Please talk to me like I'm stupid....

[Mnusernc]

So we are beginners, have had a couple of lessons here but basically inept. We have booked a holiday but I don't understand anything so grateful if anyone can help.

We have booked a beginner course and equipment hire, about 5 minute walk from our hotel.

The nursery slopes have their own lift so it says that children can use that without lift pass.

My questions are:
Is it realistic to think we can ski from our hotel to the lessons? Or is that too dangerous?

Lift passes - we've never used a lift before. Will our instructors show us how? Do we need a lift pass for every day that we are there? Ie arrival day too? Do the kids need one for every day?

Should we hire equipment on arrival day even though our lessons start the next morning, or should we pick it up on the first morning of our lessons?

Any advice gratefully received!

No you can't ski there nursery skies are still up a mountain

You have to get fitted for the skis so allow plenty of time.

Is it realistic to think we can ski from our hotel to the lessons? Or is that too dangerous? If it says it’s a 5 minute walk then it will be a walk, not a ski away. Possibly more than 5 minutes with kids in ski boots carrying skis……

Lift passes - we've never used a lift before. Will our instructors show us how? Do we need a lift pass for every day that we are there? Ie arrival day too? Do the kids need one for every day? They’re usually kept in a pocket on your sleeve that you just swipe near a sensor as you approach the lift. Worth checking who needs what with the company providing the lessons - it varies from resort to resort.

Should we hire equipment on arrival day even though our lessons start the next morning, or should we pick it up on the first morning of our lessons? Pick up your kit on the day that you arrive. It can be busy and take a while. Remember to take ski socks for trying on the boots.

have a great time!

@Mnusernc what resort are you going to?

The day you arrive, check in at wherever you are staying and go to the ski hire place to sort out skis and boots. If where you're staying isn't ski in/ski out and the ski hire place is closer to the nursery slopes than where you are staying, see if you can leave your skis and boots there.
Do you have lessons booked too?
If not, on the first morning of your DC's lessons, get yourselves kitted up, walk to the ski hire place, get them in their ski boots and then help them over to their meeting point, carrying their skis. The first day is always a bit of an effort as you're not sure exactly where you're supposed to be as there will be loads of groups meeting at the same point. Day two onwards is much easier! You'll also probably be able to tow them on their skis by day two but that probably won't work on the first morning, especially if you're a beginner. Then, as their lesson starts, say goodbye and go back and sort yourself out. Try and find out if they need a drink and snack for ski school/nursery and, if so, take an appropriate bag (or two if they are likely to be separated).
If your lessons start on the same day as your DC, you pretty much do the above except you'll have the hassle of walking in ski boots (uncomfortable) and carrying your skis as well (a hassle) and, once you say goodbye to them, you need to go and find your own group.
Don't worry about the ski lifts. The instructor will show you what to do the first time you use one.

Is it realistic to think we can ski from our hotel to the lessons? Or is that too dangerous?

If you're beginners how are you and the kids going to ski to your first lesson? Usually "a 5 minute walk" means just that - you walk along the street to the meeting point (which might actually be uphill from your hotel). "5 minutes" in holiday brochure speak probably equates to 10-15 actual minutes on a cold Sunday morning in ski boots carrying skis and poles.

Lift passes - we've never used a lift before. Will our instructors show us how? Do we need a lift pass for every day that we are there? Ie arrival day too? Do the kids need one for every day?

Yes, the instructors should show you how - but make it clear that you've never used a lift to make sure that the instructor and lift personnel show you and help you.

You might need a lift pass for every day that you ski, so not for your arrival day. Sometimes the beginner lifts are free. Your instructor (or the ski school) will tell you which lift pass you need. You might not need a pass at all for the first day. Same for the kids, and some resorts have free passes for kids. Again, their instructor / ski school will tell you. Ask in the ski school office on your arrival day - don't wait until you're in the lift queue to reveal to the instructor that you don't have a lift pass. You can buy the lift pass on your arrival day, with it set to start on the following day (e.g. buy on Saturday, but valid from Sunday).

Should we hire equipment on arrival day even though our lessons start the next morning, or should we pick it up on the first morning of our lessons?

