I like the way this thread is filled with so much English nonsene and delluded opinon. It rarely surfaces on NS, thankfully, but now it has reared its ugly head. Many ridiculous statements have been made, and I'm going to take it upon myself to set the whole thing straight. It will be lengthy, and fraught with grammatical errors and maybe sexual innuendos, but here goes.
First of all, I am from England. I grew up in Lausanne in Switzerland, about an hour from Verbier, one of the best (and unfortunately most English) ski resorts in the world. I speak fluent French and Spanish, and had been skiing every weekend and holiday of my life, as well as knowing many people in the resort. Therefore, when I finished my schooling, and was unsure of what to do at uni, I spent two years being a ski instructor in Verbier. I was, and still am, completely unqualified.
When I first got to Verbier for my first complete season, I had been skiing a lot for 16 years. I had been racing for my school as well as the Verbier team and one appearance for the Swiss team, so I thought i was a hot shit skier. However, in the first couple of days of instructor training (not a qualification in any way, just 2 weeks to make sure the candidates could actually ski), my technique was picked apart. I started again from scratch effectively. And now, all aspects of my skiing have improved. And I mean all. We did carving, bumps, racing, pow and "freestyle." My big mountain skiing and general piste skiing improved so much. So first of all, before you say that the instructor training wont help, you're wrong. This is not a matter of opinion. This is fact, your skiing will improve.
As for the rastafarider vs. Mr. Dix issue about BASI not being a highly recognised qualification, its not the case. If you got to Canada and the USA, it will get you a job anywhere. It will get you a job in all resorts in Switzerland and Austria, as well as many in France. There are some resorts that are very anal about there instructors being mustachioed 50 year olds. However, without a qualification of some sort, you will struggle to get a job anywhere as a ski instructor. I was lucky in that the Swiss technically dont require you to be qualified, and I had been in Verbier all my life. Therefore, do not write off the BASI system as a joke. Intercontinentally, it is more usefal than any other qualification in the world, apart from possibly the Canadian system. I do speak with some authority on this, as in my second year ski instructing, I helped the boss with the recruitment process, so I know what employers are looking for.
There is the other side to those BASI camps, however. They were the same out in Verbier. I saw 2 years of people spending vast sums of Daddy's money, and with no intention of paying it back. As Rastafarider said, you would have to be Ronaldo or Gordon Gekko to raise £15,000 in the couple of months between school. A lot of the people quit, which is a travesty, but its not my money, so I couldnt care less. The whole notion of a gap year being valuable is laughable. Seeing the world is what you should do on your year out, and I dont mean go to a selection of embarassing full moon parties in Vietnam. As for ameliorating your CV, again, rubbish. Even if you went to Africa and helped with the AIDS issue, its not that much of a glowing report (I'm talking about people who can afford to spend £15,000 on a glorified ski trip here) that is gonna seal your ticket to Goldman Sachs or DeutscheBank.
I have to say, that for the most part I agree with rastafarider. The people who were doing 'ski le gap' or basecamp or whatever it was, tended to be the bigger wasters. They would be out everynight, and not skiing because they were hung over or whatever. I was guilty of this as well, but I had grown up skiing, so was a spoiled brat in this response. Unless the weather was perfect, I didnt get out of bed! I knew friends who would work all night so that they could go and kill it during the day. They were hardly ever out at night, cos they couldnt afford it. Another thing to mention, which is by no means irrelevant; those were the people the locals liked. The locals hate the English punters who come round and think they own the place whilst on their courses. They are full of respect for the people who work hard and play hard. I know this because I am one of the locals, my friends are the locals. I used to ask them what they thought of the foreigners who were in the pub everynight singing 'Swing Low Sweet Chariot' as I would try and find the nearest broken bottle to slash my wrists with in embarrassement.
My final thoughts! Do a ski season. Do two. Its the most fun you will ever have. Make sure you go out to the resort with plenty of money, and your plans in order. Ingratiate yourselves with the locals, and learn the language. Actually make something of your hard earned time off. If that means working the graveyard shift somewhere, or washing dishes every night and living on crackers so you can ski, so be it. If you're lucky and have your Dad spend a lot of money so you can do an instructors course, awesome. Do it. But do it well. Dont dick about. Learn the better technique, do what they tell you, but do with your own style, that way you dont end up 'looking like a robot.' If you're really lucky, do what I did! Get paid a ski instructors wage in Verbier, but not pay for any of the training or qualifications! PIMP!bye.
