Location
Multiple Locations +5
  • Japan
  • Switzerland
  • United States of America
  • Canada
  • New Zealand
Length
4 weeks

Program Details

Timeframe
Academic Year Fall J-Term Maymester Spring Spring Break Summer Winter Year Round
Housing
Apartment
Language
English
Age Min.
18
Age Max
32
Qualifications
  • Ski Instructor Level 1

Pricing

Starting Price
$6,475 USD
Price Details
Limited places available, apply today to secure your spot!
What's Included
Some Accommodation Some Activities Some Meals
What's Included (Extra)

Airport transfers, visa support, discounted flights and insurance, employee lift pass, training costs, exam fees, association membership fees, support from a local EA representative, social events, plus loads more.

What's Not Included (Extra)

Optional orientation weekend.

Dec 18, 2020
Feb 03, 2021

About Program

Do you want a career that will take you across the globe?

Do you want to live, work and play in the world's top ski destinations?

Become a ski instructor with EA Ski & Snowboard on an internship program and fast-track your career in the snow industry. Train, qualify and work as a ski instructor - all in one season. This is the ultimate winter gap year!

Choose from 27 world-class ski resorts across America, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Switzerland to train at this winter. You'll train with the best, gain internationally recognised instructor qualifications and get the best work experience for your CV with your guaranteed job offer.

You'll gain instructor qualifications recognised by the International Ski Instructors Association (ISIA) - the world body for professional ski instructors. This means you will be able to work at other world-class ski resorts across the globe.

Our courses are open to any intermediate to advance skiers. Places are limited.

Video and Photos

Program Highlights

  • Train under the world's best instructors
  • Guaranteed paid job offer at your chosen resort
  • Internationally recognised qualifications
  • Accommodation while training
  • Season lift pass, social events, special deals on flights, insurance and more.

Program Reviews

8 Rating
based on 6 reviews
  • 9-10 rating 66.67%
  • 7-8 rating 16.67%
  • 5-6 rating 0%
  • 3-4 rating 0%
  • 1-2 rating 16.67%
  • Growth 7
  • Support 7.2
  • Fun 7.8
  • Housing 7.3
  • Safety 7.8
Showing 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
Default avatar
Albert
10/10
Yes, I recommend this program

EA at Northstar

Overall a great experience. Meeting new people, growing my own skills on the mountain and making very strong connections to continue working in this industry. It is my second year teaching (first through EA) and I have been able to build my confidence as an instructor as well as experience as a snowboarder. Also great is the opportunity to be able to keep on taking certifications and keep improving both my teaching and riding. Also the opportunity for travel is huge and definitely makes it a worthwhile investment.

What is your advice to future travelers on this program?
Take your training as seriously as possible, be adaptable, and have a learning mentality.
16 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Allison
1/10
No, I don't recommend this program

Unfortunate COVID Policies

I found this program back in 2018 and the interview process was very simple. The rep I worked with was extremely responsive and helpful. Because of my job and time for a sabbatical, I signed up for the Mt. Ruapehu New Zealand 2020 season.The real problem started as COVID hit in March. The communication dropped off and I was left in the dark on the status of my program that was scheduled to start in June. I understand the delays and uncertainty surrounding the pandemic. However, I was constantly requesting information because my rep seemed disengaged with the situation. I was sent a purposefully confusing email at the end of May, also telling me my rep had left the company. After a week of emails, I finally heard my program was cancelled and I would receive no refund. I was told I could transfer $4,000 to another program and would lose the other $2,000. As I mentioned previously, because of my job I am unable to transfer to another program during a different season. The company also had altered their terms and conditions document from when I signed back in July 2019. Now, EA has a different policy for COVID and delaying programs where you don't lose $2,000 for preparation costs. The company's run around responses and diminished communication leaves me feeling hopeless about ever seeing my money again. I wanted to share my experience because I know it is similar to many others in my program as we are all demanding refunds. I feel it is important for future applicants to understand EA's actions and lack of understanding during COVID.

If you did this all over again, what's one thing you would change?
I would ensure the company wasn't able to change their terms and conditions like EA did.
17 people found this review helpful.
Response from EA Ski & Snowboard

Thank you for sharing your thoughts Allison.

