The esf history began long before the war with the premises of the birth of some schools in several French massifs but the true beginning began in 1945.

The adoption of a technique "à la française", a national ski school that trains instructors (there are one hundred and sixty-six graduates after the war, some of whom unfortunately did not return), ski schools that flourish (forty-one listed at the end of 1945) and a wind of enthusiasm that inspires a few passionate visionaries to structure a profession that is heading for white gold surfing... On November 13 1945,Gaston Cathiard, Lucien Amieux, René Beckert, Etienne Livacic, Jean-Marie Michaud, René Payot, René Rionda and André Tournier laid the foundations of the SNMSF, inspired by the ephemeral "Compagnie des Moniteurs" (Company of Monitors) born under the Vichy government, to which the "L'amicale des Moniteurs" was added for their social protection. 

The purpose of the Syndicat National des Moniteurs du Ski Français, based in Grenoble, is to bring together French ski instructors teaching in France or abroad, to structure ski schools in a corporate manner, to organize the profession and to ensure its defense, both from the point of view of its general interests as well as its specificities and ethics.
Among the defined principles, one remains unchanged: each ski school keeps its autonomous local management, the National Syndicate organizes what cannot be done locally, in the interest of the instructors. On the solid foundations laid by these ambitious pioneers, the SNMSF has been able to keep watchful eye, sometimes against all odds, on the interests and evolution of the profession, which has become one of the most powerful corporations of this century…