Riders interested in improving technique & becoming an instructor...

Why choose a snowboard course with Peak Leaders?

Peak Leaders courses are designed to create balance between the hard work necessary to gain maximum qualifications and having fun on a life enhancing experience full of good memories. Peak Leaders trainees benefit hugely from the company directors developing the programmes from first hand experience of years of leading mountain expeditions and teaching. During the course itself, you’ll gain the all round knowledge essential for working a winter season with help after to find a job. You’ll get more hours coaching on and off the hill per week than other courses and whether you go on to work in the snowsports’ industry or not, your technique will improve beyond recognition. You’ll get excellent accommodation and food (no bunk beds nor shopping in expensive supermarkets and trailing home with plastic bags to cook after a knackering day on the hill!). You’ll also get the option of those trips out to experience the local culture. Return flights from the UK (Argentina & Canada) and transfers are included.

Peak Leaders courses focus on personal development and the acquisition of skills for both immediate employment and for life. Trainees can develop their own plans around the Peak Leaders’ core programme and ethos with the assistance of the course leader. Individual goals and requirements are regularly assessed and met.

We have gathered together teams of top ski and snowboard professionals. You get job advice and are put in touch with prospective employers round the world. Peak Leaders courses deliver an excellent range of vocational and transferable skills providing a strong basis for gaining employment in similar or complementary fields. Whether you go on to lead groups of skiers or board meetings, you will have gained a powerful insight into yourself and will understand your strengths and weaknesses

Make a career in snowboarding...

There is currently a world shortage of snowboard instructors.

So if you do the course and get your instructor's qualification there are lots of jobs available.

Look at previous course diaries & see what the guys are saying...

Snowboard instructor courses with Peak Leaders...

Argentina:
In the spectacular Andes of South America, you can become a BASI snowboard instructor. Peak Leaders work with a team of dedicated Argentine ski and snowboard instructors from the Alpine Club Bariloche.

You can learn spoken Spanish but it is not all work- you go to vibrant Buenos Aires, visit Evita’s house, watch and learn to tango, travel across Patagonia to the picturesque city of Esquel; ride out with gauchos and see the Andes on horseback and swim in natural thermal pools.

With the qualifications from the course added to your C.V. you will be ready to apply with confidence for a job as snowboard instructor the following winter in North America or Europe.

New Zealand:
You can train to be a NZSIA qualified snowboard instructor at Coronet Peak, Queenstown. Queenstown is renowned as the adventure capital of the world and home of the famous Shotover River jet, bungee jumping and white water rafting.

Technical training is at Coronet Peak 5 days a week with back country and advanced training at The Remarkables. You take a Certificate in Snowsport Instruction followed by the NZSIA Stage 1 Instructor Course.

When the snowsports training is over, you can opt to join the popular 2 week trip to Australia to snorkel off the Great Barrier Reef, hot air balloon, trek the Australian outback, learn about the ecology of the Coral Sea and conservation of the oldest tropical rainforest in the world.

The NZSIA qualification is internationally recognised and many of the successful Peak Leaders from the NZ course get jobs in Canada, USA and Europe the following season


Canada – Whistler:
Whistler gives you the opportunity to experience some of the finest powder on 2 huge mountains in Canada’s #1 resort and party town.

Top Canadian professional coaches prepare you for the Level 1 and 2 examinations. You have the flexibility to gain experience with the ski school, do freestyle, adaptive ski, and race coach modules or switch disciplines so that you are an instructor in both skiing and snowboarding.

Weekends are for eating out in downtown Whistler with all your new mates. Unlike other courses in Whistler, flights & weekday evening meals are also included. Optional trips are almost too numerous to list – firm favourites are heli skiing, cat-skiing, snowmobiling and the trip to Vancouver to see the Ice Hockey.


Canada – Banff:
This course gives your C.V. the maximum boost especially if you want to move into the snowsports’ industry. You are taught by top Canadian pros based at Sunshine Village - more than 20 hours per week with video sessions and ski school experience.

Your coach focuses on developing your personal skill level and makes sure you are fully prepared for the instructor exams.

Unique to Peak Leaders are certificates in team leading (ILM Level 3), resort guiding and an introduction to ski patrolling. Also available is a certificate in first aid and an avalanche awareness course.

Banff is a great place to be based with Canadian ‘wild west’ culture at its best. There are still some ‘old style pioneers’ kicking around town. Optional trips include – retail therapy and ice hockey trip to Calgary, snowmobiling and trip to Kicking Horse.


Switzerland - Zermatt:
The world famous Matterhorn towers above the village where you live for 10 weeks.

Training is carried out by the official Swiss Snowsports School in Zermatt (founded 1929). Top Swiss professionals train you to take BASI examinations.

In week 3 you sit your Trainee instructor course with BASI and the Instructor Training Course is run at the end of your programme. Most successful students will be offered jobs in Swiss resorts the following season.

You stay in comfortable modern apartments near the après action and a short distance from the Sonnenblick where we meet and eat together.

What makes this course unusual is that it is endorsed by BASI and the Federation of Swiss Snowsport Instructors with the aim of providing a pool of BASI-qualified instructors for employment in Switzerland with English speaking clients.


France - Val D’Isere:
For 11 weeks from January to March you can experience great riding in the world class resort of Val d’Isere while training to become a BASI instructor...

This course is ideally suited for good riders who want to excel in their chosen sport and then go on to a job in Europe as an instructor. Suitable for gap year students or those on a career break who want to work hard and party... Training will be delivered by French and BASI qualified instructors from Vald’Isere. BASI TRAINER Mark Jones will be working with the group to ensure the highest training standards are maintained.

Your all mountain skills will be developed, your knowledge of the Snowsport industry will increase as you gain work experience in a ski school during the course. You stay in a comfortable hotel in Val d’Isere - breakfast and evening meal with traditional French cuisine

You will progress through a module on riding steeps and off piste. There will be an introduction to freestyle and a maintenance clinic. In your days off there is no end to the available extras you can try in Val d’Isere from cross country to ice climbing.