skiing with more than 1 small child

[greygirl]

last year we took DD skiing, leaving the younger twins at home.
This year we are taking all 3, so that's 1 aged 5.5 who can ski greens/blues, and 2 (age 4) who can't really ski (are having lessons at snowdome in a very expensive attempt to change this).

Does anyone have any insights/ helpful tips for this holiday? we have the ski kit, it's more organisational/ safetly aspects. Like can 1 person lift 2 children onto a chairlift?
we are going self-catering to puy st vincent, same as last year, so we have some idea of the place (small and friendly).

Getting on to the lifts. Lift operators are usually very helpful. Watch them with ski school. Are the kids having ski school in France??

yes they are having ski school but it's not esf, it's snowbizz we are going with, and they do their own school . the teeny one's i suspect will be in the very beginner bit with a magic carpet, but we were hoping to take them out onto the greens, or the proper nursery slopes, which have rope tows and chairs.

i know i have to pack large bags to hoik all their kit around, and what feels like a tonne of 'activities' for the plane.

On 3 person or more lifts, you should have no problem, the lift operators will just slow down the lift to get you all on, just like they do for ski school children.

On 2 person lifts, one child will have to go with an adult stranger, it's really quite normal for this to happen in French resorts. Look at the ski map of Puy St Vincent and you'll see 2/4/6 person télésieges. Your children are unlikely to be able to manage all but the shortest téléskis alone until 1ere étoile ski level, young children find téléskis quite difficult to cope with.

But if you follow the child groups doing ski school, you'll see which slopes are manageable with the 3 children together.

Is it really worth the ski lessons in the UK though? Our 3, 7 and 9 year olds had NO experience of skiing until 2 years ago when we went as a family to the French Alps. Our 9 year old got to competition level in just 3 weeks of lessons, a total of 45 hours(he's very sporty), skipping masses of levels, our 7 year old made it to 2e étoile in 2 weeks and she's not even that sporty. ESF ski school where we have been has cost under £6 an hour. Sorry, I'm really tight-fisted, "je fais toujours ma juive" as one says in rather racist French.

PS ESF Puy St Vincent are £85 for 6 *2 hours group lessons, Snowbizz are £150. OK Snowbizz is in English, but the advantage of ESF schools is that the standards are transferable throughout France so you can change resort and slot in throughout the country, with a small ski school like Snowbizz, it is more difficult to find equivalent levels in a ski school in a different resort. I know ESF get a bad press among anglophones, but my experience of them is only positive and we've rebooked at les Houches with them again - les Houches is where all ESF instructors throughout France do their refresher training and it's also where most of the Junior British ski team train, a great place for familiy skiing.

Hi Greygirl, I am envious, would love to go back to PSV! I think your only issue will be the old 2 man chair to the first run they progress to, that green track. So your 5 year old will have to go with another adult but he/she will have been doing that in the lessons anyway. Then you and your OH can take 1 twin each. I wouldn't take poles either so that you have hands fully free.

I wouldn't bother with the main nursery slope just go straight to the green track. But if you do then you can take the children up by straddling them over your outside leg, this is how to do a drag lift with small child. They put one ski either side of your outer ski i.e. the one at the other side to where you grab the button or rope. They rest against your leg, you put one arm down on them to steady them. It is easier than this sounds!

Can't agree with natation about the ESF though. Why would you go to PSV with Snowbizz and then not use their exclusive classes? Natation I am sure for your kids the ESF has been great but then they are french speakers aren't they? PSV is a very french resort. All Brits there will be with Snowbizz so there will be no english speaking kids in ESF lessons there. The twins might be ok as they will have each other to talk to.

Also Snowbizz is part of the ESI which is well recognised ski school. It is the alternative to the ESF and there are many branches of the ESI in many, many french resorts aswell as a few swiss and others. They have their own easily transferable badge system. Advantages to the ESI is class size, almost always limited to 8 or 10, 6 for the very little ones. Compare that to 23 ESF Oursons in I saw in PSV!!

Re. the ESF in Les Houches, we had a very different experience to Natation and removed our just turned 4 year old. There were only 2 english speaking kids in the jardin with over 20 kids in total. They were shuffling around, getting cold, the other english child was crying, the response from the staff was unkind 'come on, stop that crying, come on, come on, you know how it goes, get on with it'. My husband and I were watching from a distance and my husband who is normally fairly gung ho made the decision to pull our son out even though he wasn't crying but he did look miserable.

Unfortunately in Les Houches there is no other school. I think the ESF in bigger resorts is a different matter as there will be more Brits and other nationalities so more chance or 'international' classes which will be conducted in english. A french speaking class can be a very isolating experience for a young child.

thank you both for your advice. we liked the snowbizz set up last time so will be using their school again, but will consider esf when we venture elsewhere.
i think my eldest would be ok on a chair lift with a stranger - she was fine in class i guess.
the little ones are doing well at the snowdome but we aren't going to push - the travelling and cost is starting to wear, but at least they are happier in skis on the snow. (they looked awful cute at the snowdome though!)