TEACHING STEEPS

Teaching Steeps is the WB Snow School internal designation for teaching Level 6+ groups. It is part of the Ongoing (Paid) Training that we offer at the Snow School.

In addition to an instructor holding their Teaching Steeps certification AND the student being Level 6+, only certain programs can go to Teaching Steeps 1, 2 or 3 terrain.

Teaching Steeps has been in place since around 2019 and has evolved over the last few years, with Teaching Steeps 3 being brand new for the 2025-26 season. At WB we have access to such a huge amount of terrain that goes beyond the scope of the traditional CSIA and CASI courses so we developed this designation to help support “how to teach in steep terrain”. This includes tactical as well as technical aspects that should be considered, assessed and developed in our students before increasing the level of difficulty in terrain.

Each Teaching Steeps level is designed to build on the one before in addition to in-field experience gained through teaching in appropriate programs and attending elective “Steeps” sessions.

In addition to the students being Level 6+, only certain programs can go to Teaching Steeps 1, 2 or 3 terrain. If you are working in one of those programs you need your Teaching Steeps. If you hope to work in one of those programs, speak to your supervisor and your “Steeps” trainers about opportunities.

Teaching Steeps is done by supervisor sign up only. Your supervisor puts forward the names of their instructors who need (or would like) to do their internal certification and the Training Supervisors fill the groups based on various factors. Please ensure you have gone to at least 1 elective “Steeps” session before asking your supervisor to put your name forward for a Teaching Steeps session.

From the New Year onwards, Teaching Steeps is regularly held on Thursdays, however we do run sessions on other days (including some weekends) based on participant schedules and trainer availabilities.

For new and experienced instructors who are teaching Levels 4-6 we are going to offer some “Big Mountain Basics” sessions.

These will cover a lot of the same tactics and techniques that are used in Steeps terrain as you develop your students through the SS benchmarks and challenging students with appropriate terrain for their level.