The Snow School in Morzine

[mrsmalcolmreynolds]

Hi. We are planning a trip to Morzine in Jan 2014. It will be the first time our DD will be old enough to ski so we're considering where to book her in for lessons. Any experience of this lot or indeed other outfits in Morzine?

We will not be using main ESF - she will only be 4.3 and can be a bit touchy at the outset of group situations so a big class and possibly not great English is not going to be the way forward! This lot say English-speaking instructors, groups of 4 for the teenies etc but I see they are associated with ESF so keen for real-life experiences.

Thanks

[MummaMinnie]

Sorry, I can't help you with The Snow School but I can highly recommend either BASS (www.britishskischool.com/BASS_Resorts/Morzine), who are in Morzine, or LGS (www.skischool.co.uk/) who are based in Les Gets (so probably not practical for you this trip but you could ask if they could run a group from Morzine - if they get enough requests it might be possible).

My daughter has had group lessons with both companies and has been progressing with the Snowlife awards system. BASS employ top level, British instructors (DD's first instructor is a BASI trainer and trains ski instructors) and each group (max of 6) was shadowed by a trainee instructor. However, this was during February half term and Christmas holidays and you would need to check what availability they have for when you go. They can't always guarantee they will have the numbers to make up a class of similar ability.

LGS is run by Tim Scott and is a smaller outfit. Again, British instructors and you would have to check what their availability is. Tim is very approachable and helpful and an excellent instructor. I think there are three other instructors in the team.

I have heard the The Snow School is actually ESF under a different banner to make them look more British and compete with the other British ski schools. They charge considerably more than ESF but perhaps you're more likely to get instuctors that speak good English. You could go over to www.snowheads.com and ask there. You need to register first but then you could post a question either in the Resorts section or the Piste section.

[mrsmalcolmreynolds]

Thanks Mumma excellent pointers. Yep the Snow School is connected to ESF hence my wanting to check whether they actually fulfil their claims re
English and class sizes.

Do you know what age BASS start at? I can't spot it on their website.

[MummaMinnie]

Sorry, I don't know what the minimum age is but DD was 5y3m when she had her first BASS lessons. Why not give them a call and see if they can help you out?

[massistar]

I'd second BASS as we tried to get them last year and they were full. They all seemed to have small classes and English instructors and have a very good reputation. We used Easy2Ride, French instructors but spoke excellent English, they were really good.

[massistar]

I'd second BASS as we tried to get them last year and they were full. They all seemed to have small classes and English instructors and have a very good reputation. We used Easy2Ride, French instructors but spoke excellent English, they were really good.

[IwishIwasmoreorganised]

We've used BASS and they were good.

Ds2 was 3.6 the first time - he was too young to join group lessons so just had a couple of 1:1 sessions.

[wdk]

yes, have used snow school last 2 seasons - once in morzine, the other they came over to les gets to us. Can't fault them. yes, part of esf, but english speaking and gropu size guarenteed small. they were brilliant with our kids.

[Pecker20]

We went to morzine when our ds was 3.5 and chose to get him skiing in this country first which was a huge success. He was taught one to one at the Chill Factor in Manchester so when we got to Morzine we all could go out together, it was fantastic, it might be worth thinking of as the children staying in our chalet didn't like either the ESF or BASS lessons.

[Tiredemma]

Cant comment on class size as I had 1.1 tuition- they are a fantastic company though. I would highly recommend.