Have you ever considered passing on your passion for Skiing? This 6 day course hosted by industry professionals, is designed to teach you all you’ll need to know to go from enthusiast to certified instructor. This course includes 4 days of on snow preparation at Boreal Mountain, as well as support during the 2 day certification exam hosted by PSIA West.
Level 1 certification is the first of three credentials offered and supported by the Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA). In general level 1 certification attests that anyone holding it, has a basic understanding of bio mechanics, mountain safety, and can competently teach a person who has never skied before to safely to navigate green terrain. To learn more about this organization and what this credential means please check out this link.
The competence required to attain the level 1 credential is high, therefore this course has been carefully designed to build your skills in a short amount of time. Each prep day has a theme and specific content that builds off the previous one, followed by nightly study sessions to augment your on snow learning, for more detail please click the “Day by Day” tab at the top of this window.
The 4 day prep course is followed by an objective evaluation hosted by examining staff of PSIA West. Here your learned knowledge and ability to lead a group will be tested against the level 1 standard. If successful, (the vast majority of people who attend a prep course are successful) you’ll receive your level 1 certification pin. To learn more about the level 1 standard please click this link and select Alpine.
Please note this course package does not include PSIA West Annual Membership or Exam Fees, it is required that you have this before attending the course and exam. Please click this link to create an account and purchase your membership.
This is an advanced Ski session, participants must be able to safely make turns with confidence on black groomed terrain. This session has a minimum participation of 3 persons to operate, if minimum participation is not met within 30 days of travel you will receive a full refund.
Sign up 4 or more persons on the same reservation and receive a 5% discount on the order total.
- 4 days on snow Coaching
- In-depth video review sessions
- 2 evening study sessions
- Support during the 2 day Exam
- Celebration dinner on the 9th
- 3 Pre-Camp education sessions via “Zoom”
- Support through the processes of PSIA
- 1 coach per 5 skiers guaranteed
- Educational materials
- Branded Gift to make your friends jealous!
- Lodging, (if you’re not sure where to stay or want help organizing with other participants let us know!)
- Ski gear, you’ll need to bring your own setup, there is a store and a Demo center if you forget anything.
- PSIA-AASI West Annual Membership (Approximately $120 annually)
- Level 1 On Snow Exam Fees ($230, we’ll walk you through this process)
- Lift Access (We are currently working on this to make it free, if there is a fee for lift access it will be less than $25 per day)
Day 1, Sunday, Technical Fundamentals
Our first day’s training focuses on the mechanics of skiing, “what we do to make our skis stop, turn, etc.” We’ll also take a good look at your personal skiing, collect some video for future review, and offer suggestions to get you skiing more efficiently. In the evening we’ll host a class on “movement analysis” where we’ll watch ourselves and others slide and break down their movements and how they are affecting outcomes on snow.
Day 2, Monday, Teaching Beginners
We’ll spend our first 2 hours applying what we learned from the evenings movement analysis session to our performance on snow. Then we’ll re-focus our efforts on teaching beginners. We’ll explore the steps and best practices we use to take a new skier from “never ever” to “green run hero”. In the evening we’ll host a short workshop that covers the “need to know” concepts and considerations when teaching children.
Day 3, Tuesday, Teaching Children, Terrain Parks, and Safety!
In the morning we’ll apply children’s teaching concepts to a variety of real world scenarios. We’ll kick off our afternoon with a short lesson on terrain park etiquette and safety, then we’ll expand our view to encompass the whole mountain. We’ll model and discuss best practices for moving a group of people safely through hazards commonly found at a ski resort. We’ll finish up the day with a short lesson on injury response.
Day 4, Wednesday, Practical Application
For the morning session you’ll be asked to lead the group through an assigned teaching scenario. This is a key component of the exam and this step is paramount to success. We’re keeping our afternoon session free to revisit concepts or simply decompress. After the lifts close we’ll host an optional review session of concepts learned throughout the week.
Day 5, Thursday, Exam Day 1
This is the day we put it all together and show the world what we’ve learned. This is a full day objective assessment of your skills as they pertain to the Level 1 certification standard. During this day you’ll will be evaluated on your depth of knowledge, riding efficiency, and ability to lead the group. The Progression Sessions team will be at the mountain ready to support, with equipment fixes, a hot lunch, and high five. After skiing we’ll be available by phone to review your first day and help you plan for the second.
Day 6, Friday, Exam Day 2
The second day of the exam we’ll build off the first. You’ll have a chance to make day one’s feedback a reality, revisit riding tasks, and lead the group through another teaching scenario. After Skiing we’ll host a feast and gift giving celebration worthy of our efforts!