The instructors are the backbone of our program. As a Powderpigs instructor you are expected to have a genuine enthusiasm for teaching children to ski and snowboard. The benefits of becoming an instructor are numerous. Besides the satisfaction that comes with working with children, there is lots of skiing and snowboarding, pay, a season pass to The Summit at Snoqualmie and use of our building. You will be involved in a very rewarding experience packed with fun, friends and flexible hours. We offer a complete training program designed to prepare you for your Powderpigs adventure. We also ask you to make all attempts to give us a full 9 week season work commitment for at least 1 day per weekend (Friday Night, Saturday, or Sunday)  You can view the season schedule HERE.

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Instructor Training Program

The goal of the Instructor Training Program is to provide you, our instructors, with the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and develop the insights, skills and strategies necessary to become effective and humane teachers of children. 

Dryland Clinics 

Our Dryland clinics cover our “Kid Tech” lessons, as well as “Ski/Snowboard Tech.” Our Dryland Clinics are to be completed in an online virtual format.  We are using a platform called EdApp. 

During the “Kid Tech” portion we cover material on how to successfully teach children to ski. For example, learners and learning styles, hierarchy of needs, how to recognize and fulfill needs, effective acquisition of skills, communication with children, and teaching styles. We also cover safety, risk awareness and risk management as it relates to learners and teachers in our snowy mountain environment.

On Snow Clinics

On Snow Clinics typically start the first weekend of December on the Mountain. You can see that schedule HERE. Clinics generally meet at the Summit West Plaza, with the last weekend of clinics being held at the Powderpigs Lodge. During the On Snow portion we cover material on the technical aspects of skiing and snowboarding. We cover the progression of ski and snowboard maneuvers and the basic skills involved as well as how to use the strategies learned in “Kid Tech” to effectively teach our students. On snow risk awareness and risk management is also an important part of snow tech.

Our On Snow Clinics are meant to build on each other.  We try to place you with different instructors throughout the training process, because just as students don’t learn the same way, instructors all teach a little differently.  We want to expose you to many different teaching styles! Additionally, as you attend more clinics, you will complete increasing upper level skills and drills. We ask that you attend 4 clinics.