Hire the equipment on the day you arrive - the shop will charge you for the right number of days if you tell them which day you'll be returning the gear, so you don't usually pay for the arrival day. It can take 30-60 mins to kit out a family of 4 with boots, skis and helmets so getting fitted in the morning of the first day makes that day even more stressful. Remember to wear ski socks.

Smile, look cool, have fun....

Brilliant, thank you all so much

Lots of great advice. What resort are you going to? We can give more specific advice then.

We're currently at a resort where you book a package with the ski school. Both lessons and hire is included. We booked it directly with them back in August. Sounds like this is what you have.

You can buy lift passes when you arrive, but some resorts offer decent discounts if you book in advance. Got about 22% off per person by booking ahead of time. Then you just collect from the lift office when you arrive.

As others have said, if it says 5 minute walk, it's literally a walk, probably through the town. You'll have the advantage of doing that walk in street shoes the first time, as you won't have your boots/skis yet.

If you arrive early enough on arrival day (ie before the shop closes), definitely collect your boots and skis then. On first lesson morning, it will be heaving in the shop as everyone will be getting fitted.
It will likely take a minimum of 20 minutes to get you all kitted up. They'll give you boots in the size you've requested, but you may find that you need to try a couple of pairs if they don't fit right. Then the staff will fit the boots to the skis.

Then you'll have to carry it all back to your accommodation, so take a backpack if you take a bag. You want your hands free?

How old are your DC? Ours carry their own stuff (they're 9 and 11) but we have carried their skis in the past when they've been shattered.

The children will need a lift pass yes. They'll progress from the nursery slope quickly, and will need one to access the rest of the mountain.

Put your lift pass once you've bought it in your sleeve or trouser pocket so you just lift that arm or leg towards the scanning gate.

Hire your kit the evening before.

Also in my pocket with my ski pass I put my ECHR (or whatever it is called now) card and drivers licence so if I was to be knocked out there would be ID. I put my my phone number and name in my kids pockets too.

Take a big lightweight shopper to carry helmets and wet gloves home. I also take a waterproof backpack and leave it in your ski locker room with kids hats, water etc in so we can wear hats down but not ski in them etc. you want waterproof as the floor can be very wet!

Take photos of the passes when you get them in case one gets lost, they will replace at a fraction of the cost if you can prove you had a valid pass ( experience with kids messing about in snow)
enjoy

On the subject of taking photos of items:

• take a photo of your ID and leave the original in your room - I'm not a fan of carrying ID in a jacket pocket in case it falls out or someone takes the wrong jacket from a restaurant or bar.
• take two photos of your hired skis - one of the whole ski (so you can see the brand and general look of the skis), and one of the rental number/barcode sticker. If everyone in your hotel hires from the same shop, they will all have very similar skis, so you need to make sure that you pick up the correct ones from your ski room (and also from the racks outside of the restaurants).
• Although not likely to be an issue for family skiers, for those who enjoy a drink or five after skiing it is a good idea to have a photo of your hotel on your phone, so you can show the taxi driver when you can't remember the name! E.g. where I ski there is a hotel called "Alpine Palace" and another called "AlpinResort", and an "Alpine Sport" and an "Alpin Hotel". Trying to remember the right one at 3 a.m. after 6 beers, 2 gluhweins and a few jaegershots and vodka red bulls can prove challenging (or so I've been told).

Another item that is useful is a clothes peg for each person. Clip it somewhere onto your ski boots when you put them on the shelf in the hotel - hired boots tend to look the same so it is very easy for you or someone else to pick up the wrong pair. At least if there is a peg on them they might just stop and think "oh, these aren't mine".

There’s usually a pocket on the arm of ski jackets especially for lift passes. You typically go through barriers (not unlike you’d get a train station) before you get on to the lift and they will detect your pass in the pocket and it’ll beep you through. If your jacket doesn’t have that then use your left pocket and put nothing else in there and don’t open it. Trousers are usually too low for the readers, especially in kids. Definitely tell your instructors you haven’t used the lift before and they will help!

