🏂 Looking Back Link to heading
Not every day went according to plan, and often the highs and lows were only a few minutes apart. Here are a few moments that stuck with me from my first season as a snowboard instructor, in no particular order:
- Foehn storm: the gondolas were not running, we waited for the decision, and passed the time with table football. In the end, we drove up to Bidmi by car.
- I was almost on my way down into the valley when the ski school office called: a guest wanted to book a spontaneous lesson. So it was back up the mountain, switch the focus back on, and go again.
- There were equipment issues too: one guest’s binding broke before the first proper run, and later even a boot sole came off. We organized rental gear and kept going.
- The internal training sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays were a real highlight: fun, useful, and a great way to work on both technique and teaching.
- Synchronized crash of two guests. Both at the same time. Perfect timing, wrong discipline.
- The Blue King/Queen group from February 9 to 13 is one of my best memories from the season. Great group, great atmosphere.
- The mix of guests kept things interesting: Ecole kids, groups from the Sunrise Snow Days, locals, spontaneous private guests, beginners, and more advanced riders.
- Training day on First: technique in the morning with short turns and carving, then park riding in the afternoon with boxes, the tube, and the kicker.
- Chuenis by Night in Adelboden: the ski demo teams did most of the show, but we snowboarders from the whole BSSV also had a short part with rapid-fire jumps over a kicker.
- Won the ski school beer pong tournament with Ramin. Not especially important, but still worth mentioning.
- By the end of March, things got quieter. That meant more time to ski myself and to teach the ski instructors how to snowboard.
- Then, at the very end of March, we got another round of fresh snow. A pretty good way to end the season.
- Staff race after the season: once the ski area had already closed, ski instructors, lift employees, restaurant staff, and many others who had worked in the resort met for a fun race. Afterwards, we wrapped up the season with an aperitif.
⏱️ Working Hours Link to heading
| Week | 51 | 52 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hours | 1 | 16.25 | 20.5 | 15.25 | 13 | 16 | 21.5 | 24.5 | 27.5 | 22 | 28 | 4 | 8.25 | 6 | 0 | 3 |
Total: 225.25 hours
🏔️ Friends in Hasliberg Link to heading
Apart from teaching, it was also great to keep running into friends in Hasliberg throughout the season. Noe, Kusi, Jonas G, Mistral, Cedi, and others made the mountain feel a bit like home in between lessons.
📸 More Impressions Link to heading
You can find more photos here: photos.burkhalter.one