How good do you need to be to teach skiing?

People often ask how to become a ski instructor, and I have covered this in previous posts. The next question is whether they are good enough, and this is a harder question to answer. It depends to an extent on where you plan to work. If you are going to teach beginners on a dry slope you don't need to be as good as somebody running a high level freeride clinic in the Alps, and if you want to teach in France you need to be prepared to pass some very difficult exams.

To get started, as an English speaker, you need to pass a Level 1 course, be it in the Europe, North America, Australia or New Zealand. Level 1 is quite a limited qualification, and most instructors will want to carry on to Level 2 or higher as soon as they can, but it is a foot in the door. It will also give the potential instructor a very good idea of what is required before they book the Level 2 course. Knowing whether you are ready for the Level 1 course is difficult as most proficient skiers do not really know how good their skiing actually is.

To help with this, British Association of Snowsport Instructors (BASI) have published a set of videos on YouTube showing the criteria required to pass each level. The first video shows the short and long turns required to pass Level 1. This is a great help for deciding whether you are up to it or not.