Where to go skiing right now? As beginners and not for megabucks!

[OhShutUpThomas]

I took the kids skiing in Scotland earlier this week and they LOVED it.

I really want to try take them for a ski holiday. We could only spare 4 days from home at the mo sadly but there must be somewhere?

Good ski school
Nice green runs
Nice village/town
Prefer France

Thank you!

In your position, I wouldn’t do ski school; most of the cheaper ski school groups will be groups of 10/11/12 kids and if your child is falling over and finding things more challenging than the others (who will presumably advance quicker than her as they don’t have dyspraxia) she may get disheartened / embarrassed. You want all the slope time in the first few weeks to be positive, even if it is less hours.

1:1 private instructor would be the best option but it is expensive. If you can afford it, 1 hour a morning of coaching then the rest of the time practice on her own or with you would be good.

usually all first time skiers could go with the same private instructor no matter their difference in ages. But again it depends if the others are going to progress quicker than your daughter. What was the difference in their levels after skiing in Scotland? Was your daughter keeping up?

In France for private lessons it's a set price for 2 people so even if there is 1 person it's the same price.

Some resorts do 3 day lesson blocks others don't. Would suggest evolution rather then ESF if going for group lessons - smaller groups, less ESF style which some british children really don't get on with.
They assess all children anyway and assign to the right level and children move up or down.

Alpe d’huez has plenty of green runs some accessible by chairlift. Not cheap though - skiing isn’t. Also a short drive from Grenoble where you can get a bus to resort. Ryan air flies there. If you have 4 days, you need to be near an airport so as not to waste half a day each end on transfers.

also try Les houches in chamonix valley (fly to Geneva)

you could also look at resorts accessible from Turin, flights usually a lot cheaper. Might need to hire a car though. Can drive straight up autoroute to aosta and ski at pila.

or fly to bergamo and drive to Madesimo - small and cheaper resort
don’t drive back on a Sunday though.

I’d still try skischool. It may be that they move groups as others progress but if out of school holidays, and not French holidays, the English speaking groups are unlikely to be full. Tbh our dyspraxic ds is a great skier but struggled with many other sports so don’t underestimate them.

Try Snowbizz. They are all about the individual children whereas ESF will just shove them all in massive groups.

We went to Serre Chevalier as a mixed ability group of absolute beginners/slightly more advanced (1 week experience) family all skiing except me who snowboarded (badly). It was about 2 hour transfer from Turin. We did Wednesday to Wednesday as that’s how it needed to be for our blended family - I booked everything separately - AirBnB, BA flights, private transfer (although you can public transport it) etc. We booked private ski lessons through maisonsport.com/en?t5=a and they were able to accommodate a mixed age/mixed ability group for a non-standard period. There are gondolas but also drag lifts and chairlifts. Serre Chev is a few linked villages - we stayed in La Salle Les Alpes but there is also Briancon, Chantemerle and Monetier Les Bains (I think Chantemerle and La Salle les Alpes beat suited for beginners).
Hope this helps.

Absolutely, Michele is passionate about every child getting the best experience.
90% of their business is repeat customers says it all really.

100% agree with this, your daughter and your family would get a lot more more out of one or two private lessons than group lessons. I always recommend getting a private lesson over group lessons as you get that personal 1-2-1 feedback and support that's tailored to your needs.

Thanks so much. I’ve booked Sainte Foy! 🥳

Everything booked except lessons so I need to have a good think about that.

New generation are brilliant. Avoid ESF at all costs.

Oh really? Why if you don’t mind me asking?

ESF are great if you are trying to teach your kids resilience 🤣

my kids did lessons with them when young and they are very strict. I guess it works but if your dd has confidence issues you probably need a gentler approach

How about this? Eurocamp near Alp D’Huez. Free shuttle bus to the slopes as well. If you go in mid March the accommodation is under £500 for 5 nights.

Cross-posted and too late!

Because they pack as many children in as possible. They quite often do nothing other than follow the instructor all day rather then get much in the way of tuition. If your child is the only English speaker on the class they might not even get instruction in English or much less than the French speakers

My son came back with a black eye and a cut face and the instructor just gave a Gallic shrug. I understand that they may not see everything that goes on but I see it as a symptom of the large class sizes. And I wasn’t impressed that he had so little care for the children he was responsible for. And I don’t think that attitude was just isolated to him.

You can search this forum and others for reviews of ESF. I’m not the only one that thinks this way.

Yes definitely not for the sensitive child or one who needs a bit more attention/support than others. 😂

This in a nutshell!
My children get on well with ESF approach to teaching - they have never been in big groups (always around 8 or less) but we tend to go at quieter weeks anyway.

But it's definitely not a style which suits all children it's basically get yourself up go again on repeat. There are more English speaking/focused and gentler ski school options.

My kids came on in leaps and bounds with teaching from new gen and snowbozz and evolution 2. I really don’t rate the ESF teaching at all. Its just childcare mostly.

I think that’s a bit unfair - they certainly have a differently style but they are certainly not just childcare

My gripe with ESF is not moving kids between groups / levels when they are clearly wrong.

We did so many years with Snowbizz, then tried ESF so wrong, we actually considered pulling him out half way through the week, and went back to Snowbizz.

Not just my view you’ll find similar criticism on other forums too.

This sounds awesome. Do they do lessons there (both kids and adults would need lessons in our case) and could you share the hotel name?!

Thanks

We found ESF instructors responded best to a “can do” attitude and enthusiasm. Those more timid and tail-enders tended to get less attention(and found themselves lagging behind with shorter rest breaks) .

With ESF a lot seems to depend on the area and which instructors you get that week as they rotate them including how friendly they are!

DS1 each time we have gone they have moved him about levels quite happily usually on day 2 or 3 when he finds his snow legs.

DS2 first time on snow was this season I think they thought due to his age he would be entry level piou piou by day 3 they had moved him to the top level.

I know many brits struggle with ESF approach though it works for some not for others.

Definitely kids lessons available. Not sure for adults.

We stayed in the Best Western Plus Park City Hammarby Sjöstad. Booked through hotels.com for a bit of a discount.

5 minutes easy walk to the ski area, great breakfast. Some nice sledging spots within a few minutes walk too.

Completely agree with this! My kids do ESF each year as there are three of them, all different levels, and we would like them to all do lessons at the same time so my partner and I can have 2 hours of adult ski time. But the tuition is quite crap. They tell my kids one thing that needs improving on, but there doesn’t seem to be any explanation of how to improve on it, or any excersises to help them improve. It’s basically just follow the leader and try to work it out as you go.

TSI, Evolution, BASI, all much better.

We found Ski 360 to be a similar set up to ESF when we tried them in the hope of better lessons.

My eldest is sporty and emotionally tough, he has got on ok with EsF and has now completed their programme age 10. We found the groups sizes and standard of tuition in the last three ESF levels much better than the rest of the programme. Younger siblings are a different personality, less sporty, and floundering a bit in the large group mid grade lessons.