Surely working as a ski instructor in Austria is one of the best jobs there is in a winter sports area, and as far as we are concerned, it is the best job there is! You spend the whole day in the snowy mountains, teaching your favourite hobby to other people. At the end of your ski course, you go skiing a few rounds yourself and then have a drink with your colleagues in the apres-ski. In many ski areas, you will also get many discounts with your ski instructor’s suit at huts on the slopes and sometimes there is even a special ski instructor’s beer in the apres-ski!
On Sunday morning the group lessons are divided at the ski school. A group lesson is often booked for five days and lasts until Thursday. From 10 am – 12 am is your morning lesson and from 1 pm – 3 pm is your afternoon lesson. On Fridays you can indicate if you want to give private lessons, then you can, of course, earn some extra money. Saturday is the changeover day in the ski village, all guests go home again and the new guests arrive. On this day you are free and you can enjoy the whole day on the slopes with your friends and / or colleagues!
Each ski school has different working hours during the season, this differs per ski area and depends among other things on how many ski instructors work at the ski school.
The ski school has several living areas (a ski instructor house) for their ski instructors. You will also be assigned a room in a ski instructor house where you will sleep together with a colleague. So in most cases, you live together with several colleagues and share a living room, the kitchen and the bathroom. You can compare this to student housing, but of course in a cosy ski village in the middle of the mountains! Most ski schools charge between € 8,- and € 12,- per night for the room. This will be deducted from your salary unless you organise accommodation yourself. In that case, you will have to pay the rent separately and nothing will be withheld from your wages.
As a ski or snowboard instructor, you will receive a lift pass and a ski suit from the ski school. Sometimes you pay a small contribution or deposit for this. This differs per ski school.
As a ski instructor, you earn around ten euros per hour. You often work six days a week, four hours a day. This comes down to about 1000 euros per month.
At the ski school, you teach on your own equipment. So make sure you have your own skis and ski boots before you arrive at the ski school. Through our partners, you can buy equipment at a discount.
The spoken language at the ski schools is Austrian, this is German with a dialect. So make sure you have a basic knowledge of German so that you can communicate with your manager and colleagues. Of course, you will also teach in German, but this can also be in English, Dutch, French or any other language you know.
If you work at the ski school, you will be insured by the ski school during working hours. Outside these hours, you have to take care of your own insurance. Everything you need to know about insurances can be found at our ski instructors insurance!
As a dual instructor, you don’t get paid more. Your hourly wage is determined on the basis of your level (Anwärter, Landes 1, etc.) and years of experience. However, you do have the advantage of guaranteed and varied work.
An important question, of course! In addition to your level of education, the salary of a starting ski instructor or snowboard instructor depends on a number of other factors that may differ from one ski school and ski area to another. First of all, your hourly wage is important. As a 1st-year Anwärter ski or snowboard instructor, you earn €10 per hour with a 24-hour working week €960 net per month. If you obtain your Landes diploma, you will earn approximately €12.50 per hour.
Secondly, the number of hours worked in the month is important. In high season you work 6 days a week, 4-6 hours a day, 4 hours a day group lessons and you can often still give private lessons for 1-2 hours a day. In low season you will most likely work fewer days or fewer hours per week. In addition to these two points, your accommodation costs also play an important role in what you have leftover in the month. In addition, you can also find out whether there are ski instructor prices in the ski area for lunch and whether there is ski instructor beer in the après-ski.
And what you should not forget, of course, is the unforgettable (and therefore priceless) experience you get in return!
The ski school provides accommodation for a fee. You often share the house or the ski instructor’s house with a number of colleagues. If you come to work at a large ski school, up to 50 ski instructors can live in an apartment complex. If you work at a smaller ski school, you will be given accommodation with a number of colleagues in a Gasthaus. In both cases you will share common areas such as a living room, kitchen and bathroom. You can compare this to a student residence. But then you are in a cosy winter sports village between the mountains!
In some cases there are also possibilities to get a single room. You need to indicate this with your application.
A working week at the ski school starts on Sunday and lasts until Friday. For group lessons, you work 2 x 2 hours a day, from 10:00 – 12:00 and 13:00 – 15:00 for example. Before the group lessons start you should already be present to help build up the children’s land, participate in a ski or snowboard instructor training, shovel snow after fresh snow has fallen or with other chores. As an Anwärter teacher, you can also give private lessons before or after the group lessons and earn extra money. At the end of each working day, it is important to sign off the hours actually worked and have them signed off!
Each ski school has its own working hours depending on the season and has its own rules for attendance and work. All this will be explained to you as soon as you arrive at the ski school.
The weather and location play an important role for the duration of a ski school’s winter season. A ski area up to 2000 metres has a considerably shorter season than a glacier area that goes over 3000 metres.
By far the majority of ski schools and ski areas are located near mountains that go up to an altitude of 2000 – 2500 metres, here the season is from mid-December to mid-March and thus lasts three months. A ski school season at a glacier area can start as early as the autumn holiday in October and continues through to the May holiday, i.e. it lasts six months.
A season at the ski school consists of several seasons:
Pre-season or low season: all weeks before the Christmas holidays
High season: Christmas holiday, crocus holiday (is often the whole month of February), Whitsun holidays
Mid or low season: all weeks between Christmas and crocus
Low season or low season: all weeks after the crocus (except Whitsun)
In the high season, there is almost guaranteed work for ski instructors. In the other season, you have to take into account that there is not always a lot of work.
Of course, giving ski lessons is super fun! You can pass on your passion to others and you will work in a beautiful environment for a whole season. In the beginning, it is of course still a bit exciting and you have to get used to it, of course, it is all-new, even though you have been on winter sports many times yourself. But once you have taught a number of guests how to ski, the appreciation you get in return is priceless!
You can give different kinds of skiing lessons, or get them from the ski school. You can choose where you prefer to go to. The ski school divides groups in different ways, first by age categories, so you can teach small children in the children’s area, older children or adults.
The level is also an important classification, as an Anwärter ski instructor you will mainly teach beginners and slightly advanced skiers. Beginners have never really been on skis before and slightly advanced skiers have already done so, so they don’t have to repeat all the first steps. In order to teach advanced and advanced skiers, you will need to obtain your Landes diploma.
In addition, there are two types of ski lessons within the ski school. In the beginning, you will only be assigned to group lessons, if it turns out that you are doing well, you can also be assigned private lessons. With private lessons, you should already have some experience in ski lessons.
A number of basic principles apply when giving ski lessons. For example, you need to have a lot of patience and give people time to get used to the materials and skiing techniques. You don’t learn skiing in one day and it takes a lot of practice. You will also have to give a fun, instructive and varied ski lesson that applies to everyone. Of course, you will learn all this during a 10-day or 20-day course! Do you already feel like it?
The Austrian ‘Anwärter’ is recognised worldwide as one of the best training courses. With your Anwärter diploma, you can start working as a ski teacher anywhere in the world.
