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Choose Your Instructor To Meet Your Goals

By Claudia Carbone

When choosing a ski or snowboard instructor, there's more involved than eeny-meeny-miney-mo.

You're paying for the lesson, so you'll want to maximize lesson time and minimize expense and effort. No matter what skill level you're at, ask a few questions before signing up for a lesson session. Schools will try their best to fill special instruction requests.

InstructorFirst, consider your own personality. For instance:
  1. Private or group lesson — Does a group dynamic enhance or hinder your learning? Do you learn better with a one-on-one situation?
  2. Gender — Do you prefer same-sex education?
  3. Age — Seniors may not be comfortable in a class with much younger skiers or riders and vice versa.
  4. Language — Many ski schools have bi-lingual instructors.
  5. Price — Private lessons are more expensive than groups; some groups are more expensive than others.
Ask to speak to the supervisor who assigns instructors to ensure you get a personality match, advised Chuck Wagner, former director of the Mahre Training Center clinics. "We are in the guest service business and the supervisors are ready to help." He added that chances for reserving a specific type of instructor are better with a private lesson booked well in advance. (Editor's note: Chris Katzenberger is now the director of the Mahre Training Clinics, which are held at Deer Valley, Utah.)

Next, consider your learning style.
  1. Are you a visual, kinesthetic or listener type of learner?
  2. Do you like to express yourself or do you prefer a structured situation?
  3. Are you seeking a challenging experience or a nurturing atmosphere?
In this case, always request a fully certified instructor. "Full-cert instructors are well versed in recognizing and using different learning styles," said 33-year veteran Breckenridge instructor Alison Hagan. In fact, "identifying learning styles is one of the major subjects we teach in certification training," said Wagner. "If you prefer a certain learning style, please tell your instructor. They appreciate any information you can give them to make the lesson better for you."

If you are unsure as to your learning style, review the criteria with the teacher. For example, if video replays help you to get the picture, you are a visual learner.

Finally, consider your goals and limitations.
  1. Specific goals — Bumps, blacks, steeps, speed, or are you just trying to venture off the greens?
  2. Time limitations — Can you devote a full day or just two hours?
  3. Health limitations — Consider your physical condition and if you are affected by the altitude.
  4. Desire intensity — How passionately do you want to improve?
  5. Practice — Will you have time between lessons to practice?
Here again, the supervisor is a good judge. "The supervisor can make excellent choices based on what your goals are," said Wagner. If your goal is to calm your fears, he or she will give you an instructor with infinite patience. If you want to ski faster in the gates, the supervisor will assign someone with a racing background. If having a good time while learning ranks high, you'll get someone who knows how to turn up the fun meter.

"Lessons should be student-centered, not instructor-based," Wagner said.

Although the ski school desk people (sellers) are limited in their knowledge about individual instructors, they can advise you about specialty group clinics, such as senior seminars, women's programs, telemark or extreme skiing and snowboarding clinics.

Refunds
Every mountain resort has its own policy about refunds. At Breckenridge most supervisors are authorized to offer a replacement lesson in the case of a mismatch, Hagan said. "Refunds are more difficult to come by," she said. "Only in the case of an illness or gross negligence or incompetence on the part of an instructor is a refund made." In the case of bad chemistry at Keystone, Wagner said a student "can and should" request a different instructor by explaining the situation to the supervisor. "In most cases, we can successfully re-assign the lesson to an instructor who fits the guest's needs. But," he added, "if no other solution can be found, we will refund the lesson." Some areas offer guaranteed lessons; that is, if you don't achieve what you should from a particular class in a certain time frame, they will let you return to school at no charge. Ask about this policy at the ski and snowboard school desk.

Claudia Carbone is a Colorado freelance writer who has covered winter sports for newspapers, magazines, Web sites and guidebooks for more than 20 years. Her book, WomenSki, is a comprehensive study of why women approach skiing differently than men, both mentally and physically. She is president of the North American Snow Sports Journalists Association (NASJA) and has won its annual award for Excellence in Snow Sports Journalism.
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