Advice on how many morning lessons to book?

A snowHead

Hi all!

I'm heading off to Sestriere on Sunday and am finally taking the opportunity to get in some group ski lessons with a local school (I was looking at this one, incase it's known to anyone: http://www.scuolascisestriere.com/eng/tariffe.asp).

As some of you may know, I've been working on getting my skill level up and have more or less mastered parallel turns and am working on carving and short turns. I know lessons up the mountain will benefit me more than the limited time up the indoor ski slope, but I'm not sure how many days to take.

I'm doing 6 days skiing, starting Monday 26th.

The lessons begin at 10am, and finish at 12.45 which seems like a decent chunk of time to learn some stuff without overload, then I can ski with my friends and practice.

But (and this might seem like a silly question) but how many days should I book? I am thinking maybe 3 or 4, but I'm concerned about getting a balance between getting as much out of the time for tuition as possible, skiing with my friends, and frazzling my brain.

What do you guys usually go for?

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Eek, okay. I'm guess that means you feel the practice is more important than time with friends and the risk of getting a bit overloaded with instruction (or perhaps those aren't really considerations as the lessons are only in the morning?)

You need to Login to know who's really who.

@STyler, unless you want to make friends, I'm not sure group lessons are necessarily the way forward. Consider that the teacher will have however many in his class, not all exactly of the same standard and not all with the same problems.

I fear you could spend much time not getting as much attention as you might be able to exploit.

I'd suggest you consider two or three private lessons of 2 hours each. Prices don't look so much different and not on consecutive days. Assuming you think you're the kind of person who'll be able to recall 2 or 3 sets of things that you're working on and practice when skiing with your friends...

Just a thought.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

It's funny you mention that, I was just looking at the private lesson prices... I sort of wrote them off assuming they would be so much more expensive, but like you say, it's not that much more.

I wonder if it's possible to book private lessons while in resort... so I can amble down there at the end of the day and book for the next day when I think I need another....

You'll need to Register first of course.

When my girlfriend and I started we found a solid base of lessons (morning and afternoon for six days) for the first two weeks (different years) invaluable.

We were with others in our group who could already ski / snowboard, but found that the instructor was much more fun to ski with as he knew just the level of terrain that we needed to challenge us, and we found ourselves on a red by the end of week one - great fun, but only because we followed his line.

It is also important to consider the flip side too and the others you will be with:

Now that we are some of the stronger skiers in our group, and are taking a lot of beginners with us this time, we are a little nervous at being placed in that role of guide. We are now at a level where we feel confident to ski everything (though style may be left behind sometimes), but I am not sure that I can accurately judge just what others can / should ski, or try.

The more you learn with an instructor out on the main slopes (not the nursery slope) for the first few weeks when in resort the better in my opinion.

That said, we learnt in Bulgaria (Bansko) when they were offering free lessons all week with the lift pass. We were also lucky enough to have a great instructor, and tip the right amount to get him again the second year. In the Alps, cost will be a factor, so splitting up some decent private lessons may be the way forward if you are willing to be frightened in the interim by your friends guessing what you can ski...!

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

I would book a 2 hour private lesson on your second day. If you feel you need more later in the week I would book on the fly.

After all it is free

@STyler, almost certainly unless there are weird Italian holidays going on that I don't know about.

Yep, @Pynch, that's also a reasonable point. I still prefer my view, but generally most of my gang are able to judge pretty well what's going to be fun or not for any less experienced chums.

That takes the pressure of having to make a decision, right now. I suspect my first day will be pretty sketchy, but I guess so will everyone's as we'll all need to get our snow-legs back.

We have 1 skiier who is almost a total beginner - she's had a 6 hour day lesson in the fridge back in November. Do you think it would be best for her to just go straight to lessons?

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

If anyone wishes to progress as quickly as possible, then private lessons are the way to go. It may seem costly, but the tuition should be tailored specifically for that student. However, this does not suit everyone.....perhaps a young child will feel more comfortable with others of the same age in a group, or maybe an adult may prefer to ski within a group and enjoy the social bit of snowsports and learning together.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

snow reports

I'd say go for private lessons every time. Go at lunchtime when the queues are smaller, pistes are emptier and snow is softer.

as many as you can afford ... for the rest of your skiing life

You know it makes sense.

@tartegnin, +1

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Advice on how many morning lessons to book?

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