Emiel Dejaegher

I honestly don’t remember learning to ski—I like to say it was from the moment I could stand. I grew up in Belgium, but my family spent summers camping and three weeks every winter skiing, so the mountains were always a big part of my life. I completed ski school with a special focus on freeride skiing before beginning my instructing career, spending several seasons teaching in Austria and eventually qualifying as a Landeslehrer. My most recent season took me even further afield to Lake Louise in Canada.

In my free time, my skiing style depends entirely on the conditions: freeride when there’s fresh snow, carving on perfect pistes, or tackling moguls when I feel like a challenge. Picking a single best ski memory is impossible, but most involve powder days, quiet lifts, and endless runs. I became a ski instructor out of a pure love for the mountains and the sport of skiing, and my favourite part of the job is seeing people genuinely improve and gain confidence.

Outside of winter, I work as a surf instructor, and I’m a big fan of endurance sports like trail running and cycling. A slightly more unexpected fact about me is that in 2013 I performed as a dancer in my high school production of Grease in Logansport, Indiana—strategically placed in the back row. Alongside skiing, I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences (Sociology) and am fully qualified as a Landeslehrer ski instructor.