Ski school for children Verbier, Mayrhofen - or where?

A snowHead

Can people give me recommendations for a resort for a family ski holiday at Feb half-term?

I have my own apartment in Champex, a tiny resort in Switzerland, where I ski happily ten weeks a year, without missing the big resorts I have skied in in the past. My daughters come with their children for a week each winter, not usually the same week. But it has not been a success. All the grandchildren can ski a bit. But they haven't really made the progress they should have. I think there might be a number of reasons for this. (1) The ski school is rather small, and the numbers do not permit much differentiation of levels in the classes. (2) Although many of the instructors speak English, they tend to focus on the French speaking majority. (3) There is not a great variety of terrain, so the classes cannot always find terrain suitable for a particular level of instruction.

I decided to remedy this by paying for the grandchildren to go to a bigger ski school in a bigger resort. My plan was to accommodate the family in my apartment and shuttle them across to Verbier daily to one of the British ski schools, and probably put them in classes morning and afternoon.

But today I have been looking at the costs involved. My car is not big enough for all the people who will need to be transported. (The daughter in question has four children.) So I shall have to hire a large car/minibus. Verbier is expensive. And I shall find it a strain herding everybody around every day.

I began to wonder if I could simply buy them a ski holiday at a similar price. I first learnt in Mayrhofen in 1980. All day ski school. English speaking instructors for predominantly English speaking pupils. The Verbier option is going to cost me £4000 - £5000. Could I achieve the goal with a package, bearing in mind the above criteria, at a similar price? It would be for a family of six. Self catering would be fine. Any suggestions?

A snowHead

Might be cheaper to get an instructor to come to you?

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

Can you book an English speaking instructor privately to teach your grandchildren? If they are not of a similar level, you could subdivide the instructors time to teach them in smaller groups.

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

@planeurge - I think you win the award for most generous/accommodating grandparent ever!

What about private tuition in Champex with a day trip to Verbier part way through the week for a change of scenery?

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@telford_mike, @Gämsbock, @FrenchFriesPizza, thanks for your (similar) suggestions. It would be cheaper obviously. But it doesn't really meet points 1 and 3 above. The children are 13, 10, 8, and 5. The project was originally planned last year, when it would have been simpler. The then four year old would have been left with one parent at Champex to play on the nursery slope, and there would have been enough seats in the car for the older three plus two ancestors. But that got cancelled because of my mother's illness. This year it doesn't seem fair to leave out the five year old.

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I have not used Arc en Ciel in Siviez but they were the go to ski school for people with kids when I was in Nendaz a few years back. The class sizes are pretty small and they have a reputation for being good with very young children. Inter-agence in Nendaz do by the week self cater accommodation. I found them to be great provided you are used to the quirks and conventions of renting things in Switzerland.

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

One last bump.

Villars? Quite a bit cheaper, but ski school available mornings only.

After all it is free

When calculating the costs do not discount the extra convenience you get from staying in your own apartment compared to going away with a family for a week. Not so easy to put a price on it but it makes a difference. As for driving, Verbier would be the closest for you. There are plenty ski schools with English-speaking instructors and varied terrain. Some schools might even have all-day classes, though I understand that mornings or afternoons only are the most common arrangements.

Well, I did Plan A. We did have to hire a seven-seater (see my other thread, though I am approaching resolution of that issue); it was expensive; it was stressful. But it was successful. I put them into all-day ski school with European Snowsports. It was not quite the same thing as all-day ski school in Austria, because it was effectively two separate classes, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, but they were given lunch in the restaurant at Ruinettes. They all made excellent progress. No 4 of that set turns out to be 4 years old, not 5 as I thought. She was the most expensive, because she did morning ski school (up the magic carpet, down through the cones, miss a couple now and then, fall over, and repeat); and went to a nanny service in the afternoon. But there was not a single complaint from any of them, even when getting up at 7 in the morning. So I think that means they loved it. We stayed in my apartment. Even so, it cost me about £6000: I paid for their flights, car hire, ski school, equipment hire and lift passes, plus my own expenses driving out there and back. I probably won't do it every year so comprehensively.

Next year I will do it for my other daughter's family. She has only two children. So the arithmetic might be different, and a package holiday might be the cheaper option. When we went as a family in the 80s the hotel experience, and the apres-ski was part of the enjoyment. (That gets omitted when you are shuttling a car load back from Le Chable.) But D2 has already said she would be more comfortable managing her (pretty unruly) pair in our own apartment.

Help!!

Ski school for children Verbier, Mayrhofen - or where?

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