Tedious skiing novice thread alert....

[elliott]

Want to go on first skiing trip as a family next year - ds's will be 6 and 4. I've never been on a skiing holiday and I don't knwo where to start! Some questions:

1. Easiest flight destination is Geneva - resort recommendations please?

1. Should we go for package or independent booking? What company I haven't done downhill skiiing before, dh has done a little. I am wondering about whether to get private lessons for myself and ds's together but haven't a clue how to go about it! Alternative is ski school for them I guess but what about me?

1. Might be good to have some childcare available, but not essential. what kind of accommodation and food options are there - would be nice not to have to cook, and also we don't want to share a room with ds's.

Sorry these are kind of dull and basic questions - suppose the most useful would be some recommentations of good companies so I can browse some brochures!

Crystal.

Hmmm, ok, well having checked out some of these companies' websites, it looks like the full works with childcare may be out of our budget - typical cost seems to be heading towards 4K before we've even done any skiing!! (i.e. just for flights and accommodation ) Plus, the thought of spending all that and perhaps there being no snow, or being poisoned by the chalet host a la Esprit experience (I've been trawling the archives!).....

So, back to the drawing board - are there any affordable options out there? Self catering chalet with ski school for the kids and no childcare, for example?? I mean, it would be nice to learn myself, but I can live without it.....

you can definitely get self-catering - they tend to be "apartments" - often in the bigger resorts in big blocks - we did these for years pre-kids. all the big-name package companies do them - they'll also book ski-lessons for you. have you thought about taking a grand-parent with you? I've never done it myself but if they're willing it could mean you could get some ski-ing time yourself. I love ski-ing and my honest opinion is that - depending on what kind of holiday person you are - you could get horrendously bored if you don;t do it yourself. You feel very left out (I went once when too pg to ski - big mistake) - you;re surrounded by people who are there to ski and they're all having such good fun.

It's worth contacting somewhere like Ifyouski.com to see what they could offer. If you are not too bothered about lots of skiing, there may be some of the more out of the way resorts that would suit, not be too expensive - and still let you learn!

We managed to to sort ourselves a holiday in peak half term time in a B&B chalet in Meribel for about £1500 for travel and B&B accomodation for 3 of us (dh and me, plus ds who is 6) - but the lesson and ski passes are on top of that. Plus that is us knowing the ropes and not needing to do pick-ups etc.

But the honest truth is that skiing isn't a cheap holiday. Fantastic fun though!

worth looking at non-french/non-swiss resorts too - Italy, Andorra and a number of others - smaller resorts, (which makes little difference to beginners, tbh) and generally considerably cheaper.

Well, yes, I realised it wouldn't be CHEAP, but are you lot all really spending £5-6K for one week's holiday that isn't even your main summer holiday? We are not short of cash but I was thinking in terms of around £3k (plus a similar amount on summer holidays).
I think we would be very happy with something off the main drag and some but not loads of skiing - main thing is to get the boys to learn. But I am also nervous about not knowing how the whole thing works. I think what we really need to do is to team up with friends who already know the ropes. Or alternatively, take the kids out of school for a week - it all gets suddenly more affordable then
On those lines, when does the season end? Is Easter going to be too late? (next year 6-21 April).

We're a bit short on grandparents hatwoman
But I take your point - I'd probably feel really resentful if I didn't get something out of the holiday myself. But if we were somewhere we could all go walking together in the afternoon that might be ok.

I have a friend who always takes his boys to the Youth Hostel (family room) at Les Deux Alpes - very close to main lifts. He does s/c and drives down after stocking up @ Asda. So it can be done, but as they are fanatics who are only there for the skiing, works fine for them. Also - his kids now 9 & 11, so don't need the childcare or lessons.
Otherwise, yes it all mounts up.

We do probably usually spend more on our skiing holiday than our main summer holiday - but then we do go to one of the more expensive resrots and at the moment are also going in peak time (and it is also now dh's preferred holiday). I worked really hard this year to keep the costs down - but we did have certain specific requierements that aren't so much of an issue for you (fro expample, we like going to meribel, whereas you are free to go to one of the better value, especially for a beginner, resorts).

Easter is 23 March next year, so it depends on when your are does its holidays as to when you would be able to go.

You can get good "spring" skiing in early April and it is a good time for bargains. You're probably better ging to the "higher" resorts for that - such as the Three Valleys. The last few years there have been lots of late dumps of snow - to the extnet that that they have kpet the resorts open for longer (even into May) to benefit.

Another company we have used in the past, and they were very good and resonable were Ski Activity : why not give them a call and see what they can offer.

I've heard good reports about Andorra for both value and quality of skiing. No personal experience though.

thanks again pb. What resorts would you recommend?
Our school holidays are strange next year - we are getting 2 weeks 6-21 April as well as Easter weekend. Maybe early April wouldn't be such a daft idea.

we are off on saturday ( sooo excited) i did loads of research for family orientated, wrap round child care , nice hotel type holiday and we are going with "crystal finest" to courcheval. cost = £3000, for me dh and dd7 , including magic in motion ski school for all of us ( absolute necessity) drop off pick up and some afternoon entatinment for dd and all lift passes/ skis etc . i will add post when i get back as to how it was !

I'm not a good one to aks ofr advice, as I've only ever skiied in France (OK, once in French speaking Switzerland) and for the last 10+ years have been going to Meribel.

