Independent schools
​With resort consolidation, the trend in the US is to fewer independent schools. Lessons are a high margin source of revenue, so it seems like a good idea to eliminate independent schools, but they increase revenue, reduce expenses, and increase growth.
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Below are some independent schools. Unfortunately, this list was longer two years ago and more may be gone soon.
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If you are in Washington State or the Midwest, you can talk to one of the independent schools listed below. If there is no independent school near you, offer the opportunity to some of your experienced instructors who own other business. There are great instructors who have experience hiring, training, scheduling, evaluating, doing payroll and accounting, marketing, and interacting with the public.
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Using independent schools to supplement or replace resort owned schools produces more revenue from greater marketing, supply of lessons, program options, ancillary revenue, transportation options, and conversions.​ More independent schools will increase competition to increase quality, supply, and choices for customers.
They save resorts from building a management team and expertise to perform all these functions for a large specialized department that many smaller resorts are not experienced to handle. Resorts provide many opportunities for camps and coaches specializing in race training, adaptive, and freeskiing, but not other instruction, especially that focuses on the big demand for lower level lessons and offer the same benefits to resorts.
Instruction in Europe is much less expensive, often far less than half the price of lessons in the states. There is a marketplace of independent schools and instructors that provide a variety of price and program options.
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Important lessons can be learned form other businesses. Retailers like Costco make more money selling a variety of brands rather than just their own Kirkland brand. Apple makes much more revenue with outside app developers rather than creating them inhouse.
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United States
Click on a school resort for more information.
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2- Pine Knob Ski and Snowboard School Michigan
3- Blizzard Ski and Snowboard School Michigan
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4- Winter Walden Ski and Snowboard Club Michigan
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5- Blizzard Ski and Snowboard School Minnesota
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6- Blizzard Ski and Snowboard School Wisconsin/ Chicago
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7- Bellevue Ski School Washington
8- Mohan Ski and Snowboarding Washington
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9- Fiorini Ski School Washington
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10- Cascade Ski and Snowboard School Washington
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11- Skimasters Ski and Snowboard School Washington
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13- Webbski Ski and Snowboard School Washington
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14- Alpinewest Ski and Snowboard School Washington - closed
15- Snow Sports Northwest Washington
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16- North American Ski Training Center
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Europe
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There are large numbers of independent schools and instructors listed on European resort websites; some have more than 17 schools and independent instructors listed. Here are a few examples:
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1- New Generation Ski and Snowboard Schools - 18 schools in France, Switzerland, and Austria
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2- Oxygene Ski and Snowboard School - 14 resorts
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3- British Alpine Ski School- 8 schools
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4- Maison Sports - more than 1200 independent instructors at 364 resorts
5- Ski Bro- instructors at 200 resorts in France, Switzerland, Italy, and Austria
6- Checkyeti - instructors at more than 500 resorts
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7- Morzine Avoriaz- 11 schools and independent instructors
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8- Ecole De Ski - 1800 instructors in France and Switzerland
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9- ESF- 220 schools and 17,000 instructors
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10- Supreme Ski and Snowboard- 16 resorts
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11- Cortina Dolomiti
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Indoor Schools
1- Shredder- indoor ski and snowboard lessons for kids on synthetic surfaces
2- Big Snow- terrain based learning indoors on real snow
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3- Adventure Ski and Snowboard School
4- Virtual Snow- ski/ride simulators
5- Snowbiste- ski/ride simulators
6- Snowbahn- ski/ride simulators
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7- SKIMAXX- ski/ride simulators
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8- Infinity slopes- ski/ride simulators
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9- Winterclub- ski/ride simulators
10- Mini Mountain- ski/ride simulators
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11- Inside Ski Training Center- ski/ride simulators
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Online and AI Training
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There is a large marketplace of online ski instruction providing how to videos and online coaching. A wide variety of quality and prices so customers can choose based on sample lessons, reviews, number of views, and the instructor.
Here are just a few examples-
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1- SkiMoves - coming fall 2025
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2- Big Picture Skiing - podcast, live, and videos for intermediate and above
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3- Ski Strong- live and video instruction
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4- Carv- boot sensor, skills instruction, friends, moving beyond measuring tasks to instruction on how to do
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5- Projected Productions - videos and camps
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6- Sofa Ski- videos and video analysis
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7- Harb Ski Systems - videos and camps
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8- Warren Jobbitt - video and camps
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9- Alltracks Academy - videos and camps
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13- Ski coaching online- videos
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14- SF Instructors- text and videos
15- PSIC - online and onsite training for instructors with a big mountain option
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16- Section 8 - videos and camps
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17- Professional Ski Instructors of Europe - PSIE
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