snowdomes

[greygirl]

I hope this is the right place for this thread. I have been taking my 4yr old to the snowdome over the summer. we have had 1 lesson every 2 weeks or so (we don't live near). and she can now snowplough but not turn, and doesn't use the rope tow very well.
We have had a few private lessons, which do seem much better.However they are now £50 a pop in winter, and only in weekdays (so only good in holidays for us).
So my question is:should i try and book her in for a couple of lessons in quick succession, so her skiing improves a bit, so that when we go on holiday in january she can ski from day 1? or shouls i stick to the lessons twice a month (or so) to tread water (as it were). the original plan was to get her used to the snow, which she is now, but i wonder about an 'intensive burst' to get her steering. any comments? the lessons are not cheap!

I'm sure the twice monthly will be fine, it's 100% more than most 4 year olds get!

Realistically until she has skied in real snow conditions she isn't likely to make it past the beginners class, with some who have never skied before but maybe a little older. The next stage would be for those competent with linked turns on short easy runs but it is unlikely she could reach that level on a snowdome slope yet.

Try not to worry about making her an expert and just get her in to ski school at the resort. She's unlikely to have the confidence to be a champ at 4, 6 is when I've seen it kick in for kids new to the slopes. To be perfectly honest it'd bore you rigid if you meant that you wanted her to ski with you... that's not skiing, that'd just be pushing her around for a week. Boring and frustrating for everyone!

Personally I think it's a waste of money at this stage and imo snowdomes are crap, but it's your money/time . I hope the teaching is good in the resort you're going to, I've seen kids go great guns within a week of good instruction (canadian).

We took our DC skiing for the first time just before DS's 4th birthday. We don't do a package (stay with friends) and I just took him on the nursery slopes, initially with him on the button pull with me. (It is quite easy to lean them on your legs!)
I taught him to snow plough down (no batons!) very easily, and he was doing turns by day 3.

It was better than ski school because we went up and down 3 times for their every one time - so many children, and obviously he was getting 1:1 tuition from me. And I didn't find it boring at all (but then I am not the world's best skier!

He is now 8 and skis way, way better and more adventurously than me

thank you for your comments. i have booked a couple more lessons but we are not going to push skiing too much. just once a month or so to remind her of snowplough.(she will miss the cupcake apres-ski at starbucksbut prob not the travelling).
and i am looking forward to having a go at teaching her myself when we get out there!

we did only one snowdome taster to get our DD used to the feel of snow, the gear, stomping around in ski boots etc. We only wanted to acclimatise her about all that. The real learning happens on the slopes, and she was on blue runs by day two (age 5, nearly 6) although this is with almost one-on-one tuition (one instructor, 3 kids) I too would save my money for ski school on a mountain, not in a snow dome.

What she is doing now is good for a four year old - first year we took him (aged 4) DS just lay in the snow staring at the instructor refusing to move. We go skiing with a large group of kids of all ages and it always seem to "click" at 5, so if she is snow ploughin now that is good.

I would tread water (even once a month) so she doesn't forget what she has learnt.