If you are going late in the season.such as April, I would recommend going "high", such as the Three Valleys (Meribel/Courchevel/ValThorens) or Val'D'Isere/Tignes. They are more expnsive, but "snow sure".

For the Three Valleys, you could sauve oney by just getting a one valley pass (eg just Meibel). You and the kids are not going to be good enough to get into the other valleys by the end of the week - and even if you were, it would be chepaer just to buy the day's extension.

You can also save money by going to a chalet in the lower villages, which supply trasnport up to the mian resort. Therea re some good value chalets in Meribel Les Allues for example.

If you can go with another familly who already know the ropes, that would make things much easier for you.

In Meribel there is also an independet English speaking child care service called "kids etc" who also do pick-ups, if you wanted to DIY the holiday. There is also a very good (but not cheap) English speaking ski school called Magic in Motion, who do great kids classes - and also have adults beginners classes.

Thanks all - mummydoc hope you have a good time, do feed back!
Suspect that for four of us during school hols, the same trip as you're doing would be £4-5k. Maybe just better get saving

If it is not too late, we are recently back from Meribel- excellent snow and a very good ski school for kids there called New Generation ( 4 hr sessions with hot choc breaks, English speaking instructors, can't recommend highly enough). Do not go with Total Ski- their chalets are not good (and we heard rumours about the company being in financial trouble- don't know if that's true but wouldn't be surprised).

will do elliot, it seemed to be overwhelming when i tired to organise / choose, so will let you know what it is like, we are sneaking dd1 out of school , she is only missing 3 days htough as breaks up for easter next thursday anyway so not feeling too guilty.

Yes, its certainly overwhelming!

I've hear dgood reports about New Generation. Magic in Motion also do the chocolate breaks in the middle of the four hours for the kids classes. Even the two hour lessosn for the tinies (4-6 year olds) get a weebreak in the middle and some sustenance. It's a tiring sport, skiing, especially when you are learnign.

The skii school I've been advised to avoid is Snow Systems.

Elliott - the prices are usually much lower in April.

tbh if you get hooked you start to think of ski-ing as your "main" holiday. If I only took one holiday a year it would certainly be ski-ing. I can pass on beaches, weekend breaks, country cottages but ski-ing would be the last to go.

elliott - as a guide, our holiday in Scotland this year is costing £550 for the chalet for 5 nights - this sleeps 6 - double, twin, bunk rooms, has log burner, sauna etc. Self catering. Includes membership to leisure club with swimming pool, soft play, tennis courts,golf course etc etc. and restaurants if you want that. Beside the railway line, and with views of the mountains.

Travel is petrol costs. Ski passes are £27 per day (adult) and £16.50 (child). You can get half day tickets which are a bit more than half price. Family day ticket is £74. As beginners you can get a reduced price ticket as you wouldn't want to use all the terrain available, and this allows you on the appropriate lifts. You can also get 2 and 3 day passes at £51 and £74 respectively for adults. I don't normally do this as the weather is sometimes unpredictable.

Ski hire is on top of this.

There is a package with one of the ski schools for 1,2,3 or 4 days tuition which is all inclusive (hire, lift pass etc) and this is £230 for adults and £190 for children, both for 4 days. I'm sure there are cheaper ski schools because this is the 'Cairngorm' one, but it's a guide.

So...

supposing you went for 5 nights, beginning of April.

You'd be looking at

Accommodation £550 + food costs
Ski-ing 2 adults @ £230
2 children @ £190 (assuming you wanted 4 days tuition)
Travel 250 miles petrol (say one tank each way) c £80

TOTAL £1470

That seems a lot now I've added it all up - I'm sure you could get ski hire and tuition a bit cheaper than that, but it's still less than the 4-6k for European holidays!

Sorry this is so long! I'll have a look around for cheaper ski schools!

Tortoiseshell, I am really quite keen on the Scotland idea, don't get me wrong - but think it has to be something done when we know what we are doing and can do it more on the spur of the moment - are there companies that will do a package as in the Alps?

Sorry, I don't mean to keep pushing it at you! It's the only place I have experience of, so know lots about Scottish ski-ing, nothing about European!!!

I don't really know about packages - I've never heard of one.

Here's a thought - why not try it this year! It's never fully booked, so you could give it a go, and given that you weren't planning to ski anyway, it wouldn't matter if the snow had gone. I'm hoping to take ds1 and dd ski-ing and they are 5 and 3. You could just get a day's tuition as a family.

Will stop harping on about Scotland now!

Don't go yet - any websites good for accommodation and booking all the necessary stuff - ski passes, hire of equipment, tuition etc? Are there really no companies that will do it for you - its just I don't even know what i need iyswim!

Do you want catered or self catered accommodation?

Either really. Wouldn't plan to do a lot of cooking....

The Ski School is a good page to start with. Look under Prices for a good guide to what they do - it looks like you can book in advance, but they don't take the money till the actual day you turn up which is really good for Scotland, as things can be unpredictable.

Their hire includes skis, boots, sticks, but you would need ski clothing on top of that - in April adults can get away with skipants/leggings and a warm anorak, although given that you're beginners you might want to hire a ski-suit (you'll spend a fair amount of time 'in' the snow so waterproof trousers might be more comfortable). For the kids I would again hire skisuits. You also need hats and the kids should have helmets, goggles and gloves. There's a place on the ski road up to Cairngorm that I think will hire these here , or you can get them here up the mountain itself.