 Poster: A snowHead
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Greetings all,
Thinking about signing up for some ski lessons in March wih ESF for me and my partner - looking for some advice on which level to sign up for.
Here are the options:
- Category 2
I'm able to complete a series of elementary turns (converging skis, sideslipping with the skis parallel at the end of the turn) and starting to sideslip.
- Category 3
I'm able to descend in a basic parallel turn, complete a basic high-speed turn and control sideslipping.
We're both at a similar level, having done about 2 weeks skiing (most recently one full week in January 2014). We can get down any blue run, paralleling probaly 80% of the time, though not necessarily all that tidyly! We have tried a couple of red runs, but really start to struggle on anything lumpy and bumpy.
From that little snippet and any experience folks have of ESF in La Plagne, which level do you think we should go for? 2 or 3? If I'm honest I think we're in between!
Any advice greatly appreciated as always.
Chris
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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chopkins13, would this be in a group, or privately with an instructor for you both?
If the former, they might move you from one group to another depending on what they see. If the latter, I guess it doesn't matter - they would assess your ability and teach accordingly.
As for ESF in La Plagne, I am sure others may be able to provide insight, though I would have thought the "grading" system was ESF-wide, possibly (though not necessarily).
One other option might be to look at Oxygene in La Plagne. I've generally heard good things about them.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Hi Cacciatore,
Thanks for your reply.
I should have stated it's for the Adult Group Ski School, it's only €138 for the week which seems like good value to me.
I too have heard good things about Oxygene - a couple of friends we went with in January took their absolute begginers ski school which included lift pass and equipment - worked out at a very reasonable price. However their non-begginers ski school lessons aren't available in the same package and the ski school on its own is €175 each with Oxygene.
Chris
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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chopkins13, if the oxygene groups are guaranteed small then the extra €37 could be money well spent. Size of group is fairly critical - you could be lucky with a small ESF group (my last ESF group had 3 of us!) but you could be one of 12.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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chopkins13, i'm totally with pam w here: Oxygene is likely to be better value.
Or look at some of the other non ESF schools.
Lime. Reflex.
You get what you pay for.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
You get what you pay for
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not necessarily, but it's rather "the luck of the draw" with ESF. My group of 3 doing an intermediate cross country course was stupendous value! Cost about €100 for the week IIRC
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been going to ESF at bell plagne for years, always good value and excellent guidance
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Given your description for yourselves i would say group 2.
I did group three this year and it was mostly blacks and off piste.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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You're best to book into group 2 I think - they'll put you up a group if it's too easy. Happy holidays!
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Given your description for yourselves i would say group 2.
I did group three this year and it was mostly blacks and off piste.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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We went with Reflex last year and they were great!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Corduroy - "Mostly blacks and off piste" definitely doesn't sound like us! Or for that matter what the description of level 3 says.
Which leads me to ask - Are ESF more likely to push the boundaries of your skills than say Oxygene? I want to make progress but don't necessarily want to be at my limit for the whole time!
The price difference between ESF and Oxygene is €74 for the two of us. It doesn't look like Reflex do adult group lessons at all.
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| chopkins13 wrote: |
Which leads me to ask - Are ESF more likely to push the boundaries of your skills than say Oxygene? I want to make progress but don't necessarily want to be at my limit for the whole time!
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Tough question to answer and may well just come down to personal experience and perhaps communicating clearly what you expect to achieve.
For example, I recall 2 ESF lessons with different instructors at different stages of my development. One clearly decided to push the boundaries of what we were going to cover (I wanted technique lessons on piste as a 3 week skier) to the extent that I was very well past my comfort zone. At the time I was not only exhausted, but also confronting conditions that were making me nervous (I'm not the nervous type!). On reflection, that was probably what I needed - it just didn't feel like it at the time. We'd schussed a narrow ridge with sheer drops on either side and then gone off-piste and down through a small couloir before hitting a black mogul field 
The second was someone who listened really clearly to what I wanted and broadly delivered it with some rather more gentle pushing at the boundaries of comfort.
Of the private lessons I've had (quite a few one-to-ones) I have generally received exactly what I've asked for.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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Just to give you an idea, a friend of mine did level 3 with ESF in La Plagne 3 weeks ago and apart from day 1 they spent all week doing off piste, black runs and challenging reds, such as the Kamikaze one into Champagny.
Another friend did Level 3 with Oxygene that same week and even though they also did a couple of black runs and some off piste, according to what both of them said, it wasn't as challenging as the ESF one. However, it might be an entirely different story with different instructors I guess.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Haha I hadn't spotted those videos - very revealing - and whilst I'd love to think that I was as composed as the level 3 video I more than suspect that is not the case! I'm sat thinking it could be Level 1 or Level 2 with either ESF or Oxygene!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Yeah, i really wish I'd watched the level4 one  If you can do 3 out of 4 blue runs without having a panic attack and feel you are 'parallel turning' most of the time, then def not 1, lvl2 sounds right - either way have fun!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I did Level 2 with ESF in La Plagne 4 years ago and had a great time. My OH did Level 3 and it wasn't all blacks and off-piste. She didn't really enjoy it though - that mainly comes down to how you get on with the instructor and others in the group. I would guess the individuals involved will make more difference than which ski school you use. To answer the original question, I think you should go for Level 2.
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FAQ
Or indeed that they are not (I've had some very boring group lessons too with them) - privates are usually fine->good. My friend loved oxygene in la plagne, but every instructor is different it's always a bit lottery-ish.
