Becoming a snowboard instructor in Japan and Lake Tahoe, USA

Here's another one of our past Nonstoppers who has gone on to have an amazing life in the mountains. Ross Brown came on our Fernie 11 Week Instructor Course and went on to work in Japan and Lake Tahoe and is now an AASI Level 3. Here's his story...

Well, I decided to do the Fernie Nonstop course mainly because it was a dream of mine to become a ski instructor after a week’s holiday with my family when I was 13.

So, when I was 20, I told my parents that I didn't want to do the 9 to 5 thing and they both laughed (they thought they’d have to pay for the course). I contacted Nonstop and asked about the 11 Week Snowboard Instructor Course, as I had "gone over to the dark side", as they say. As well as learning all about the course, I also got an insight into being an instructor - how much would I get paid, where I could work etc. My main concern at this stage was "how am I going to pay for this course?" I decided to get a bank loan, which could have been risky, but this was my dream.

Come January, my parents dropped me off at the airport, where I met some of the other snowboarders. We went to the bar, which set the tone for most of the evenings to follow!

We arrived in Fernie late at night, so me and the rest of the house got straight to bed. When we woke up the next day it was dumping outside. One of the instructors, Jay, turned up to show us around town - a week or so later we found out he wanted to be out riding in the fresh pow... as you would! We end up going to Edge of the World, which is where I got my first ever set up - 159 lib tech TRS with magna traction, Burton Mission Bindings and Burton Hails, I was so excited.

The following day, me and my housemates went up the hill, which is when I realised that I wasn't a good snowboarder in the scheme of things. We met up with the instructors and were put into our groups. I with Shaun, the Scottish instructor, who we managed to lose on the first run... but after the initial teething problems, it was all uphill from there! Over the course of the season we did some amazing things – we went to Banff, went cat boarding, met some amazing people.

The Nonstop course really opened up my eyes to the world of snowboarding, but I didn't realise where it would take me. Throughout the course there was talk of Japan, with the amount of powder and the trees.

So the summer after the course, I had to find a job for the next season. I had a few interviews, but as I had never taught before and only had my CASI Level 1, my chances weren’t amazing. Then one day I received an email from Nonstop, saying about working in Japan. It stated that you need your CASI 2, but I went for it anyway.

Jeff Marks got in touch with me, we had a chat and he said that all I needed to do was get a visa and flight, then I’d have the job. So I went to the Japanese embassy, paid five pounds, and then booked my flight. I kept in contact with Jeff on the run up to the season, and he kept on telling me that it had already started to snow. In November I flew out to Japan with Neil, who had been on the same Nonstop instructor course as me. It was good having somebody to talk to on such a long flight.

After a late arrival in Niseko, we were woken up the next day by a phone call from Jeff, asking us to come down to the ski school. We were both really Jet lagged, but we made our way over to find all of the Japanese instructors with a priest at the front. Jeff let us know that we were getting blessed for the winter, so that we didn't injure ourselves. After the blessing, Neil and I drank some Sake, which wasn’t great as we hadn't eaten and our body clocks weren't in the right time zone. The blessing seemed to work though!

Over the next few days, the rest of the international instructors turned up and then came the powder!  I rode powder every day before work, rode the back country with the locals, watched a lot more snowboarding films... but my Japanese didn't get any better!

I ended up sharing a room with Luke, who had done the Nonstop course in Banff a few seasons before me. He introduced me to Lake Tahoe and showed me loads of the photos from there.

When Japan’s season came to an end, my younger brother and I went straight over to Banff, so he could ski and I could retake the riding part of my CASI Level 2, as I had failed that bit in Fernie because of a rib injury. I was over the moon when I passed.

That summer I found out I couldn't go back to Japan. I was upset, as I was in love with the place. Not with the riding terrain, but the people and the culture. So I then thought of Lake Tahoe, I contacted all the resorts and ended up getting a job at Northstar. I had kept in contact with one of my housemates from Fernie, Jack, when I was in Japan. That summer he called me and let me know that he’d got a job at Northstar, which was awesome. So we got our H2B visas and booked our flights.

We both flew out to the USA together and somehow managed to get upgraded to first class. We spent a few days doing the tourist thing in San Francisco, then headed up to Lake Tahoe.

It hit us on the way into town that there wasn’t any snow around! There was a heat wave, which melted all the snow before we even got there. Eventually it did turn up again. The thing that hit me the most though, was going from a 10 person ski school to a 300 strong ski school - it was crazy. That season I managed to get into the first Burton Academy in the world, I trained for my full certification, so I transferred from CASI to AASI. I managed to get my Level 3 ride, but not my teach.

As the season drew to an end, there was talk of no more H2B visa's for the following season. So myself and Jack, along with a few others, stayed for the summer. We worked at a private golf course, who extended our visa's and allowed us to stay for the following winter. That Californian summer consisted of a lot of sun, floating rivers, cliff jumping, trying to play golf and falling back in love with skating. Living at Lake Tahoe was amazing, with the most beautiful place in the world on my door step.

It went by so quickly and before we knew it, it was winter again. November ‘09 was very cold, and there was word of Northstar making snow. I went up to the Burton Academy to help set that up and they weren't lying - they had made a lot of new snow with a brand new beginner terrain area. It turned into a very busy season, with great snow, great park, great amount of work, and I was still training for my Level 3 teach, which I achieved at the end of the season.

I am now staying for the summer again, where my friends have turned into a family away from home.

So I would like to thank Nonstop! Within the four years of taking the course, I have made new friends from all over the world and snowboarding is my love and life. I have come to realise that I won't be making lots of money, but that doesn't matter to me when life is this good!

 

If you would like to follow in Ross' footsteps find out how to become a snowboard instructor with Nonstop, you won't regret it!