 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Our little girl went to a creche at Saint Gervais when she was 6 months old and again at 18 months which sort of worked okay as it was just playtime which is the same whatever language you're speaking. At two years and nine months she went to the ESF Piou Piou club where they did standard nursery stuff indoors for a while and then took them outside to troop around on skis around a sort of obstacle course with sliding involved for the rest of the morning. It was her first taste of skiing and they used a "magic carpet" to get back up the hill.
She hated it! It was with predominantly French children and the instructors/staff spoke little English; there were a couple of English children within the large group but there wasn't much opportunity to mix with them.
The following year she went into ESF proper for ski lessons and the instructor spoke good English - this she loved and has really enjoyed her skiing since.
In answer to your question, yes - they do take children in of that age in some areas and they do get to "play" on skis. You could give the ESF school a call and discuss it with them once you've chosen a resort.
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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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Thanks for the advice.. funnily enough we had a week in St Gervais "pre-kids" (unless a bump counts..) and liked the village so a return wouldn't be out of the question.
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@pablito69, most "nearly threes" won't cope with proper learning to ski, in my experience though they can have fun with competent adult on really easy terrain in very short bursts. If you are very keen for yout littlest to learn with siblings private lessons would be best and can be good value for 3 kids. But the older ones will probably learn much faster and have more stamina so you might need to be on hand to whisk the little one off for a hot chocolate.
I love st Gervais but somewhere where the ski school meeting place and nursery slopes are right next to your apartment will make life a lot easier especially if weather is challenging.
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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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We had a similar situation a couple of years back - our daughter was 2yrs 10 months at Easter 2013. By the end of 2 weeks she could happily use a button lift unassisted and ski green runs. However, 45mins was the ABSOLUTE max she would sustain in any one half-day session, she'd been ice skating since 2yrs old, and is very sporty. We brought along childcare from home, and took our daughter out ourselves for an hour or 2 each day for a combination of snow-castle building, sledging and skiing. There was no pressure on the skiing - she wanted to do it because her older brother did it, but in the first week, 15-30 mins a day was enough to feel she'd done it.
If you're prepared to take her out skiing in the afternoon, I would have thought a morning indoors would be perfect (rather than being "stuck" indoors she might enjoy it!). Bear in mind mornings at Xmas can be brutally cold (-14C 2 weeks ago in Argentiere, which is a low altitude resort).
If you did a private lesson for all, I think you'd have to be on hand the entire time as the pace of learning of 3,4 and 6 year olds is likely to be very different and the 3-yr old might need rescued (or the instructor rescued!) within 15 mins.
Bear in mind that starting very young has little impact on future ability - the rule of thumb I was given by an instructor is that what takes a week at 3 takes a day at 5. My son didn't start till 4y11m, but got to competent red-run status (ESF 2*) within 12 days; my daughter has now had 6wks-8wks instruction to get to a similar level at a similar age; early progress is much slower.
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Thanks for all your replies, the advice is much appreciated. Definitely hoping for accommodation as near to the ski area as possible & may stick to letting her have a short go on skis in the afternoons 😊😊😊
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From taking my own children to ski resorts at a young age, I would agree that young three year olds are unlikely to be able to cope with formal lessons.
When my then three year old first experienced snow, we kitted her out with boots and skis (just so she could be like her older skiing brother) and she wanted to play with the kit for five minutes, then lost interest and preferred mucking about in the snow. For us, it was a good introduction for her but she would not have been able to cope with any more (and she's a fairly robust character!!)
If you want to go to samoens, I can recommend the creche in the town. I have used it for my own children and the three year old in our skiing party this year was very well looked after. It is not near the slope, however. If you are interested in going to the grand massif, there are crèches with outdoor snow play areas on the slopes in both morillon 1100 and Flaine Forum. That should allow your child to get on skis without committing them to a 2 1/2 lesson.
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My experience with young ones was using Snowbizz @ Puy St Vincent. Their crèche was very good and did get very young ones out on the snow. Google them and give them a ring.
The resort is not large or extensive but tends to have good snow cover as a result of their micro-climate. It's not too far from Serre Chevalier.
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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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Good morning @pablito69, we had exactly this issue last month when we were in Chamrousse for 5 days. Our youngest boy was two weeks shy of three and didn't have any experience at all. Our older five year old has been taking lessons for 18 months (dry slope/snow dome) and is pretty proficient now. He could easily ski top to bottom (about 500-600 m vertical) on an easy blue run with little snow/icy conditions.
We put them both into the ESF ski school, starting the older boy at the 2 star level, although he dropped back to 1 star after the first day as he is just getting to grips with parallel turning. The youngest was put into the Piou Piou club and whilst this worked well he was becoming more recalcitrant as the days progressed. At the end of the holiday it took me over an hour to persuade him to go in.
ESF never questioned us about his age.
The trouble is that every (nearly) three year old is different. Our's really wanted to learn to ski as he has watched his big brother from the sidelines a lot. The Piou Piou club is is quite regimented and can be very daunting for a young child, especially with it being in a foreign land, it's a new experience, few (if any) of the children speak English), the instructors (who were great) will speak with a heavy accent. The ski classes run morning and afternoon and are 2 hours 30 minutes long.
For what it's worth we are planning another ski trip at the end of March, doing the same with the children. Our youngest will hopefully have had a couple of hour long lessons on real snow by then though.
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Chamrousse is an excellent place for the kids to learn to ski too.
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads  on Fri 9-01-15 10:46; edited 1 time in total
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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We were lucky that when our youngest was this age the ski holiday started on her third birthday so she was able to do an hour long lesson each day followed by crèche. If you particularly want your nearly three yr old to ski why not book the holiday at Easter and then she will be able to do ESF Piou Piou or equivalent. The weather would be milder for her too.
If you particularly want to stick with Christmas I think you would probably have to arrange childcare for the nearly three year old.
Samoens is a lovely resort for families. I'm sure you would find good ski school/childcare options there.
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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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you would probably have to arrange childcare for the nearly three year old.
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or do snowballs, toboganning, nice elevenses in delicious patisseries, etc. Paying for child care is not necessarily essential, or the best way to ensure the kids have a great time. My grandchildren have loved lots of different aspects of "holidays in the snowy mountains" - skiing has been a relatively minor part, most of the time. I have a "just three" here at present. He adores toboganning, faster the better. Was persuaded to have a little go on skis yesterday with his dad, an extremely proficient skier, and he loved it. Very gentle slope - scarcely a slope at all. For half an hour, then he'd "done it" and wanted to go back to toboganning.
In our resort I see lots of grandparents (apart from me) looking after little ones and having fun in the snow. Skiing with the older ones. Is it possible to take a grandparent who would enjoy some of those things? Worked well for us on our first holiday and my mother loved it.
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I love st Gervais but somewhere where the ski school meeting place and nursery slopes are right next to your apartment will make life a lot easier especially if weather is challenging.
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I know a very nice hotel 100m across the piste from the ski school and crèche at St Gervais (well Bettex - the mid station). Fleche d'Or, recently renovated. Lovely and magnificent views.
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