 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello fellow snow heads, I am wondering if anyone has fairly recent experience of using the local esf ski school in Combloux, as it seems that there are no other options for independent schools or instructors that I can find for this resort, unless any SH can notify otherwise.
There are several families of mixed abilty ranging from adult and children beginners to experienced skiers going there feb half term 2016, does anyone know if they have a good proportion of English speaking instructors, if I thought all the people who needed ski school were of the same ability I could have at least try and arrange an instructor before hand, but with the possibility of people being spread across several groups with the possibility of only French speaking groups.
cheers
terry
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@terrygasson, as nobody has answered this I'll comment. Not used ESF Combloux but have experience of other similar resorts in the area. The key similarity being few Anglophone visitors. They will undoubtedly have some English speakers and you can ask for that when you book. But if most in the class are Francophone most of the talking will be in French, inevitably. Megeve, just up the road has BASS, and other schools too but BASS will be a lot more expensive. That's a super-busy time so book early, whatever you decide. Small group for private lessons would be good and probably affordable. But times might be limited to lunch hour only, that week.
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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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@pam w, thanks for your usual excellent local knowledge, I would hope that when the esf online booking is available that there would be enough kids of the same standard that they would all be in the same group and with enough notification the school will allocate an English speaking instructor.
thanks again for your help
cheers
terry
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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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one can only be glad that there is the Internet . because that really helps with such wonderful questions further . Thank you for the information
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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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@terrygasson, i checked with a friend in Geneva who has had lessons there - she was always very happy with the esf instructors provided for private lessons (in English) and the kids she looked after did group lessons and seemed to enjoy them - they might have been in French though.
Anyway, no bad words to say about ESF there.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@fixx, thanks for your help also, have just been a bit worried as I am organising it for several families and did not really look into the ski school side properly, as I am used to the 3valleys as I worked there for a few seasons where even the majority of the esf speak good English, rather than a mainly French resort.
@muttilein, I should have checked the esf website as it is all in French where Megeve and meribel have English versions, that would have given me a few signals, but I am sure we will all have a great time, as I cannot wait to introduce friends who have not skied before to the mountain environment.
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@terrygasson, Combloux is a lovely village and the skiing is very beautiful "face au Mont Blanc". Watch out for location of your accommodation. If you don't have a car it'd be good to be near the free bus up to the start of the skiing.
One option which would take some organisation on your part would be to take an instructor for the whole day, or half day (I think this called an "engagement") and then organise your groups accordingly. If you make efficient use of the time it could make a lot of sense - though whether they do that arrangement in the school holidays I don't know. If I were you I would telephone the ESF office, and explain your particular requirements, rather than rely on an internet booking form - I suspect you'll get a more tailored and helpful response that way. I would imagine that a good proportion of their instructors speak decent English (in Les Saisies I've encountered both brilliant and practically non-existent English from ESF instructors) and the kids in your group aren't in lessons on their own they'll probably cope fine, even if most of the chat around them is in French. For smaller children there's not a lot of language involved in ski instruction anyway - my 4 year old daughter managed in an entirely German speaking group with an instructor who spoke no English - her main concern was that the others were all "babies" as she was a complete beginner and the other kids were starting at a much younger age.
It's not encouraging that the ESF Combloux doesn't have an English version of its website - the Les Saisies school does, though the English is pretty rough. The Combloux site does say, however, that in the school hols there are special classes for children of 6 and over, with a maximum of 9 pupils per class, which sunds good - you do sometimes see some rather large groups
If there seems to be a major problem I wouldn't discount Megeve - I suspect the ski buses between Combloux and Megeve are both frequent and reliable and there are plenty of good slopes for early skiers in Megeve.
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thanks @pam w, I did look at the ski schools in Megeve, as we would have vehicles in resort if required I was prepared to drive to the ski school in the morning, that was my main occupation when I did seasons for our chalet guests!!!.
but looking further into it, the lessons were shorter and more expensive than Combloux between the esf, and all other schools were even more expensive, so decided to stick to Combloux!!
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