We were pleased to hear your initial experience with our team was positive. It is unfortunate your travel plans were affected by COVID-19 and that you were unable do the program at Mt Ruapehu. It has been a challenging time. The travel industry in particular has been hard hit and we appreciate it has been extremely frustrating for you. In the early stages of this crisis we were hopeful of being able to run our program at Mt Ruapehu and our operations team was in touch with everyone affected as a group. We apologise and understand that our communication was not as good as it could have been. Our team has been on reduced hours due to lockdown restrictions and at times we simply did not have the answers to know what we could and couldn’t do. Alex who you were dealing with decided to take another job opportunity but the remainder of our team is still with us and we are doing our best to retain all our staff. Ultimately we want to do the best for our clients and be here on the other side of this also.

As you note we have updated our standard terms and conditions. This has been to allow more flexibility for those now booking Northern Hemisphere programs due to government-sanctioned travel bans.

We have a number of people in a similar position to you and are doing our best to offer alternative program options. EA has been operating since 2005 and we want to ensure we are here for many years to come. We start planning our programs months in advance and operations, along with overheads and commitments to suppliers, have meant we have not been able to offer a cash refund. We have gone above and beyond the requirements of our terms and conditions to offer as much as possible in way of credits towards a future program along with additional credit as a gesture of goodwill to ensure losses to clients are minimised. We appreciate that for some, being able to do a program at a future date is not an option and we encourage you and anyone else affected to continue communicating and working with us.

Thanks again for your thoughts and feedback.

Default avatar
Joshua
9/10
Yes, I recommend this program

Lvl 1 at Club Med Tomamu

I had an incredible season. So many friends, so many memories!
I learnt so much about skiing, about teaching, and about communicating with a variety of nationalities and social backgrounds.
EA made the whole training process so easy. Their job was to train us and get us prepared for the exam, which is exactly what happened.
My season was Club Med Tomamu’s grand opening season so it was definitely not problem free. But that was due to Club Med understaffing the resort. It was a busy and sometimes overwhelming season but it was also the most incredible experience of my life. We had great accommodation, great food, in a beautiful and safe country.
In my opinion nothing can be a 10 but this was very close. It was a great experience and i am very thankful. 9/10 😁

What would you improve about this program?
The visa situation was the only drama. Our EA rep could not get to club med Tomamu because of this.
16 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Emily
8/10
Yes, I recommend this program

Niseko Winter Experience

Meeting new people that have the same interests as you and are going through the same challenges is actually quite eye opening. Through EA you not only get fun training and guidance but you also end up attending pretty cool social evenings. It's nice to be close to everyone for the first three weeks, whilst settling in to your new environment. I'm not going to lie, the exam is hard and tiresome at times but makes you feel all the more proud when you pass. Getting paid to ski is one of the best jobs out there! If you're a fan of ski and/or snowboarding you should at least try one season... it's a win win situation.

17 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Hannah
10/10
Yes, I recommend this program

Ski instructing in Japan - must do!!

I will never forget my experience in this beautiful country and EA Ski & Snowboard made this possible! They set you up with accommodation, training, and a guaranteed job before you even leave home. This made a huge difference for me, having security and assurance knowing that I had an epic job lined up.

I was able to train and improve my skiing ability. I improved very quickly and gained confidence in my ability to instruct others. The thing that I loved most about beginning work was the smiles on peoples faces. Your job is literally to hang out with people while they're on holiday, help them go outside their comfort zone and enjoy themselves while they do. There's nothing quite like it! Not to mention the fact that the lessons began about an hour after the resort opened.... that first hour of my day was always spent skiing fresh lines in the amazing Japow snow that had fallen the night before!

If you're considering heading to Japan for a winter season, I can't recommend it more!

What would you improve about this program?
I don't know if EA Ski & Snowboard could've done anything to help this but I remember wishing that a some of the lifts were that bit faster... as they say - faster lifts = more time on snow :)
17 people found this review helpful.
Race
Nora
10/10
Yes, I recommend this program

Send it!

I'm a skier/snowboarder from Finland and Grand ambassador for EA. I did my internship programme in Queenstown at The Remarkables ski resort and it was the best decision I've ever made. After a never ending summer I needed to get back to skiing and EA helped me to do that. We started off with L1 training and working during the busy school holidays. To get into teaching as an intern was a great experience and really got me into this career. After the holidays was time to take a big step and start training for the L2. Long days and a lot of skiing but the way EA has built the programme gives an opportunity to good skiers to pass their exams and after all no ones alone, we got support from the trainers and old interns. We also had many social nights with fun activities that made our group strong. Being a EA intern is like being a big family and that's what made my season super special.

Now I'm getting ready for the season in thr northern hemisphere as I hold my L2 qualification and a good experience of teaching. I would highly recommend this programme for anyone how's keen to follow the winter.

16 people found this review helpful.

Questions & Answers