 Poster: A snowHead
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We have a decision to make before tomorrow and I would appriciate some other thoughts on what would be the best way to proceed.
Background - I've been skiing for 20 years, my husband 12. I almost always joined ski school when on holiday for the 1st 8 years until I met my husband and started him skiing. He has only ever had 1, 1 hour lesson that we won in a quiz on our second ski holiday together. Other than that all he knows he has learnt from me (his choice)
We now have 2 children who we have been putting into ski school on holidays. This year we have come to Pila in Italy and one of the ski schools here offers a decent discount for additional family members booking onto thier collective lessons and as I'm keen to have some instruction again (as I'm sure some nasty bad habits will have developed over ths past decade) I booked us all in.
The ski school (having taken our booking and money over a month ago) have now got intouch to tell us that they haven't got many adults booked in and none at our level (which I described as 'ski most pistes, needs to work on off-piste and moguls)
They have suggested we might prefer to take private lessons instead. This would be one two hour lesson and would cost aa few euros more than we paid for the 5x2hr collective lessons. Or we could ski in a lesson with the more competent children thay have booked in. Or just dki with the best adults they have an hope they aren't all complete beginners.......
All have thier downsides. I was looking forward to skiing with other people (not just the family) for a change which was an other reason I went for the collective rather than private lessons.
WWYD?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I would opt to join the best adults they've got group & get on with it. I would also spend some time hoping those adults weren't too far advanced for me to keep up with...
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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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Don't mix adults and children in the same class. Everyone's experience will be compromised.
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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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@annaa, agree with RR - and I find private lessons invaluable - I’ve skied for 25 years and still get 1:1 tuition
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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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Agree with @kittya, It's not your fault that no one else has booked. They are putting profit before service. Anything in the T&C's? Sounds to me like a group of two for 5* 2hr lessons.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Does it depend how old the 'children' are (thinking teenagers rather than under 10?) My very first ski holiday with my parents and sisters we were in a lesson with adults (we were 18, 16 and 14 at the time)
They do state a minimum number of 4 for thier group lessons, so I think the 5 days of lessons for just the two of us is not going to be possible.
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see if they will stretch to 2 private lessons. Would be nice to get feedback at the second lesson. Maybe ok with kids over 15, but a lot will likely be follow me round the mountain, which, well.....
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I'd go Private....and see if you can get a bit of extra discount, given it's not your fault.
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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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| Quote: |
see if they will stretch to 2 private lessons
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Worth a try. I've been in a group of 2 in French pre-booked group lessons. My OH started one week in a group of two and the other person dropped out after 2 days.
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Just realised that was a mistype in the original post - it should have been 2, 2hour lessons not 1.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| annaa wrote: |
| Just realised that was a mistype in the original post - it should have been 2, 2hour lessons not 1. |
Perfect, but now try for 3! Nothing to lose.
2 * 2 hr private will give you significant gains.
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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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+1 private lessons
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Private
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You know it makes sense.
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Depends on the priority...private to improve, but group if you want the chance of more social skiing. Can you hedge, and try the group for one lesson then go private if it doesn't work out?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Yes - 2 x 2 hour lessons are a decent alternative - I'd go for that!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Thanks everyone for your very helpful thoughts and suggestions.
I turned up this morning wanting to go for the private lesson option to be told that that was no longer possible as they had had a number of English speaking book onto group lessons an so they no longer had enoughenglish speaking instructors to offer us a private at the same time. They could do it at a different time, but obviously with a 9 and 7 year old that would be impossible.
They refused to refund us in full (would only offer 50%) so I agreed to go along to the start of the ski school session so they could 'assess our level of skiing'. We turn up, having been assured that there were at least some other adults to find ourselves the only adults in a group of children (all preteen). Watched them ski down the easy blue - and there was no way we'd have fit in a lesson with any of them. By the time I'd skiied down to the group the instructor was already on the phone the boss to tell him so.
We then got offered the option to join an advanced adult class either in the morning or the afternoon - and we could spilt so that one of us would be available to look after the children. At this point my husband (who isnt that keen on lessons anyway) lost his patience and decided he would just have a refund, which they did give him.
I chose to take the lessons offered, but have found myself the only English speaker in a group of Italians, so I am missing a fair bit of what he is telling everyone. However - there are some very good skiiers in the group, so I'm having to push myself and it's good to have someone to follow and copy.
Bit of a saga and I think its probably put my hubby off having lessons ever again!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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That's a real pain @annaa - but I hope you enjoy the rest of the week with your Italians.
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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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@annaa, make sure you ask the instructor to clarify in English if you think you are missing out, or ask if the group minds if he speaks English all the time?
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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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| Quote: |
ask if the group minds if he speaks English all the time?
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or, perhaps, part of the time?
