Good resort for 16yo DC

[happylittlebirdy]

I’m planning to ski next Feb half term with 16 year old DC - just the two of us. They are a better skier than me (red runs) but it’s no fun for them to ski alone, so would like them to have group lessons, ideally with other teens. Any suggestions for resorts with plenty of teens so there will definitely be a group running? We didn’t have a good experience with ESF a couple of years ago (instructor spoke no English!) so erring away from France.

Austrian ski schools run all-day lessons and the major resorts will have groups of teenagers, but at 16 the DC might be put into an adults class, although the European half-term holiday in 2027 coincides with much of the rest of Europe so there should be plenty of teenagers around to make up groups just for them. See Kitzbuhel, Zell am See, Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Flachau, Wagrain, St Anton (and many other resorts). All of the instructors will speak English.

The best teen programme that I've seen was in Whistler in Canada where the ski school there ran a course (I think it was called "Ride Tribe" or something similar) tailored specifically to teens.

Thanks - will take a look at these resorts. I’m not sure they’d mind being with adults if they were a similar level, I just want them to have the chance to learn/do more than I’m capable of.

Italian resorts are good, Cervinia is one of my favourites. Pizza and pasta and excellent teachers kept the teens happy.
Levi in Finland isn't a challenging resort, but everyone's English is perfect and they have huge freestyle areas if that's an interest.

Thanks for this - pizza and pasta def sounds good. Which ski school did you use in Cervinia?

Evolution 2 operates in many French resorts and attracts a lot of British skiers as all the instructors speak English and the classes are limited to 8 people. They run a number of classes in different resorts with options for teens, although the age group is 10-16 so your dc would be at the upper end https://evolution2.com/en/tignes/teenagers-group-lesson-teen-academy-tignes?v=3758 Our dc had a great time in the classes and ds did both the junior and teen academy.

Another vote for Evo 2. Your experience with French instructors is pretty unusual for a large resort so I wouldn’t let it put you off. Tignes has far more to offer an adventurous teen than somewhere like Cervinia which has mainly just fairly pedestrian reds which you say he can already do.