doing it just for the fun and experience.
Finally, you had a small but determined group of professional instructors who lived the lifestyle, often jumping from continent to continent with the seasons, who either came from money, or had managed to marry a local and didn’t have to worry about being stuffed into a van by federal immigration agents.
The “professionals” notwithstanding, the ones most likely to pass were the gap year kids who were both young enough, to be physically capable of the skiing techniques demanded without being bogged down by years of injury and hard skiing, but also inexperienced enough as to be just impressionable enough that they were able to adapt to whatever teaching techniques were accepted of them.
The weekend warriors had a harder time, for a variety of reasons, be it real jobs, other commitments which precluded training, old injuries making it impossible to turn left properly, (in one case, I knew a fellow who would make wonderful right turns, but was unable to made left turns properly because he only had one leg, and his prosthetic on his right leg didn’t do him any favours) or simply because of their years of experience. Some of the people in this category had been working as instructors in one form or another for longer than some of the kids on the exams had been alive. Of course, this meant that they had to suppress years of habit and experience in the name of whatever is currently prescribed as “correct” by the CSIA. (I’m not sure if the PSIA is the same way, but the CSIA has been changing the methodology and some of the “proper” terminology every few years)
The problem is, that many newly minted level 3s pass, then their visas expire and they exit the industry. Very few make the jump to being a professional lifer. There are a few locals, but for the most part, locals get tired of the lifestyle and the low pay and end up going into real jobs. I know someone who took up bartending because it paid twice what a L3 got paid at Whistler. The result is that the Level 3s (and 4s for those of us in Canada) tend to be largely older, and ones who were certified a long time ago, then went on to real jobs and do this as a weekend warrior. Younger upper-cert instructors are less prevalent.
Anyways, I’m curious for all the other instructors here on this forum, do you find that the demographics of higher-cert instructors skews towards the older end of the spectrum? In your mind, do you think this is a positive or negative thing?