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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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@annaa, just out of interest, what ski school in Pila?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@annaa, this is bizarre and unacceptable.
I have recounted this before when people have such bad experiences. I have a friend who owns a ski school. His philosophy is simple: people pay the school to learn to ski, and so his school teaches them to ski. It's a small independent school in Switzerland. My son has reached competition level at age 12 with his coaches, and I have had amazing 1:1 and 2:1 sessions with them too. The important thing is that Yves, the Director, is on the snow the whole day, reallocating people who need to be reallocated, getting late arrivals up onto the hill and into their groups, making sure clients and instructors are all connected up and things are running smoothly. Don't be put off; it all depends on the philosophy and competence of the school....
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rob@rar - Sci Evolution. We tried the scuola di sci pila last year and didn't feel the children learned much at all. So we decided to try the alternative this year.
valais2 - I really am very bewildered by the whole situation and annoyed that they are obviously only care about getting money of people and not the service they provide. Or maybe I'm just to nice....
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@annaa, ...you are being entirely reasonable. If you have a broken window and the glazier turned up, worked for an hour, left the pane broken and then asked for a full fee, I think we would say ‘no way’ - but I have had MANY stories of terrible ski school experience - the directors of such schools seem perfectly happy to take money and provide a bad service. For example, I counted 13 kids in a lesson of one school at Christmas - not Yves’ Swiss Mountain Sports, I may add, which has a maximum group size of 5. I think we DO need to complain about bad tuition. I think that such schools bank on ‘...well they are here for a week and will be going somewhere else next year...’. Interestingly, Yves’ school has a very high rate of return clients, which says a lot.
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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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| valais2 wrote: |
| @annaa, ... I think that such schools bank on ‘...well they are here for a week and will be going somewhere else next year...’. Interestingly, Yves’ school has a very high rate of return clients, which says a lot. |
This is totally the impression I got when trying to sort it all out. The director couldn't care less as we are only here for a week and (now) very unlikely to return.
They advertise groups of min 4, max 8 so I shall be counting how many are in the groups they have put the children in. I'm already going to have to speak to my daughter's group instructor as she spent the entire lesson yesterday going up and down the run in the village with the magic carpet lift and was completely bored.
I read your comments about Yves ski school in Crans Montana on someone else's ski school 'tail of woe' recently and thought it sounded great. Hubby has vetoed Switzerland as 'too expensive' however 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And lax is a great resort based on my week 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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@annaa, ...it's certainly true that Switzerland has done nothing to dispel the idea that it's a very expensive place. The labour laws have indeed bumped up prices, but Eng-CH is exactly right ... right now, places like Trois Vallees cost a lot more per week than Switzerland - people are likely to come on and say 'well Autstria and Italy are cheaper..etc' and that's true, but you can still do Switzerland without it hurting .. as Eng-CH says, Easyjet to Geneve, hire car, Air B&B and it can be entirely do-able. Get a chalet in a village like Bluche, Randogne, Icogne, around Crans and it's really cheap. Last months we did a 5 day trip: 90gbp for the flights, 80gbp each for the hire car, and with the Magic Pass time on the hill was really cheap.
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What's the magic pass? I had a quick look at Crans lift passes and it would be over €1000 for the four of us for 6 days, which is about a third more than we'd normally spend.
I do all our trips DIY - either cheap flights and hire a car, or drive and use self catering accommodation. But I will give Switzerland an other look next year if it really isn't as expensive as our preconceptions would suggest!!
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You know it makes sense.
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Swiss always seems to work out cheaper than EasyJet (I've just snagged a return Heathrow to Zurich in April - free ski carriage - for £87!)
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| valais2 wrote: |
| @annaa, ...it's certainly true that Switzerland has done nothing to dispel the idea that it's a very expensive place. |
It's an excellent bit of marketing - make it sound expensive and exclusive, and you'll attract the mega-rich who will drop multiple thousands in pocket money while they're here which all goes into the local economy
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Poster: A snowHead
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@annaa, magic pass was VERY cheap pre season - less than 1 week standard, but for whole season in 25 stations!....
https://www.magicpass.ch/
..so we snapped them up in August 2017....we ski 10+ weeks in CH so major bargain for us.
....don't know what they will do season 2018-19 - we will keep an eye on it...
...and if you have done your calculations and it comes out 1/3 more then indeed you should go to where you feel you can afford; perhaps work well ahead re ski schools and tap the knowledge here re which ones to use. New Gen is excellent in Trois Vallees and La Tania can be cheap end of the system...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@eng_ch, ...up to a point Lord Copper....or buy expensive property which they never visit (Cold beds in Crans) ... the number of local shops which have closed tells the real story I think ... combination of high CHF and structure of economy ... locals as you know very upset at present ....
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