FAQs

You must be a minimum of 16 years old before you arrive into resort on our Austrian Courses.

You must be a minimum of 18 years before you arrive in resort for our Canadian and Argentinian Courses.

Highly unlikely! The oldest participant we have had to date was 69 taking a Level 2 course and he aced the exams!

We see the largest group between 18 and 24 and recently have seen a large number that are between 24 and 40. On our courses we expect approx. 15% to be over 40 years old. As more people are taking a sabbatical from working life our courses are more popular with professional business people or persons who have retired. Don’t be put off by age and ski schools are always looking for mature instructors who can generally deal with adults easier than younger instructors.

In Europe we are proud to be partners with Snowsports Academy who are the Vienna Ski and Snowboard Association (WSSV).

We also have the privilege of offering exams with the Snowsports Tirol for those that attend our courses with Kitzbühel Job Guarantee.

In Canada, with work closely with the CSIA (Canadian Ski Instructors’ Alliance) and CASI (Canadian Association of Snowboard Instructors).

Although SIA courses are amongst the largest in the World, we manage to maintain very intimate training groups of between 4 and 8, but with no more then 8 students per trainer. This allows us to match similar ability levels per group and means no student should ever feel as if they are falling behind or being held back because of the group they are in.

Holding an Austrian qualification may be of a huge advantage post-Brexit as it is unclear if Austria, together with other ski nations, will accept all qualification outside of the EU.

2021/22 will be the first season post-Brexit and will add some red tape to what would historically have been a normal season. To work anywhere in the world now, incl. Europe, Brits will need a visa or permit to work. The Authorities here in Austria have said that they plan to have a ‘seasonnaire permit’ in place to allow workers short-term access to the employment market during the winter season. Whilst this is potentially great news, they haven’t released any further details on this as yet so it still leaves a little uncertainty on what will be required from UK nationals working in Austria.

We have a number of options which allow you to enjoy a winter season which is not affected by BREXIT, including our Japan Internship, our BASI L1&L2 Courses in Morzine, France and our 11 week Gap Instructor Courses (ski or snowboard) in Austria.

The use of your own vehicle is subject to the law of the land. We have no objection to participants arriving and using their own vehicles but it is important that you make yourself aware of the law involving having a vehicle here for prolonged periods, such as insurance and safety requirements. Also driving conditions can be hazardous especially for those not used to snow and ice.

All of our accommodation options have ample parking spaces so you are very welcome to bring your vehicle

We have various options for accommodation on our courses. The standard which is included in your course in Austria is shared, self catered apartments, houses or chalets. There are options to upgrade to single rooms, half board pension or spa hotel (subject to availability and supplement).

An additional cost can be paid to accommodate a partner for the full duration of your SIA Course subject to availability.

Ski Schools will not normally accept a partner that does not work for the ski school in their accommodation. SIA Austria does not have any influence over this rule.

As much as we love dogs at SIA the simple answer is NO. Dogs are not allowed within SIA Accommodation. Ski Schools also ban pets from their accommodation.

You may of course source your own accommodation in a resort where you may work on completion of your course.

SIA Austria can not assist you or advise you in this matter as it is extremely time consuming and mostly fruitless to find cheap accommodation in a ski resort.

One of the main perks of your season job is that you have accommodation in a resort and a little research into the cost of this will soon make this clear.

An additional fee can be paid for by those wishing to have a single room. All single rooms have supplement charges that are additional to course fees (approx. €26 per night in Austria)

Please be aware that this is absolutely not possible should you be working in a ski school after your course (see section on ski school accommodation). We generally believe it is better for people to get used to living together during the course although we understand if someone wishes to use this option. We carefully use the logistics and data gathered to try and place people in rooms with age and gender as a primary decider. Once in resort it is possible to switch rooms in a specific accommodation to suit all students involved and this is best sorted internally amongst the group as people form their own social circles.

Most rooms in Austria are Austrian Twin Bedrooms, however there are a limited number of single beds and bunk beds in accommodations that we use. We have very limited single beds and these are offered on a first come first served basis.

N.B. An Austrian Twin Bed is described as two single mattresses on a large bed frame.