We all know about seasons by now, and that if you go out to work there you must be an absolute mountain pro. But what if you’ve never been on a ski holiday? What if you don’t know how to snowboard? Is it even possible to go out there without knowing all of these things?
We wanted to know what it would be like to work your very first season without ever having been on a mountain before or having the ability to ski or board. So we’ve asked Danny, a snowboarder of 2 years now, how his first season went when he was yet to learn what the term ‘piste basher’ meant…
1. What did you expect your first season would be like before embarking on your adventure?
Well I’d never been on a ski holiday or mountain before, so I didn’t really have a lot of expectation because I knew so little. I’d never done anything close to hosting before either, so jobwise I was in the dark as well. But all that being said, I wasn’t too nervous and didn’t build it up in my head, as the excitement far outweighed any nerves. I quite like throwing myself in at the deep end, as you can tell.
2. Were there any other members of staff who were totally new to winter sports, just like you?
No. Everyone had either worked a season before, been on ski trips with schools or universities or had had been on ski holidays. I remember on the ferry over, when I mentioned that I was a complete beginner, there was a group of people who were so excited for me and didn’t take the mickey or anything, so that was nice to have the encouragement.
3. What was the most surprising thing you discovered when you arrived in resort?
Well the very first resort that I saw was Val D’Isere because I did training there before going onto the resort I would be working in. I found that to be surprisingly well built up and had been expecting to see more traditional wooden chalets. So it surprised me how built up a ski resort could be. I also had no idea about the maintenance of the pistes at the time and was probably annoying everyone with my beginner questions. But it was amazing to learn about the piste bashers, snow cannons, snow stock piles etc. I also learnt how small the resorts were and that they all lived in this little bubble of their own community – everyone knew eachother and were all so friendly because everyone was out there for the same reason.
4. What was it like experiencing the mountain for the first time?
Mind blowing. I’d only ever had a 30 second run on an indoor slope so taking those lessons and the board onto a real slope for the first time was incredible… and it didn’t take too long to get addicted.
5. What was the strangest thing you learned about the mountains?
How you can underestimate them very quickly. On the second day skiing a girl was lifted off by helicopter after breaking her collarbone. We experienced very quick-turning weather conditions where we became effectively blind in a white out. And also, after getting too cocky practising tricks, I slid off the side of a piste. Luckily it was only a short fall, but they do say to respect the mountain and that is so true.
6. How did you go about learning? Had you had any lessons beforehand?
As I said earlier, the indoor slope that I mentioned was a 150m run on ‘as real as you can get’ fake snow. I had two group lessons, one private lesson and then the instructor said I just needed to go off and do my own thing – there’s only so much you can teach apparently. But that was all at home. The real learning is on the mountain where you have endless miles of runs, different conditions, different snow, different terrain and different temperatures. You find there’s so many different factors that affect how a days’ riding can turn out.
7. Do you think the resort you were in shaped your learning?
Yes definitely. My first season was St Anton, which is predominantly built for skiers, as are many resorts. It has a long history and tradition of alpine skiing so a lot of the runs are quite flat and long so my back foot got a real work out when having to skate along. It’s quite an advanced ski area (with mostly red and black slopes) so I think my aggressive turning progressed quicker than it would have done if I’d have been in a more snowboard friendly resort.
8. Would you recommend working a season to someone who had no experience of skiing or boarding?
Absolutely yes. It’s definitely not something that should hold you back. You can pack in around 20 years’ worth of ski holidays on the slopes over the course of a season, and ski 5-6 times a week if you really wanted to. So going there an absolute beginner isn’t really a problem given the amount of time you’ll have to progress. Because you’re on and off the slopes week in week out, your muscle memory and learning curve is also so much higher than it would be just going on a ski holiday once a year.
9. What was the most challenging part of learning to snowboard while on season?
Because I was riding with other skiers and boarders, that were already more advanced, trying to keep up with them could be frustrating at times. But in all honestly this just made me faster. It was difficult to begin with but this was a catch 22 situation because it probably made me a faster rider more quickly than I would have become naturally, had I been riding with people my own level.
10. Would you have done anything differently?
No.