Common Snow School Abbreviations
We tend to use A LOT of abbreviations. Here are the long forms of a few. Let us know if there are more we should add!
WB
Whistler Blackcomb
SS
Snow School
OSO
On Snow Observation. When a supervisor or trainer comes with you on a lesson to support your teaching.
OTS
On the Spot. A recognition tool that anyone can access to tell someone what a great job they are doing!
GX
Guest Experience
EX
Employee Experience. Both your experience as an employee and the name of the department that supports your experience e.g. the team at The Springs.
TBL
Terrain Based Learning. When we use groomers to shape the snow for certain learning purposes. We normally have some TBL features at Olympic station.
WBSSU
Whistler Blackcomb Snow School University. A two-week training program for overseas participants that are training to become ski instructors and work with us.
EBCB
Essentially Blackcomb Cappucino Bar. It is the same place as GBB (Garbanzo Bike & Bean) in the summer. It is the small restaurant and retail space across from the Whistler Gondola. We use it as a meeting place for Morning Session and some SS Programs.
CLC
Children’s Learning Centre. This is at mid-station of the Whistler Gondola where the Whistler Kids Village pod runs out of.
POD
A pod is what we call each different team within the snow school. Your “home pod” is where you are assigned to by default eg “Blackcomb Minis”, “Village Riders” or “Whistler Base Pod”. You may be asked to work in different pods and you can check out everything you need to know about your pod and others on our “Snow School 101” page.
Computer Systems
ATS
An internal snow school system that we use to hold your master scheduling and pay information. You do not have access to this.
RPOS / Proconnect
Staff can use this to check their schedule or sign up for training sessions. RPOS and Proconnect are the same thing (one is just a newer version). To access you use the instructor.snow.com website or app.
Training Terms
SSO
Snow School Orientation (N) New, (R) Return. A mandatory session for all staff at the beginning of the season to welcome you back and update you with any new procedures. In the summer we use BSO for Bike School Orientation.
W2W / W2S
Welcome to Winter/ Summer - an orientation day for new staff
OST
On Snow Training. A full day on snow session for new staff to learn the operations of your job.
RST
Return Staff Training. An session for return staff - could be on snow, online or in person.
CWC
Communicating with Children. A session for staff that targets how to communicate with different ages of kids to set you on the right track or deal with the hard bits.
A&D
Assessment & Development. An indoor session to improve your teaching skills.
MRS / MRD
Managing Risk on Snow (or in summer Dirt). A Snow School session that is based on good decision making to keep yourself safe.
To learn more about what each specific training session is, head to the explanations page in the Training Section.
Big Mountain Glossary
Big Mountain AKA Freeride, Off Piste, Steeps, Alpine…
This world has it’s own whole set of terms and specific language. If you want to decipher some of these, check out the Big Mountain Glossary on the Teaching Steeps page.