Underground ski and snowboard lessons are not worth it.
At ShredBetter, we are excited that instructors can directly market themselves. However, we do not, repeat do not, condone the idea that you should book a lesson with an instructor outside of their affiliated ski school.
In fact, if we discover that instructors are taking lessons off the books and using ShredBetter to facilitate that, that instructor will be banned permanently from the site.
I get the appeal. To guests, you think you can save a few bucks. And for the instructor, it might be exciting to take all of the fee a guest may give you rather than sharing it with the school.
Many of the arguments against these practices are outlined well in a piece in 32 Degrees (PSIA-AASI’s magazine for instructors), called Underground Teaching: You Don’t Want to Go There.
There is a lot of industry fire and brimstone there that many instructors and guests will read about lost revenue for the resorts and jail time. Here are my takes on the reasons that should appeal
1) Injury and Insurance — If you’ve taught for any length of time, you have likely either had some experience or near-brush with injury. Either you have been injured by a run away beginner on the bunny slope or worse, you have had a guest injured in your lesson. If this happens during an off the book lesson, bad things can happen. As an instructor, you are now personally liable. As a guest, your only recourse is to sue the instructor. Given the wages of most instructors, it can be unlikely you will ever collect even if you win a case. It’s scary on both sides of the equation.
2) Mountain safety — An instructor’s jacket is a very effective beacon in keeping people away from you. If he or she is off the books, they will likely be forced to wear their civilian gear. This can be very important in building confidence, especially at beginner levels.
3) Lift lines — Off the books instructors can’t use the ski school line, which is a very nice benefit, especially during holidays and weekends.
Here are two more reasons that really just apply to instructors:
4) No teaching credit — For many instructors who are part-time, teaching off the books won’t help fulfilling your teaching requirement. And that means less time for you to freeski or freeride.
5) Being banned from teaching — To some degree, this is the biggest one for me. If you are caught, you are likely never to teach again, and likely not to teach anywhere near you are caught. If you are like me, you love teaching. I sometimes joke I would pay to do my job. You also likely love your mountain. You have roots, friends, and community in the ski school. To be torn from that would be a killer for me, and likely for you too. (If not, then I might question how much you really love teaching).
In sum, it isn’t worth it for instructors or guests to try and book lessons under the table. Keep working with your school, and good things will happen. Perhaps more importantly, bad things will be less likely to happen. And who wants to have a bad time skiing?
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