The best way to spend a winter - Snowboard Instructor Intern Vail Resorts Employee Review

5.0
Apr 2, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The ability to snowboard every day of the week. Unlimited lift pass to all the Vail mountains and A-basin. Aside from job training, instructors have access to many free clinics to improve their own riding. If you become PSIA or AASI certified and return the following winter, you will be reimbursed for the certification fees. There are several events that inters are required to attend. The events are meant to help the interns grow professionally. The CEO Rob Katz spoke and took questions at one event.

Cons

I was part of the internship program the first year it was offered so things may have changed but the intern instructors are paid dramatically less than regular instructors and even interns in other departments. I lived frugally but even with tips I could hardly support myself, I netted -$700 for the winter. Instructor interns do however get significantly more time riding the mountain than say interns in the housing department.

Explore other reviews about Vail Resorts

5.0
Apr 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Fun job. Great coworkers. Great benefits including ski pass

Cons

You are expected to work holidays

2.0
May 14, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Most people are smart, passionate, and enjoyable to work with and be around. - Fairly frequent opportunities for development and advancement through the internal job board. - Nice perks if you're into skiing or riding.

Cons

- There's an unspoken expectation to regularly work significantly more hours because the majority of employees are very passionate about the ski and ride industry, which isn't great for work life balance. There's not much down time either; you're either hustling in season or hustling to prepare for the next season. - Climate change poses a significant threat to the future of the company. The season pass model mitigates some of the impacts, but not as much as senior leadership asserts. And, since bonuses are tied to company results, you can end up working super hard all year and still end up getting half of your bonus target due to uncontrollable weather conditions. - The culture has taken a serious hit since enterprise transformation work began. Lots of people are constantly stressed out and the atmosphere in the office is depressing. - Most of the time, it feels like senior leadership makes decisions in a vacuum without consulting any of the people that would be responsible for the downstream work associated with the decision. For example, I've seen senior leaders decide on a savings target multiple times without consulting the experts, who then have to scramble to figure out how to make it work. It creates chaos and negatively impacts morale. - This organization has a wordsmithing problem. I've never worked at a company that spends such an inordinate amount of time on the framing of a message compared to the actual substance of the message.

3
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