ALPINE
Certification is a journey. As you develop your knowledge skills and abilities as a snow sports instructor you become more valuable to your clients and your school. No one person, document, or resource can prepare an individual for their certification process. Rather a combination of individuals, information and resources will provide the best blend of expertise for a well-rounded training pathway.
Please take responsibility to familiarize yourself with the policies, procedures, formats, and testing criteria before embarking on your certification pathway. If at anytime in your training program or testing process you need clarification, it is your responsibility to ask qualified individuals for clarity. If you choose not to question and research the information, you will probably end up with a less than accurate perspective on the certification process. This perspective is bound to influence the outcome. Be accountable for your success!
Joining
Becoming a Certified Instructor
The Matrix is your one-stop shop for all ski and snowboard educational video content.
Watch videos on all disciplines, including adaptive, alpine, cross country, telemark, and snowboard. Maximize your learning time by sorting the videos you want to watch by conditions, terrain, and level.
Check out the free e-learning modules too. New content and video is being added often. You can even chime in with content ideas or upload your own video!
The Matrix has information you won’t find anywhere else!
Click the button below to be taken to login page of The Matrix.
Alpine Certification Guide
Want to learn about the exam process? Preparing to take an exam? Then this cert guide, aka the holy grail or the bible, is the place to be! The certification guide will go through the process for Levels I, II and III, what to expect during exam. Please make sure you read this and are familiar with it to best prepare for your exam. ***Please note, for successful completion of a certification, all components of the exam must be completed in the Northwest, partial module passes in other divisions do not transfer.
Alpine Certification Guide 2025-26 (google doc)
Level I Prerequisites
- Become a Member
- Alpine Level I Online Professional Knowledge Exam
- Alpine Level I E-Learning Course
- Level I On-Snow Registration
Alpine Fundamentals
Listed below are the Alpine Fundamentals. The Fundamentals remain consistent through all levels of certification; they are listed in no order or priority
- Control the relationship of the center of mass (COM) to the base of support (BOS) to direct pressure along the length of the ski(s).
- Control pressure from ski to ski and direct pressure toward the outside ski.
- Control edge angles through a combination of inclination and angulation.
- Control the ski’s rotation (turning, pivoting, steering) with leg rotation, separate from the upper body.
- Regulate the magnitude of pressure created through ski/snow interaction
National Standards
These standards are the same across the country – transferable from division to division. Level III is the highest certification and meets International Snowsports Instructors Alliance (ISIA) standards. You can take your certification to a global level and teach all over the world.
