Considered one of the best ski areas in the world, Banff is in a gorgeous and unique location in the middle of a national park. The area boasts three ski resorts, including Lake Louise, the biggest in the Canadian Rockies. You’ll be treated to uncluttered pistes, world-class training, stunningly unique views, and an incredible nightlife.
With such a range of terrains, you’ll never get bored in Banff. In fact, you’ll never have to ski the same trail twice because there are so many! As you get more skilled, you can tackle some of the bigger and more daunting mountains, so you’ll always have new challenges to explore. Plus, Banff is renowned as a party town, so you’ll love the nightlife too!
Out of the three resorts in Banff, Basecamp’s courses are ran in Lake Louise. The largest resort in Banff, Lake Louise has incredible powder, the most varied terrain, steeps for all experience levels, an amazing snow park, and loads of long runs. What’s more, it employs more ski instructors than any other resort in Banff, so you’ll have the opportunity to come back as an instructor!
If you’re looking to become a ski instructor in Canada, our courses are perfect for you. Get in touch with Basecamp today to start the journey of a lifetime or find out about all our courses.
Basecamp courses offer the most qualifications of any provider in Banff – INCLUDED AS STANDARD. We don’t believe in hidden extras or lengthy optional extras lists so we include everything you need from the get-go. We include over $1,500 worth of these ‘optional extras’ as standard in your Basecamp course.
Our ski instructor courses in Canada are unrivalled, plus we hire more instructors than anyone else, so you know you’ll be able to land a job after your course if that’s what you’re after!
With our Canada ski instructor courses, you won’t just learn how to become a ski instructor. You’ll also enhance your interpersonal skills to become a better communicator. When it comes to the skiing, you’ll get the best and brightest instructors who’ll equip you with everything you need for your CSIA level 1 and level 2 certification.
You’ll have plenty of days off to explore the gorgeous scenery in Banff, whether you explore the national park surrounding you, the town, or the Rockies. Banff is well known as a party city, so you can dance the night away in some of the best clubs in North America.
Beyond the big nights out, Banff has plenty of activities to keep you entertained. You can go to the cinema and catch up on all the latest releases, ascend indoor climbing walls at the sports complex, bowl a strike at the bowling alley, get involved in the high street ice hockey tournament, and take part in the incredible Red Bull Rail Jam! In the ski areas, you can go dog sledding, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, and back-country touring. Don’t forget to take advantage of the famous heli and cat skiing available in the Rockies.
13 Week Program
Our Ultimate 13-week Course is the most inclusive program available in Banff. Not only do you get to shred for and extra two weeks, you’ll also move onto snow park coaching and gain the CSIA Snow Park L1 qualification during the final weeks, rounding off an unforgettable season.
Available Courses
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What's Included?
Basecamp offers the best and most inclusive ski instructor courses in Banff. Our ski instructor courses are world renowned, you’ll have highly qualified instructors, amazing landscapes to explore, and unforgettable memories.
Let’s begins with the most important part of any instructor training course – the coaching!
*13 Week Course
What's Included?
That’s awesome, but what about life away from the hill? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Not only do you get the best coaching in Banff, we also provide the best off-hill program too.
“Basecamp provided the most amazing experience this year. I have made so many lifelong friends and my snowboarding has improved ridiculously when I compare to the beginning of the season. The coaching we received was world class and I am so excited to begin instructing! I would recommend Basecamp to anyone wanting to become an international instructor, improve their riding, or looking for a challenging, exciting and awesome gap year adventure! Thank you so much Basecamp!”
“An awesome way to gain a qualification and skills on a gap year/career break! I qualified as an instructor, had 11-weeks of top notch training, lived in one of the most beautiful countries in the world and had three months of insane fun with a great bunch of people. This course is one of, if not the, best experiences of my life.
I can’t recommend this course enough to anyone looking for a worthwhile way to spend their gap year or for someone who wants to get away from the grind of their job on a career break.”
“I had the most amazing winter season with Basecamp. I met friends for life and experienced so much. The coaches and Basecamp staff are great fun.
It is an unreal thing to do and would recommend it to anyone with a keen interest in skiing / being outdoors, or doing a Winter season!
The resort is extremely fun and there are all the facilities you could possibly want such as a gym/ pool/ good bars and clubs/ 3 supermarkets etc! Amazing experience I just wish I could do it all again!”
“Best experience of my life!
The 11 week snowboard program with basecamp was definitely the best decision, we had great instructors who really knew what they were talking about. I have grown very much as a person and as a snowboarder the basecamp course really helped me with that!”
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Experienced coaches
We hire the best ski instructors out there, so you can rest assured that you’ll receive the highest level of education from our experienced and qualified coaches – some have been doing it for 20+ years!
The best service
We do everything we can to ensure you have the time of your life, both in your learning and off-slope activities. We have a team based in the resort to help you with everything you need, 24/7.
