How do you do skiing as the kids get older?

[StickChildNumberTwo]

We're just back from our third excellent week with Family Ski (catered chalets with other families, childcare, early tea for the kids etc) but as our kids are getting older (now 7 and 11) and we don't need the childcare, we're wondering what people do next. We really enjoy the sociable aspect of being in a chalet, and I self catered a ski holiday once and swore never again so that's not an option. We could go to a hotel but that feels like we wouldn't have space to chill when we get back from the slopes, and no easy ways to meet other kids.

Any suggestions? What does everyone else do? To make life more difficult we don't want to fly from Gatwick which seems to rule out a lot of small companies. Scottish flights would be ideal, Manchester at a push.

We’ve always done self catering (well, it’s our holiday home and I like cooking) which isn’t very helpful for you as you’ve ruled that out.

why not see what chalet companies take kids? Or rent a full chalet with friends? Or hotel…I’m sure some would have what you’re looking for.

for skiing, I’d suggest ski school for a couple of hours, then all ski together? Ours are now 16&18 and we all love it. At half term we were with friends and the kids went off with friends (as did we) and had a ball.

glad you love it so much!

Don’t you just go to a chalet minus the childcare?

Err... still go to chalets? Why wouldn't you?

Or are you looking for recos on specific companies?

Weve done a mix of self catering and hotels. Kids meet other kids at ski school. DH sometimes finds a buddy amongst other parents, otherwise skis by himself in the mornings then with DDs in the afternoon.

We get an apartment - self catering - so have all the space we need. Eat out on the mountain a big lunch. Just do beans on toast for dinner.

We do self-catering as well as it gives us the space we want but also the privacy. We invariably go with friends who are in similar accommodation close by, so all meet to ski together and can meet in the evenings to eat or do our own thing. It meant the kids had company from friends' kids in ski school in mornings and then all skied together in the afternoons. Once the kids have a certain level of ability and understanding of safety then we just skied together all day.

Sounds like you could just carry on with a chalet as before but book lessons for your dc with a ski school. Gives you more scope to book independently rather than going through a specialist ski/travel company I guess.

Thanks for the thoughts. I've only done chalets with the kids, we did hotels pre-kids (except for the disastrous apartment!), would they work OK? In my head I'm imagining ending up with a load of noisy late-night drinkers, which was never my cup of tea (if I'm paying all that money I want to be in a fit state to ski!) and definitely not with kids. Are there chalet companies that attract families without doing all the childcare etc? I really am clueless!

Sadly we don't seem to have linked up with any friends/family who want to ski and are at the same sort of stage - our pre-kids ski buddies are either childless or kids are much younger, or skiing isn't the spouse's thing, or can't afford it at the moment. I'm jealous of people who manage to get a whole crowd together and book a chalet/apartment.

We've done chalets with friends or depending on where you are heading Airbnbs / apartments if its just been our family so you have lots of space. I never cook on holiday, ever, its my rule (as I do everything at home the rest of the time) so I just factor the cost in of eating out when you book accommodation and look for a location which is central. We've mainly done Italy and Austria - come back from slopes, maybe a couple of drinks at the bottom of the slopes, back to accommodation for couple of hours chilling, get changed and then out for dinner.

You can just book four or whatever places out of a bigger chalet. They will do an earlier tea for the kids and then they can watch tv / play games/ go to bed when you eat. We’ve almost exclusively done chalets and never had any childcare involved. And only once taken over an entire chalet. Often there are other families there and the kids sort of hang out together sometimes.

We do hotels with the kids and have done since they were at primary school. A lot of ski hotels do family room set ups where you get a couple of rooms in like a suite configuration. We still do that and the Dc are now 22, 19 and 17. This year we had a room set up that had a double room, a twin and a sofa bed in the living room. We also had a bathroom and a separate loo so this worked well. Just booked again for 2024.

We like this as there's enough space for everyone, we are still catered for meal wise and we have access to the pool, sauna, spa etc.

If you like social aspect then you can still go for chalets, just not with a company like family ski whose whole USP is little ones. Presuming you go during school hols then you’re highly likely to get other kids whatever the company. We’ve also done hotels and never had an issue with rowdy booze ups, again can’t imagine that’s an issue during school holidays and/or in semi nice places. You can also do an apartment but eat out every night.

Ours are 11 and 9. At Christmas we stayed in an aparthotel. So we had a huge 2 bed self contained apartment, but full access to their hotel facilities. So a spa, bar, pool etc. And crucially for our 9 y.o, Mr. Sociable, a Kids Room. Literally, just down the corridor from the bar/restaurant and down one floor from our apartment. It had a climbing wall, a huge TV, fooseball etc. He loved going in there in the evenings to socialise with other kids.

