Obesessed with booking a Skiing Hols USA or Europe ?

[Feelingforty]

After recently taking my 2 girls iceskating, I've decided we should all go skiing. I've skied alot, my Dh has been 4 times & our girls 3 & 6 have never been.

I want somewhere where they could learn together, but looking at Europe, looks like most ski schools start from age 4, so DD2 might have to go into a creche, which I don't want. Looking at previous threads on here, looks like a couple of 3 year olds have skied at Tignes, but looking at various websites, I can't seem to find details of this.

We'd like somewhere low key, easy access to slopes, good ski school, comfortable accommodation. The apts I've looked at in Tignes, look quite uncomfortable, so maybe a chalet...?
Ideally I'd like to go to the USA. Have skied in Breckenridge (freezing & north facing) but think DD's are too small, so was considering Killington or somewhere on the East Coast.

Would love advice &/or recommendations

ESF ski school which has a school in every French resort take kids from age 3.

Personally I prefer Canada to the USA and Breck probably isn't such a bad idea as it has a cracking ski school and is nice and "villagy". Only problem is the altitude although let's be honest - they're not goint to be up at the top of peak 8 anytime soon! I've heard Sunday River can be good for families too.

Lake Louise has an absolutely cracking creche/day-care for the little ones - iirc they charge about $70 a day which I think is superb value and the day-care lodge is right next to the main lodge/bus-stop so you don't have to trek out of your way with them.

I think ski school starts at 5 in Canada - if she's big and articulate you could try fibbing - I know people who've done this.

(Peak 9 doh! )

3 is very young to go to proper ski school IME.

We went to Andorra 2 years in a row when the dc were very small and dd2 went to the ski kindergarten at Soldeu where they had a good combination of ski-ing within the kindergarten area and creche activities.

By the age of 5 when we returned again, she joined ski school and was coming down blacks with the instructor by the end of the week.

At 3 she became quite tired from short amounts of ski-ing and we came back one afternoon to find her asleep on one of the foam-filled bumpers at the side of the kindergarten "piste".

Soldeu has an excellent ski school and has a reputation for great snow as well as lots of sun, I'd thoroughly recommend it for tinies, although the transfers are quite long.

We booked our own flights to Barcelona and hired a car to make our own way. Then you can stay further down the valley and park in the excellent underground car park.

Oh, this is bringing back lovely memories - they're so cute on skis at those ages (ours are teenagers now and can ski the socks off us). Have a lovely time, wherever you go.

this is great thanks - I was originally planning for 2011, but have got a bit carried away Having said that, we'll only go where the DC's would be happy.

Breck is calling me, but perhaps Soldeau would be better, I've never skied in Andorra. DD2 is quite tiny (just outgrowing age 2 clothes) so there would be no blagging ! DD1 is tall but highly strung, so would prefer to group them somewhere if poss.. I've decided we'll pay for DD1 to have a private over here, to see how she finds it.

Not an expert on children skiing - but east coast states - sunday river is great but is a long drive so bear that in mind with little ones, killington is good but v. big. Smugglers notch is THE family resort...never been but looks fab for all ages
The big problem with east coast US skiing is snow reliability sometimes v. good sometimes not so.
Mamouth in California is good. Overall I prefer skiing in US - they can understand when I yell 'get out the way' when I lose control
hth a bit

I've looked at Smugglers Notch, but had trouble pricing it up - Killington looks good.

I think Sunday River also had a tricky website..East Coast would be good as dh has airmiles we can use. I love going to the US.

Last time I tried skiing on New England, they had very warm weather & the snow just melted...1994...goodness, I'm really feeling forty !