The best tuition
Go hard or go home. You’ll get five days of professional coaching a week to get you up to speed. We don’t overcrowd our groups, meaning you’ll get the personal support you need to be the best you can be.
Value for money
With a Basecamp course, you’ll get access to unrivalled ski instructor education and a memorable experience to boot. That’s why we believe we’re great value for money and offer the best ski instructor courses in Banff and around the world.
FAQs
With a few programs to choose from in Banff this is a very valid question.
Basecamp will not be beaten on quality or value. We have been running courses for 20 years and know exactly what makes an amazing program. We don’t advertise a “from $$$ price”, instead we include it all as standard so there’s no hidden costs or unexpected fees during your season.
- Hotel Accommodation – We base our course from a a very comfortable and spacious hotel, where everyone gets their own queen size bed with en-suite. No hostels or bunk beds with us! Best of all, its right on the main street in Banff, mere minutes away from anything you need.
- Lake Louise – We train at the biggest and best resort in Banff – Lake Louise. Other courses train from either Sunshine, Norquay or Big3. Whilst they all have their own unique attributes, Lake Louise is the number 1 for a reason and we are fortunate to have such a special relationship with the resort.
- No Hidden Extras! – L2 exams, AST1 and Snowpark L1 are all included. Trust us, these are all things you will want to do during your season so we dont ask you for extra money to do them. Combined, these are worth over $1,500.
- One-2-One Coaching – Not only do you get the best coaching with Basecamp at Ski Louise, but you also get two private, one-2-one sessions during your course to really drill into your personal riding technique.
- Social Events – It’s not all about riding on our courses, you will make the best memories and amazing new friends with Basecamp. Each week our resort team will arrange amazing social events to help you make the most of your time in Canada. Ice Hockey Trips, Sledding, Snow Shoeing, Dog Sledding, Cat-Skiing, Bar Crawls, Open Mic Nights, Escape Rooms, Cinema Nights, Away Trips to Kicking Horse Resort… the list goes on and on!
Once you’ve completed your Basecamp course, you’ll leave with the internationally recognised Canadian CSIA Level 1 and 2 Instructor Licence. With this, you can teach in most countries across the globe. You will also come away from Banff with the Avalanche and Backcountry AST L1, keeping you safe in the mountains.
Opt for the 13 week program and you’ll also train and qualify as a CSIA L1 Snow Park instructor too!
This course is a little advanced, so we need to know you have some existing skills. If you can ski a red piste run in parallel with a hip width stance and the ability to demonstrate outside ski balance and little body rotation, you’ll be a perfect fit. If you’re not yet this advanced, get in touch to find out more about our beginner courses.
Once you get an IEC, working holiday visa, or suitable passport, you can work as a ski instructor in Canada! We’ll help you with applying to the Lake Louise Ski School so you can put your learning to work right away or whenever suits you.
We have an Essential Visa Guide to answer all your questions
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 old before you arrive in resort for our Canada, France or Argentina Courses (unless parental consent is obtained).
You must be a minimum of 18 years old to join any of our courses or internships which rely on a working holiday visa.
Although Basecamp 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 than 8:1 students per trainer in Austria, Argentina and France and up to 10:1 in Canada. 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.
We have various options for accommodation on our courses, all of which are very comfortable. We use a combination of apartments, hotels and chalets. There are options to to include a single room, half board meals or both! (subject to course and availability). See our Accommodation page for more details on your options.
Yes! All of our programs include accommodation for the full period you are with us at Basecamp. Unlike other providers, even our Banff internship programs include accommodation for the full 22wk season!
Sure! We love it when friends come together and share this amazing experience – after all sharing is caring! We can make sure you live together too so you can enjoy the time and make memories forever… just be sure to let us know who you’re travelling with.
We are so confident that we offer the very best value courses in the industry that we have a Basecamp Price Guarantee. We pride ourselves that we offer more training, higher quality coaching, better off-hill programs and more fun aprés events than any other course.
That’s why if you find a better value comparable course anywhere, not only will we match the course cost, but we will also give you an additional £50 off your course fees for good measure!
Get in touch to find out more about our Price Guarantee.
Yes! Once you have booked and paid your deposit then you will have the ability to pay off your course how you see fit as long as our minimum criteria has been met (see T&C’s). You can decide how much and how often you pay to suit your circumstances.
As much as we love dogs at Basecamp the simple answer is no for most courses. Unfortunately Dogs are not allowed within most Basecamp Accommodation.
Our hotel accommodation in Banff is pet friendly and do allow pets under certain conditions, get in touch to find out more.
No problem, you can check out our full FAQ’s here for answers on equipment, training, qualifications, jobs, payments and more.
If you’re still not sure, then Contact Us and we can answer your specific questions for you.
