Life as a ski instructor — It’s all downhill from here
An insightful and candid chat with Luca, a veteran ski-instructor in the Alps
Luca, you are a self-employed ski instructor in Zermatt. Would you say that’s the perfect job for you?
Yes, I love my life! And that’s because I chose to be a ski instructor.
And looking back, it’s not like I didn’t have any other options. After studying economics I worked in an office for a while. Even though it was interesting, I felt kind of stuck. When I was 25 I decided to start my ski instructor training and it took two years to complete. I had a bit of an advantage because I used to be a ski racer in Italy when I was younger. Normally this could take around 3–4 years. Going down this path was definitely the right decision for me.
Now, as a ski instructor, I meet wonderful people from all over the world and I’m challenged to make their experience the best they could possibly imagine. Every client is different and it’s always an amazing experience for me to see their perspective and understand their motivations. I have one client from London, he’s 75 and he skies really well. He keeps his fitness level high, training all year for his ski-holidays with me. Isn’t that awesome?
Absolutely! It seems like one needs to have various skills to become a ski instructor right?
Yes, definitely. It’s not only about teaching how to ski. It’s about communication, empathy, spontaneity, finding a connection to your clients. If you want to become a self-employed ski instructor you especially need to have all these skills, and you always need to bring your maximum amount of motivation. It helps a lot to speak several languages, I speak Italian, English, Russian and French. Right now I’m learning German. Before I became self-employed I was teaching in a ski school for a while. There, I was the most requested instructor, and the other instructors asked me how I was doing it.
But it wasn’t my goal to be the best ski instructor, my goal was always to make my clients happy. I think that’s what it’s about.
What else are you offering your clients, other than skiing lessons?
Well, sometimes clients ask me to organise their whole trip for them. So I’ll find the best place for them to stay, I’ll find the best slopes to ski on each day and the best restaurants to have lunch and dinner. This is very various depending on the client. When you have a family it’s different from having a couple or an individual. That’s one of the parts I like most about my job. Every client is different and one needs to be able to read the clients minds to find the best experience for them. Another thing I’m offering is massage therapy, because that’s often requested after a long skiing day. Therefore I did another training and right now I’m studying sports science to improve my skills further. Some clients even ask me to accompany them on their trips to other places than Zermatt. I’ll escort one client to Chile in a few weeks, for example.
So, summarised being a ski instructor is challenging, as you need to be very flexible and be able to adjust to different kinds of people very quickly. When you are a person that likes to do that, it’s the best job in the world.
I’ve seen that you’re accepting bitcoin as a payment method, is that correct?
Yes, since early 2021. There’s not too many people who want to pay with bitcoin or other crypto currencies but I’m convinced that this will increase.
The situation we’re in right now is difficult for all of us, the whole world is changing. It’s important not to stand still, especially in times like this.I guess being early in accepting crypto-payments can only be an advantage.
Can anyone become a ski instructor?
Well, no I wouldn’t say that. You need to have a connection to skiing somehow and you need to be a good communicator. But if one has that and brings enough motivation, anyone can. I once had a client, who is a very successful lawyer. He skied pretty well and obviously, as a lawyer he can communicate. So I asked him “Why don’t you try to do the ski instructor training?” And he did. It’s always good to move forward, right? Even as a successful lawyer he could improve many of his skills by becoming a ski instructor. When Covid came, this man moved to his house in Zermatt, as he couldn’t stand living in his house in London anymore. I asked him to try giving some lessons.He ended up working the whole season as a ski instructor and after that he said he felt like a whole new person. His fitness level improved and he had a memorable time with his clients.
What do you like most about your job?
Oh, that’s a tough question. It’s a combination of so many things. I would say the most important thing for me is to meet new people from all over the world. Another thing is that you are always out in nature. It’s so good to be surrounded by these wonderful mountains, here in Zermatt, as well as all the other places I’ve been giving lessons so far. It’s a job that challenges me all the time.
I don’t want to be stuck in life, I want to make new experiences all the time, want to improve my skills and move forward. My job enables me to do all of this.
What would you recommend a person that also want’s to become a self-employed ski instructor?
First of all, you need to get the best teacher training you can get. If you want to work self-employed you need to have a wider range of skills than someone in a ski school. Then, you need to connect to other self-employed ski instructors. It’s important to have a network of people who you like working with, because sometimes you have larger groups and you need another instructor to accompany you. You need to be able to get over your own ego and work together as a team. Again, the goal is to give your clients the best experience, not to show that you are the best instructor. Another thing I would recommend for a ski instructor is that you need to bring motivation. It’s not possible to become a successful ski instructor when you do it because you don’t have any other options. If you choose to go down this path, because you feel that this is the right thing for you, then you will succeed.