The boys were in ski school full days (Austria), so he'd make plans to meet his buddies from there in the Kids Room, but also made friends with others.

We like self-catering but with the option to eat out, so we ate in the town on Christmas Day and ate in the bar/restaurant a couple of times.

We love the hybrid of our own space to relax - including separate sleeping and living areas so that DH and I can relax when the DCs are in bed.

We went to a resort near Salzburg.

@RhubarbFairy Hi Rhubarb, do you mind saying the name of the aparthotel, it sounds great!

Of course! It was the Carpe Solem in Rauris. It was utterly fabulous. It only opened in July 2021.

www.booking.com/Share-nQjGuZ

@RhubarbFairy thank you. It looks lovely!

We are in a hotel now with 2 kids, they are in ski school while we ski. The hotel has a kids playroom and a pool and they've made friends here, it's very sociable. Everyone goes to the bar after dinner and they kids go off to the playroom together.

Do you mind sharing the name of your hotel? Sounds fab.

@msmatcha I've sent you a PM

I'd love to know the name of the hotel too - sounds like just the sort of thing we need.

Thanks @RhubarbFairy that looks like an interesting option.

Rauris is a small resort, so it won't necessarily appeal to anyone looking for hundreds of kms of slopes, but we found it to be a family-friendly place with activities for kids such as the giant sledge ride on a Thursday afternoon with Tilly the Owl mascot (completely free).

We've always only stayed in pensions (b&b) in Austria. Been going since she was three and she's now 10. We have a buffet breakfast in the pension, light lunch on the slopes and then out for dinner in a different restaurant every evening. We've never used any childcare facilities though - only ski school.

Does anyone else now have the problem that their kids are like rockets?

Ours are 7 and almost 10 whilst we previously put them in ski school so they could learn to ski properly they are now so fast that we can hardly keep up (both snowboarders) so have no choice but to continue to put them in ski school.

Yep. Everyone I know has that problem...
IMO kids should still spend time in ski school unless one of you happens to be an instructor! Plenty of learning and improving left at that age. That way they learn to ski harder stuff (and off piste) safely and also a whole lot of other learning about being safe in the mountains and assessing risk. Also snow park jumps and tricks.

Still get my teenagers the odd lesson. When the snow is good they do off piste guiding or otherwise refreshers on moguls, short turn on steep terrain, carving etc. The better skier you are, the safer you are I think.

Yep. We got home from Les Arcs last night and encountered that a few times over the week.

We had them in ski school in the morning, and they skied with us in the afternoon.

Our 9yo was mostly content to ski with us, and much of the time, I made sure I brought up the rear as he likes to play with going slightly off piste on flattish blues (where kids tend to go along the bank alongside), but that would slow him down, so I'd hang back with him.

DS1 (11) was the opposite and gone. We said to them both that it was fine to go a bit ahead, but that they must stop and wait for us at certain points. They actually got really good at doing that. Having them in bright orange helmets helps to keep an eye on them, too, and DS1 has a luminous yellow jacket, too. We'd tell them where we were going and ask them to wait at a point further ahead. Eg, when we skied into 1950, they'd wait near the entrance to it, or if we were aiming for a chairlift, they'd wait there.

We had to have a word with DS1 partway through the week when his attitude was pretty crappy because we wouldn't let him roam the mountain alone, doing reds and blacks. He was going down blacks in his lessons, so he was disgruntled that he was being forced to stick to mainly blues with us in the afternoon. We told him that whilst we know he's capable of skiing a black, he's 11 years old and will ski with his family in the afternoon, and his morning lessons are where he can push himself, under expert tuition. DH, whilst reading him the riot act, pointed out that he was damn lucky that we gave him that opportunity as we could stop lessons and keep him on blues all week if we chose.

I'm happy on reds, but I'm still slower than the DC. DH was a super nervous skier prior to our trip. Les Arcs built his confidence, no end, but he's still strictly a blue skier right now, which is why family skiing was based around blues.

We found runs that would allow the DC the chance to explore, slow down, and go off piste whilst staying near us to be a good compromise. For example us doing the Plan Vert blue, which runs alongside the Boardercross (small snow Park style run with bumps for jumps), or the Forêt run in Vallandry which takes you through Forêt Pitchouns but also allows runs off through the trees.
We would also say yes, they could do a red if it popped us all out in the same spot, but they had to wait there. Sometimes, I'd do the red with them, and DH would go round on the blue.

Lots and lots of talking to them about our expectations of them and the dangers of skiing alone. After the first day, when DS1 and I were separated after he tore off in a different direction and I couldn't catch him, we made sure he had his phone on him at all times, and we have Life360 installed. DS2 gets his in August ready for Y6, so we'll be glad to have that on him for our next trip, too.