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Richard Holt is a mogul skiing champion and client of the Winter Sports Company 18-week instructors course in Sun Peaks, Canada. Even with his pre-existing talent on skis, Richard embarked on our 18-week course and found there was lots to learn and was stoked with how his skiing skills developed. Richard proves that even a competition mogul skier can find value in our courses.
I believe mogul skiing is one of the best and most challenging aspects of skiing. The enjoyment of skiing around a mountain and trying to find the biggest and gnarliest moguls possible helps improve our skiing abilities. Of course, sometimes they may look like huge mounds of snow, and you may think, ‘How am I gonna get down that?!’…. but sometimes it’s ok to step out of your comfort zone!!
Let me give you a little introduction to how I fell in love with skiing Moguls.
I have been skiing since I could walk, and I learned at Ski Rossendale, my local hill, when I was two years old. My parents learned at the same time as I did, and we were lucky enough to travel around Europe and go to some fantastic ski resorts on holiday. Chamonix, Verbier, Zermatt, and La Plagne are just some of my favourites.
However, my mogul career started here, in the northeast of England, in Manchester, precisely. Me and a very good friend of mine went to our local indoor fridge ski slope, The Chill Factore, for an introductory lesson on how to ski moguls. With a huge stroke of luck, the guy who took our lesson was the main man for coaching in the British Mogul Development Squad, and he offered me a chance to come and train at one of their sessions. After the first couple of sessions, they threw me into my first competition at 15, the European Championships in Manchester.
After this, I travelled around Europe again to some of the major ski resorts competing in their mogul competitions. Ever since this little bit of luck, I have travelled around the world trying to find the best moguls, developing my skills and passing my skills on to others by working in ski schools.
After finishing Sixth Form at age 18, I decided to follow my dreams of becoming a ski instructor. It was a big step for me as I’d never left home for that long. But I knew it’d be worth it. This is where I was introduced to The Winter Sports Company. Undoubtedly, it is the best company at what it does.
I flew out of the UK at the end of November just in time to be there for the start of the winter in Sun Peaks, BC, Canada. I had somewhat of an idea of the season’s plan, but I never expected it to be that good. I had booked myself onto the longest course the Winter Sports Company offers.
Throughout the 18-week course, around 40 others and I stayed at the Hearthstone Lodge Hotel, which was amazing. Five days a week, we had breakfast and dinner meal plans, which were included in the original price. I felt like a king living in the perfect mountain environment. Is A Ski Instructing Course With WSC Worth The Money? Regarding the snowsports, we would train Monday – Friday with some of the best ski and snowboard instructors Canada and the world has to offer.
We had the pinnacle of CSIA Level 4 instructors working with us each day, pushing us to be a better version of ourselves. They would give us honest feedback and break everything down for us in so much detail. It wasn’t that they were always just our instructors, the fact they cared about us and would come out and have a social and a beer with us made the whole group love the season
Everybody took positives out of the season, but I gained a lot of confidence in teaching skiers of all ability levels. No two lessons will be the same, and we were given all the tools and resources needed to teach a great lesson. I was stoked by how my skiing skills came on, too.
I also gained a lot of experience doing things for myself and becoming independent. For example, finding myself a Canadian bank account so I wasn’t being charged on my UK one, and finding a Canadian phone number, too, was very helpful. Everything Else You Might Need For Your GAP Ski Course. On the course, you have a representative from the company to help you when you need it. And I must say our rep, Rob Hayward, made the trip for me and many others, too. His very good nature and awful dad jokes made us enjoy it much more. Being there for the whole season also made me mature about how I went about saving my money. How Can I Prepare For A Ski Season?
Once I had completed the six months, I now had multiple qualifications, which would help me apply for different jobs worldwide. Employers want to see that you have the right qualifications and experience to work for them, and as always, the more badges you have, the better chance you’ve got. Straight after the Canadian season, I flew to Australia, where the Winter Sports Company got me a job working as a freestyle mogul coach for two athletes in Mount Buller. I had such an awesome time; the people I was coaching and those who looked after me made it a special time for me.
My most recent adventures took me back to Sun Peaks, where I worked in the ski school, instructing people of all ages and abilities. Chasing The Winter – Skiing In The Southern Hemisphere This Summer
After one season in the Ski School, I started working for the Freestyle Club. I contacted the coaches and offered my mogul knowledge to teach the kids in the local program. I would help them progress in the bumps, on piste, in the park and on the rails. It was a great decision, as the kids pushed me to improve. I coached them on the weekends and some evenings after they had finished school. They were so enthusiastic about skiing that it rubbed off on everybody around them. This last 21/22 season, I pushed myself to spin 360s both ways and 540s, and I started going upside down. More to come!!!
Want to learn how to ski moguls better? Take a look at our WSC Ski Series – How To Ski Moguls: WSC Ski Series
Both apply similar methods of teaching. Ski instructors work with skiers to develop fundamental skills to help them ski better for the purpose of recreation. Ski coaches work with skiers and ski racers to develop skills specific for competition.
A ski Season CV is specifically tailored to successfully finding a job within the ski industry. It needs to detail your previous snow experience, your existing qualifications, your previous work placements. This can be tweaked to provide information to future employers for roles both on or off the slopes including chalet host, ski instructor, hospitality, or lift operations to name a few. Some countries call it a resume, some a C.V so research the general format that employers are used to seeing and align your attributes to the role in question.
Gaining your basic ski instructor certification, with the correct existing skills, costs as little as $480 or £350. However, achieving those skills, should you need training, can cost considerably more as accommodation, lift passes, transportation, and food must be factored in whilst training and completing your exams. These costs can be in the region of £3500-£8500 for your Level 1 or Level 2, depending on the quality and duration of the programme.
This wouldn’t be easy to achieve without proper training and certification by a governing body or a ski instructor provider such as the Winter Sports Company. Internationally recognised ski schools will always employ people who have been professionally trained to a standard accepted by the governing body recognised in that country. Additionally, the resort or ski school will likely not allow an unqualified, uninsured person with zero experience to teach on the mountain. Fortunately The Winter Sports Company can teach complete beginners to become ski instructors in as little as 6 weeks.