Is it possible for a non skiing family to go skiing..

[DialANumber]

And enjoy it? And not need millions?

We've never been! But the dc have said they would happily not have a summer holiday this year if it mean being able to have a proper snowy winter trip.

It would be great to have a go at skiing but also would want there to be other winter fun and activities around.

Prob looking for winter next year or spring 2021 to help budget.

I'd definitely get lessons on a dry slope/snow dome before you go. Save spending a lot of money on a week of falling over.

I'd also consider alternatives to the big French resorts. I absolutely love skiing. We always go to France because of the miles and miles of runs. But, even if you love that, you wouldn't even need a fraction of that for your first ski holiday. And, as much as I love France for skiing, the activities for non skiers and the apres skiing is fairly dull tbh. And it's really bloody expensive. Which is fine if you've really bought into skiing. Austria is more fun. Although still pricey. I've heard Andorra and Sweden are brilliant for beginners and a holiday that appeals to more than just serious skiers.

Choose a big resort with a nice town to walk around, a swimming pool etc so you have the option of other stuff to do. But for the most part, I do think it’s a bit of a waste unless you’re going to actually commit to skiing- you need to put time in and take lessons if you want to get off the nursery slope and enjoy the mountain. Do you have a snow dome near you? Why not try a family lesson there to see how you like it before deciding?

Absolutely!
Everyone at some point has gone skiing without having skiied before!

Best advice:
Go to snowdome with ‘real’ snow for lessons prior, dry slopes really are nothing like the real slopes
Look for ‘ski exercise’; nothing prepares you for the torture on your muscles the first time no matter how fit you think you are
Buying jackets/gloves/salopettes second hand or cheaply, just in case you don’t like it
Rent everything else

Loving all these ideas and info tha K you!

It's possible but I don't think there's much point in forking our thousands of pounds for lift passes, ski and boot hire, ski school and all the kit if you're only going to ski for a couple of days.

It's an expensive thing to get kitted out for only to find you don't enjoy it. For small children it involves a lot of falling over and feeling a rather cold! They need decent ski gear else it'll be a pretty miserable experience for everyone and the decent stuff isn't cheap.

I would recommend going to an indoor ski slope with proper snow and having a go at lessons for an afternoon or two and see what you all think before you commit to paying for a holiday.

You may find the kids don't enjoy the reality of falling over and being sore and cold for large periods of time!

Peak Retreats is a company that specialises in fly drive/self drive holidays to the Alps. Mainly self catering. If you are looking for a cheaper deal then I couldn't recommend them enough. If you go around Easter time there is still usually plenty of snow in the higher resorts but you get to do other stuff (like Easter in Paris!) on the way back.

I agree with the posters saying there isn’t much point if you aren’t planning to ski. All the other activities are there to fill in the gaps around skiing or to amuse the non skiers in a skiing family.

What we usually do is book morning only ski lessons, then have the afternoon to either ski some more / practice or going skating, walks / raquette, sledging etc.

So you need to budget for

Travel
Accommodation
Food
Ski lessons
Lift passes
Gear hire
Insurance (post Brexit your EHIC cards may not be valid)

It’s not cheap at all! We live in France, so just drive over to the Alps with a car full of food and self cater, I don’t ski, so all in it costs us about 3.000€ for week. The prices that British families pay for the same week makes me come over a little wobbly!

Honestly, ski resorts are set up for skiing and as an active family you will love it.

We paid £5,000 all in for four of us - one week, flights, central, convenient fully catered accommodation, lift passes, five days private lessons. France. I'm sure we could save money next time as we can't afford that again. Kit wasn't expensive - from decathlon mainly (ski trousers, jackets, helmets, goggles, socks and gloves) but others bought secondhand easily to save costs.

No. All skiing families can ski from birth. It cannot be learnt nor taught. One merely glides from the womb to the slopes.

Any plebians under the impression that any sport requiring a leap of faith, confidence or desire are mistaken.

We used skiplanet btw, and found them to be pretty reasonable. I asked around various french friends, and they reckon that if you need lessons, are hiring gear and aren’t going to stay at the family chalet ;-) you are best to get a package rather than doing it individually.

It’s quite an intimidating sport to start from scratch - gear-heavy, can only do it in specific places at specific times of year, can’t do it in the UK, and it’s expensive. However, coming from a totally novice skiing family, you get into the swing of it very quickly. The resorts / instructors have been running to the same schedule for years and years, you get swept along into the routine and feel like a pro very quickly.

When my dd was going with school they had exercise classes weekly so they could get used to the very different muscle usage. For older people especially I would think that it would be very helpful.
We also hired most of the clothes.

eBay at the end of this season (Easter onwards) is your friend for 2nd hand gear. Aldi is OK for some ski gear but I'd rather have used once branded outer layers anytime. That way you haven't shelled out a fortune for your first trip.

And yes to all pp's saying lessons here first, otherwise you'll waste your first holiday learning the basics. There's excellent deals on at the snow domes in the summer. You say you're not going to have a summer holiday in order to do this so you could have lessons for a week as a family this summer for a staycation!

We went on an inclusive package deal to a place called Flaine and stayed in the UCPA. It was kind of like a Youth Hostel with a communal buffet style dining / clear up after yourself situation, but the amenities were modern and nice (it was in the old Club Med hotel building) and it was really close to the ski slopes. Our package included ski hire, lift passes and 5 days of half-day group lessons. It was awesome. We really progressed a lot (none of us were complete beginners though). I would wonder about your 4 year old DC - I think they'd get more out of it if they were around 6yo.

[We bought all our clothing at Decathlon]

Another option is go somewhere cheaper...I had a great time in Borovets, Bulgaria.

We went to salbach-hinterglemm in Austria for a week snowboarding. My dad had been before but me and my sisters hadn't. We had no lessons arent particularly sporty but were able to do the easier runs by the end of the week after my dad showed us. It was great fun and even learning was a laugh.

There wasn't a huge amount for non skiers I dont think but it was a lovely holiday and we saw a lot of families with little kids learning to ski. It was expensive though, we got all out kit from sports direct in the sale.