You’ll probably all need lift passes, even the kids, unless they are 3 or younger, because you won’t exclusively stay on the nursery slopes. Get them to start on the day of your first lesson. My 5YO was going up to the top on the chairlift and skiing down to the bottom on greens with her ski school group after only a couple of days. In some resorts under 5s or even 6s are free though. Also, if there is a choice of local or area lift pass, local meaning either just your resort and area meaning the huge connected domain of neighbouring resorts, you can probably opt for local though.

Get the equipment sorted when you arrive, especially if it’s morning lessons you have booked, otherwise it’ll be a mega rush, then stash it in the hotel boot room. I’d also scope out where your various lesson meeting points are if you have time too since that can sometimes be confusing.

If the hotel is a 5 minute walk then it means just that, in regular shoes. Probably 10 if wearing boots and carrying skis. If it’s also advertised as ski in/ski out then there will be a ski route but you won’t be doing that on day one, maybe towards the end of the week if it’s an easy piste.

Do yourself a favour and put your entire family in full day ski school for the whole week. You will have fun and learn how to ski safely. I see too many people that have had a couple of lessons at the snowdome, or a couple of mornings at the resort and think they can ski. They really can't. The better your technique, the safer you are and ultimately the more you will enjoy it.

I'd get your equipment on arrival day, it takes a while especially if they're busy. You don't want to be rushing trying to do it before ski school.

Talk to the ski school about lift passes, you will be on the nursery slope for at least a morning so you might be able to save a day.

Yes, just book ski school for everyone.
The monitor will tell you when to buy your ski pass, the first day will probably be on the free beginner slopes
Dont leave your ski boots in a cold damp locker, they need to be dry & unfrozen the next dat

Also if you are in ski school you go in a special lane at the lifts, so shorter queues

This is resort dependent I think. We're skiing at the moment. Everyone gets on at the same place on all lifts.

@RhubarbFairy everyone gets on the lift at the same place but there is usually a lane to the right (or left) that ski schools use. You can’t put 4 5 year olds together on a chair lift so each child goes with 3 random people so they aren’t alone.

The ski lockers may be heated, you will need to check

Again, resort dependant. There's nothing like that here. There's only one chair lift, the rest are gondolas/T-bars and buttons. The chair lift doesn't have lanes and is only ever used by ski schools to go down (it's served by a ski bus back to the main gondola), so if ski schools do meet there at the end of the day, parents are asked to meet at the lift to negate the unsupervised child element.

Agree with this!! We learned that lesson the hard way when we left everything in an outside locker one night during our first week. Only left skis in there after that.
Your accommodation may have a heated boot room, but that does mean carrying everything each way. If there's heated lockets near the lift, then you're well away. The ski school may have lockers you can hire too.

If your hotel/chalet/apartment has a ski locker room, don't underestimate the amount of time it will take you in the morning to get everyone down there, booted up, helmets on and skis in hand (you may not need poles initially as beginners) and then walk to the ski school meeting place. Someone has invariably forgotten their gloves/neck buff/lift pass so someone else has to de-boot and trek back upstairs to get it, someone else can't get their boots on/boots hurt/whatever, so I would allow at least 40 mins for this, especially if it's busy in the locker room. Saves turning up at ski school stressed and frazzled. You walk a lot slower in ski boots, especially if carrying own skis and kids' kit as well. (My advice, get as fit as you can now, you will be glad you did!).

Re above. You would be advised to get organised the night before:

Each person needs
Factor 50 sun block & lip protection before going out in the am.
Sun glasses/goggles
Gloves
Ski school ticket
Lift pass (when needed)
Helmet.
Packet of tissues
Chocolate bar/for the cold & moral

I used to take all helmets back to the apartment, so they were warm & dry in the morning, (as with the boots, as mentioned)
Everyone's gloves/sox/gloves. were laid out to dry. & later each persons stuff was put in their helmet/ or back pack for the morning rush

Day one will be pandemonium. You will probably be given a meeting point lollipop number, for each child, they may be in different places depending on age & aptitude of DC.
So each parent should be allocated to their group of /child.

Pre-Organise a meeting point for pick up at lunch time.
Depending on the ages of Kids, do not carry their boots/skis/gloves.. THEY WILL GET USED TO IT.
If there are histrionics,dont be fazed,its like the first day at school.

Dont forget to book an English speaking monitor