Seasonaires and Work Opportunities
Will You Find Ski Work in South America
The most common question we get asked here at Snoventures is from seasonaire skiers and snowboarders ... How can I find work for the season?
The simple answer is with great difficulty, however it is not impossible. A handful of visitors manage to find work each season and there are a number of foreign instructors working in the resorts. These instructors don't tend to just turn up, they often work in places like Andorra, Aspen or Lake Tahoe with the South American ski directors working in our Northern Hemisphere winter. There seems to be an abundance of local ski instructors, and there is a lower requirement for snowboard instructors. Valle Nevado in Chile has a large number of ski instructors however they tend to return each year and very little opportunities arise particularly if you don't know anyone in the resort's ski school.
To find meaningful work with decent pay is definitely a struggle as the locals in Argentina & Chile have a much lower cost of living than those of us living in the US and Europe. If you are prepared to work for a pittance then you may be in luck.
If you are determined to work in South America we would suggest you contact the resorts direct, all the main ones have websites, or consider working in a city that gives you access to ski resorts on your days off, such as Santiago, where you could contact international hotel chains or language schools.
Normally we advise saving for your trip to South America, as depending on your schedule, it can be relatively inexpensive to spend a season in Chile or Argentina, particularly if you pick the right place and do not move around too much, thus utilising a season's pass and long term accommodation.
Portillo work opportunity information
A few weeks work at home can make you as much as a season working throughout in Chile or Argentina.
The larger ski resorts to contact about work are Portillo, Valle Nevado, Termas de Chillan, Bariloche & Las Leñas.
