Tipping Amount for Private Lesson

[Scruffy]

I made 12,50 an hour, lodging included (there is plenty of instructors making less). How much lower can it get? You guys have minimum wage too right...

That's low, Skitechnek, but lodging included is nice. You should be tipped generously.

 

[fatbob]

Best tip for instructors : "Unionise if you want more cash!"

 

[SkiSchoolPros]

Best tip for instructors : "Unionise if you want more cash!"

I agree as it intuitively makes sense that you can negotiate a better deal with more collective leverage.

Never worked at a union shop myself, but know a number of people (including some instructors in their previous life) who have. Most have positive things to say. Its probable that there has been some negatives with some unions, but I strongly suspect that much of this has been overblown by companies looking to avoid paying higher wages.

While some jobs can be exported if salaries are too high, much tougher to do this with ski instructors.

 

[Coach13]

LOL! Alta, still a refuge for dirtbag skiers (that's not an insult), so maybe the instructor doesn't see that kind of money often. That tip wouldn't be the least bit out line at a fancy resort.

That could be it’s own thread. “Atla-home of the dirtbag skier”.

 

[HardDaysNight]

Best tip for instructors : "Unionise if you want more cash!"

The problem is that many instructors don’t really care about low wages. It’s such a heterogeneous group that getting agreement on unionizing is harder than stuffing a pound of melted butter into a wildcat’s ear in a dark room using a red hot needle. Attempts have been made. They took so long and produced such disagreements that SAM was easily able to stave them off (and then fired the ringleaders).

 

[fatbob]

The problem is that many instructors don’t really care about low wages. It’s such a heterogeneous group that getting agreement on unionizing is harder than stuffing a pound of melted butter into a wildcat’s ear in a dark room using a red hot needle. Attempts have been made. They took so long and produced such disagreements that SAM was easily able to stave them off (and then fired the ringleaders).

Yeah I know. But that's why I as a potential customer resent any expectation that I should tip a "professional". If they won't or can't work out how to get paid fairly (by their employer who is already taking a hell of slice of my wallet as a "booking fee") why should I pick up the slack?

Tip as a general courtesy of a notional amount, a drink etc yes. 20% of lesson price -erm....

 

[Dee]

Just a suggestion here. Don't go to copper that day. Drive to ABasin and get your lesson. Here is how:
Call them up cuz this is confusing to do online.
Buy, for $30, the snow huggers club membership. It gives you one half off lesson.
Buy for half of $150 your group lesson.
Your lesson includes your lift ticket. You just got a group lesson for $105.
Now go stand in line for your lesson to start. When they start asking the "getting to know you" questions what is really going on is they are taking the pulse of the people in the group to break them up into skill appropriate groups. You say confident and honest things like " I confidently ski groomed blacks and would love to learn better how to ski bumps all day today." Nobody, NOBODY, who normally skis ABasin needs a lesson so it's just you and a few people who have skied a few blues. If you can differentiate yourself as being significantly better than them and convince the other lesson takers that you really want to learn some advanced stuff today you will find yourself in a private lesson. You don't want to work on your turns or learn how to make it down their harder blues. None of the other lesson takers will be interested in the bumps and the instructors will not force them to be in the bumps class. They always break the lesson up into a beginner blue group and an advanced blue or black lesson. So, you just want to be the advanced. My wife and I got our private lesson this way and my kids almost always get a private lesson this way. Just be firm that you're not a beginner and you're not interested in beginner blue lessons. It's not getting away with something it just feels like it.

This strategy also works very well for getting one-on-one all day park and halfpipe instruction at group lesson rates. When you get to the group lesson start area, just ask matter-of-factly where the moguls/freestyle/freeride/[insert advanced specialty here] group is gathering. Its a happy day indeed for the instructor who gets assigned the occasional student who requests this type of lesson on a walk-up basis. It’s also pretty low risk in that it’s likely that you can get a refund as long as you clearly request a mogul lesson when you pay for the lesson and they don’t or can’t assign you to an appropriate group or teacher before the lesson starts.

 

[karlo]

John Lawson, Todd Casey and Doug Sakata would all be solid choices as a request private.

And, if the OP likes whoever the instructor and passes that along as a recommendation, when makes the introduction, that’s a nice token of appreciation, both personally and financially

 

[cantunamunch]

Tip as a general courtesy of a notional amount, a drink etc yes. 20% of lesson price -erm....

Again, you forget that without competition they can easily charge over 10% of the lesson price for a margarita.

 

[HardDaysNight]

Yeah I know. But that's why I as a potential customer resent any expectation that I should tip a "professional". If they won't or can't work out how to get paid fairly (by their employer who is already taking a hell of slice of my wallet as a "booking fee") why should I pick up the slack?

Tip as a general courtesy of a notional amount, a drink etc yes. 20% of lesson price -erm....

No disagreement from me!

 

[mister moose]

Just a suggestion here. Don't go to copper that day. Drive to ABasin and get your lesson. Here is how:......

You don't want to work on your turns or ….

There's a fair bit of lesson deals out there if you shop around. And you can usually get a lot of individual attention at class prices rates when you are a strong blue or higher. Agree there.

However, bump skiing is not just some fairy dust powder reserved for the worthy. It is all about turns. It's also about edge feathering, speed control, absorbtion of course, tactics, line choice, pressure management, and more. But I guarantee you there is no such thing as an upper blue to mid black skier that has perfect turns and is just one bump lesson away from awesome. Turns are the very foundation of bump skiing, and you need the fundamentals down cold. Bump skiing is always about cleaning up your turns, and what weaknesses are lurking there ready to be exploited by the bumps.

Can you turn the other way before you finish the prior turn? (In other words zero time in the transition) Can you make 5 turns in 5 seconds? Can you lift your inside foot at the fall line and finish the turn on one foot? Do you transition from tall to small in your turns? Do you bend your skis in a dynamic fashion in a turn? No? Time to work on those turns.

 

[Ice Queen]

LOL! Alta, still a refuge for dirtbag skiers (that's not an insult), so maybe the instructor doesn't see that kind of money often. That tip wouldn't be the least bit out line at a fancy resort.

If Alta is a refuge for dirtbag skiers, then I aspire to be a dirtbag skier!

 

[udailey]

I wonder why your tenor sounds like we might disagree. I never implied anything opposite or like what you describe in your response to my post. I simply said if he were looking for a cheaper individual lesson that asking for a lesson in bumps rather than simply improving turns would likely help his chances of getting a private or semi private lesson at the group lesson rate.
After reading your description of how to ski bumps it appears I can.