 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello,
I was hoping that some of you kind folk maybe able to offer some advice or insight with regards to private lessons.
My girlfriend (mid-20s) and I are away to Austria for a week at the end of January/beginning of February and will be meeting up with my retired parents. This will be my girlfriend's third week away on snow and in the last two trips she has had a week of group lessons and has progressed pretty well (plus she did a beginner course at a snowdome before this). My mother (early 60s) has skiied for many years and now retired, skis about four weeks per season.
Both are looking to do a couple of private lessons this time round and I was wondering if it would be a good thing or not for the two of them to share the same instructor. They are very different in terms of experience and technique, though not so far apart in terms of speed or bottle - my partner could get down (French) red runs without too many issues by the end of the second week (though gingerly at times) and isn't afraid of giving stuff a go, while my mother can get down anything, though isn't so keen on very steep or bumpy runs anymore, preferring to eleganty flow down wide groomers. She also doesn't like to risk falling and wants to continue to work on her technique to ensure she can keep up the multiple weeks away for many years into the future!
I was hoping that although the instructor would have to focus on very different areas for each to improve, their speeds and the type of runs they would do so on would be similar and so both would find it useful. Equally, I don't want each to dilute the usefulness for the other and I might just be trying wrongly to make this option fit. The other option would be to put both of them singly with a separate instructor, though that would be highly annoying if they ended doing the same pistes as the price is the same for one person per instructor as it is for two!
Could anyone offer any advice? Many thanks.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@shackleton, based on a single datum point...
A friend an I who are both reasonably competent recreational skiers (many seasons, he's been an instructor, much off piste, etc) had a great lesson with a great instructor whi, it turned out had another client that he had double-committed to (or something). Despite the fairly wide skills gap, we all had an excellent time.
So a good teacher can make it work. Without being an instructor, I'd think speed of skiing and happiness on gradients would be maybe the important thing.
Ask the ski school.
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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What does the girlfriend want to improve on? I have to say it doesn't sound like a match made in heaven.... But sure they could work on stuff in same lesson (we have had family lessons where kids, me and hubby all have got something out of it.... But this was with instructors that we have skied with before.... And all skied a fair bit more than your girlfriend so was much more refining rather than designing technique).
Could you book 2 hour slots... Try some together and some with a half way meet point and swap pupil over??
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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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Provided the are both reasonably happy on the same terrain it's easy to give two completely individual lessons at the same time, with individual tasks and individual feedback. But they do need to be comfortable skiing the same terrain and a broadly similar pace, and not be too dissimilar in learning styles (it's much more of a problem mixing kids and adults, even if they ski air the same level) otherwise the experience will be compromised for both of them. It shouldn't cause too much problem that they ski that same terrain with different levels of skill - the instructor should differentiate the lessons for each of them accordingly.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thanks for the advice so far!
Luckily, they do both get on and have known each other a good few years.
Speaking to my girlfriend, the way she described her aim for this week to be able to dictate where she goes down the slope rather than the slope dictate to her (if that makes sense?). She can get down fine, but wants to get to the point where she'll enjoy to go for the tougher bits, instead going down the path of least resistance. She can ski parallel, though fairly stiffly and that's what she wants to work on too.
They were after doing two lessons so I suppose they could go together for the first and if it all goes bobbins then separate them for the second. Swapping half way through is certainly something to consider too and I'll speak to the ski school about their thoughts.
@red_27 - haha! although that's not the intention it's certainly a happy little bonus! 
Cheers!
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@rob@rar - That's very helpful, thank you.
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The more tricky question (as your GF's needs will be immediately obvious) is what your mother wants (as opposed to needs) to work on. I have a certain sympathy with the older skier who just enjoys skiing elegantly down cruisy pistes. 
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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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Agreed - as I understand it her wants would be more related to polishing technique or smoothing out bad habits, with a view toward maximising the elegance and minimising the fatigue!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Colleagues - a family of two fifty-yr-olds (he runs marathons) and two upper teenage boys - just got back from a week in Austria (forget where, but they had "enough" snow, and he said it was the best week ever as zero lift queues!). I think it's their third, possibly fourth week; they all started at the same time, a few years ago. After an underwhelming experience with group lessons on an earlier trip, they decided to pay for a 2hr private lesson each morning, all together with the same instructor. Despite him being sensible, her being cautious, and them being full of testosterone, apparently it worked really well.
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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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In my experience, family lessons tend not to be as successful as splitting kids and adults, but can be a lot of fun for the family.
Perhaps arrange a private lesson for both GF and mother together and see how it goes. From the description, two quite different learners. One who wants achieve more, the other who is happy cruising but needs a few tips maybe. Perhaps an instructor can work with both at the same time.
I would not recommend separate lessons and then swap instructors/students over. Each instructor would need to re-assess their new student = time wasted.
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