Have you thought of Austria? We had a great experience taking our 3 there last winter (aged 6, 4 and 2 & 3/4). They all skied all day in different groups, meeting for lunch as all the ski groups ate together. The youngest went into the ski kindergarten where they do an hour + half, then go into warm playroom, meet siblings for lunch, play inside a bit more then ski another hour + half. The youngest didn't have enough strength in her legs to turn at all but seemed to manage fine on gentle, short nursery slopes with moving carpet kind of lifts. The highlights of her day were hot chocolate (no prizes for guessing that one) and the carousel in the kindergarten (four bars turning on a circle that the littlies either hang onto and then ski round with no effort or the instructors attach those enormous rubber rings that the littlies then sit in and get swung round in).
The tuition seemed fab for the older two who made good progress for a first trip, and certainly hasn't put our youngest off,which was my main concern.
It was really family friendly, and we felt we had an excellent holiday as we got to drop them all at 10am and didn't see them again till 3:30ish. Lovely! We self-catered and found good accommodation - larger than French ski flats.
90% of Austrian resorts take 3 yr olds - it's worth going onto the ski areas' websites rather than just package companies or hotel ones as most areas offer several different ski schools and you can make sure you're near the one that has the best facilities for your two. Most likely though is that yr elder will make much faster progress simply being stronger and leave the younger in a group back at base within a day or two - I guess that would happen anywhere, though?

Thanks,Austria's sounding good - I've skied in Schaldming, but don't really know much about it. Your setup sounds ideal..could you tell me your resort & where you stayed please ? The timing sounds good to, long enough, but not too long.

I've been looking at ski esprit & it appears DD1 would ski in the morning, & DD2 in the afternoon, so they wouldn't be in the same apres ski club, which is a shame. It would be good if they could be together the first day or so, but yes, DD1 would (hopefully) get on well.

hi feeling forty, yes you're right that with Esprit they would be in snow club at different times (I was disappointed at this too a few yrs ago when my eldest were 5 and 3.) They might not even have lunch together either - this depends on the resort. Didn't seem to bother them though..

We went to St Anton three yrs ago with Esprit - I was pregnant and didn't ski but DH enjoyed it. Have to say that I felt it was a bit of a drag to get to the slopes though - the little ones went down in a mini bus.

Both of my eldest did Spritelet skiing with Esprit at both 3 and 4 yrs and didn't start proper ski school until they were 5. I don't think either would have coped very well before that. DD1 is 9 now and better than me!

We went to La Rosiere (France) last yr and from our balcony we could see the Spritelets skiing after lunch - I really like staying close to the slopes.

Have fun deciding.. and enjoy your first family ski holiday!

Toomanyprojects - which chalet did you stay in at La Rosiere? I'm going next week with Esprit.

Killington is quite icy. If those conditions aren't a problem, it is quite nice there (or was when I went 25 years ago! )

earlybird - I first went about 20 yrs ago and loved it but now it is huge and v. commercial tis not the same but then again nothing is from my childhood memories...

Also done New Hampshire which was great but I don't think I'd do it with young first time skiers as you tend to resort hop and its v. spread out.

Try calling sunday river and smugglers notch I think they have a uk phone number - they will be v. helpful. Or try looking at someone like virgin ski who can probably help out.
I am v. as we just can't afford to ski at the mo.

Smugglers notch is amazing for families. We went when ds1 and 2 were 6 & 4 and they had a fab time. The creche was also excellent for ds3. The snow wasn't great when we went and the food in the restaurants isn't great, but the holiday was brilliant. When dss tried snow boarding (which they can do from 4!) and got very wet they stuck the kit in a tumble drier and took them to the soft play in their thermal undies - they thought this bit was brilliant and still talk about it.

Tiny Tigers at Sunshine (Banff) is also good for little ones - one hour lesson in the morning and afternoon and lots of indoor and outdoor play in between - snow painting was a hit with ds3.

GothDetective

We have stayed in Schatzi (2005 and 2009) and Braconnier (2006) I like La Ros but need a change skiingwise. Also we are a family of five now so more resticted with rooms. We have just booked with Esprit for Alpe D'Huez at the end of Jan.

Have a great time!

I think its Schatzi we're going to. Have fun in Alpe d'huez.

thanks for all advice. I think I've got a bit carried away - was researching til 2am

I think DD2 is too small, lightweight & short, so I'm not sure if she'll have the stamina for it this year. Having said that, will be checking my eye on the Espirit website for potential bargains & booking DD1 onto a private dry slope ski lesson to see how she gets on.