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Addicted to drugs? Try skiing

Nowadays it is very popular among young people to work a season as a ski and snowboard instructor. Some people will do it in their gap year which they have in between high school and university, others will do it after their studies and some people also do it randomly in between different jobs.

I have been working as a ski and snowboard instructor for four seasons now. It all started with one gap year but then I fell in love with the mountains and the job I was doing and it all turned out into three gap years, but I finally started studying now which I also really like! I do have to say that every moment during winter where I am able to go to the mountains to go skiing I will definitely do that.

But then, how do you become a ski instructor? That is a question I get asked frequently. So it starts with the course you need to take. In this course you get training in skiing, teaching, first aid and many more things. At the end of this course you will need to do a couple of exams, if you passed those you are an official ski instructor and aloud to teach in many different countries. There are many different companies all around the world that offer these courses. I can really recommend to take the course in the country where you want to teach and to take the course giving by locals. This way you will get the right training you need to have to work in a ski school in that country and you learn the language way quicker if you get training from locals.

When you passed this ski or snowboard instructor exam, you are ready to go to the ski school you are going to be working for the season. It depends with which company you choose to take the ski instructor course with but some will guarantee you a job afterwards at a ski school. This is a great offer from those companies since you probably won’t have any connections with ski schools you would like to work at or you even have no idea where you want to work. Then those companies will help you find the right ski school that suits you.

And then? Then you are going to start living your dream and get a crazy new life experience! But be careful, this job is almost as addicting as drugs! When you sign up for one season, most of the times it will lead to many more seasons.

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Playing in the backcountry

Most of the people will be doing skiing or snowboarding just for fun. Planning a week every year doing this activity with friends or family. Most of the people are always excited for this holiday bet there are also some people that do skiing as a job, a career. There are different types of professional skiers like I also wrote in my first blog. In this blog I will go deeper into the free ride skiers. Because this is a big section inside the skiing world.

First of all, what are free ride skiers? Free ride skiing or country side skiing are skiers who are skiing on the natural off piste terrain and includes deep powder snow and steep runs. The term is actually not only applied to skiers but also to snowboarders. For some even more serious free ride skiers or snowboarders this sport also means to hike up into the off piste and don’t allow themselves to take a lift.

The movements required when skiing on powder snow are very different to those needed on groomed slopes. Also skiers who are trying out freeriding for the first time should be accompanied by an experienced guide. These guides not only know the resorts like the back of their hands but they’re also able to teach you the right technique of freeride skiing or snowboarding. Freeriding also means a lot more than just skiing deep powder, it also contains steep backcountry descents, having the right equipment and jumps over natural obstacles are also part of this sport and make it what it really is; an adrenaline rush experience.

Then moving over to the professional freeride skiers. Those humans made freeride skiing their life and are participating in many different contests all around the world. The biggest and most known contest is the free ride world tour. Which takes place in many different countries such as Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Sweden, France, America and more.

So this was it for now, hopefully this blog made you curious and excited about freeride skiing. Ski you later!!

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THE 2020, TOP 3 RATED SKI RESORTS

There are many many ski resorts on this planet. But there are for sure some very popular ones, so in this blog I will write about the top-rated ski resorts of 2020!

At the first place we have….. Whistler Blackcomb, Canada. Whistler Blackcomb combines two mountains to make it Canada’s premier ski resort and the largest winter sports area in North America. The combined ski terrain offers more than 200 runs accessed by 37 lifts. One of these gondola’s joins the two mountaintops and is the world’s longest unsupported lift span. These amazing technical facilities paired with a variety of terrains keep Whistler a favorite for serious skiers. And it's just a two-hour drive from Vancouver.

Second we have…. Courchevel.  Despite its decidedly upscale villages and reputation, Courchevel is for serious skiers who are looking for snow thrills of a lifetime. Part of Les 3 Vallées region, the world's largest alpine ski domain, with 600 kilometers of interconnected ski runs, Courchevel offers 150 kilometers of alpine ski terrain accessed by 60 lifts. The yearly average of four meters of natural snow is maintained, and the off-piste skiing is legendary. Black runs include runs that's considered one of the most difficult black runs in the world; there's also a good choice of steep black mogul runs.

And last but not least…. Zermatt. Even if it didn't have one of the world's most beautiful mountains as a backdrop, Switzerlands ski resort of Zermatt is a place skiers dream about. It's the highest winter sports area in the Alps, and it has the greatest vertical drop in Switzerland, plus the magnificent peak of the Matterhorn can be seen from almost everywhere on its 350 kilometers of trails and slopes.Try the run where you not only to ski over a mountain pass and down into a trail system on the other side, but it’s also over an international boundary. There's also Europe's longest downhill run, from Matterhorn glacier into Zermatt, over 25 kilometers long.

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Don’t eat the yellow snow

Skiing in a sport which comes from Norway and Sweden. After that many other countries got into this extreme sport. Almost everywhere where are mountains and snow the sport skiing is being practiced. Very popular ski countries are Austria, Switzerland and Italy. But also abroad Europe there are many popular ski areas in Canada, Australia, Japan, New-Sealand, South-Africa, Sweden, Norway and ofcourse there are many other areas.

After skiing was popular also snowboarding became a hype. As well as langlaufen, snowbiking, monoskiing and snowskating. Whenever you go on holiday to a skiing area nowadays there will be many different ways people are going down the mountain.

There are also many different types of skiing, for example freeriding, freestyle, racing, giant slalom skiing, ski jumping. All types of skiing afford a lot of training, practicing and motivation.

You can learn skiing at every age, from 3 years old where you will then start in mini club. Where the skiing lesson will mostly be about fun and playing. Up to 40 years old where you can do group lessons or private lessons and the skiing technique will be explained diligent.

Oh and don’t start eating the yellow snow…. Just so you know… I will explain that later ;)