 Poster: A snowHead
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Back to morzine in March and taking my 3.5 year old daughter for first time. She will have 4 lessons at Braehead sno dome before we go. What's folks opinions on the ski school for this age. Is it worth it or should we just teach her ourselves.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Back to morzine in March and taking my 3.5 year old daughter for first time. She will have 4 lessons at Braehead sno dome before we go. What's folks opinions on the ski school for this age. Is it worth it or should we just teach her ourselves.
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Officially in France, surely you're not allowed, aren't they quite strict on unauthorised teaching? Also unless you're ski teachers and actually know not only how to ski well (which you may well do), but also how to teach it (which again you may, but most of us don't) why try?
Small sample size admitedly...but earlier this year when our daughter was that age she got super excited at the idea of ski school (as it turned out, annoyingly and bizarrely Voss in Norway don't allow 3 year olds in Ski School), so it may be worth asking what your little one prefers, some like the idea of ski school, others don't...so we've ended up with a combo of dry slope group lessons and a few private lessons on snow (not suggesting there's any need for the latter, given where you're going as they will allow 3.5 year olds in 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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Excellent kids ski school in the center of Avoriaz. They take 3 year olds
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Our daughter was a couple of weeks away from her 3rd birthday when she did a full week of full day lessons (in Westendorf, Austria). The weather was good and she loved it but she was very tired in the afternoons when we collected her. I think at that age half-day lessons is probably enough, but don't plan on doing much skiing together in the afternoons if you go down that route!
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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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[quote="vjmehra"]
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Officially in France, surely you're not allowed, aren't they quite strict on unauthorised teaching? Also unless you're ski teachers and actually know not only how to ski well (which you may well do), but also how to teach it (which again you may, but most of us don't) why try?
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No, the French are very strict on teaching for reward (ie receiving some form of compensation, whether it be financial or free accommodation and lift pass) which is banned unless you are appropriately qualified, and uncompensated amateur teaching of your kids/mates etc. My recollection is that this was partly what the SCGB case revolved around, with SCGB contending that there was no reward, and the French courts disagreeing.
I’ve send dozens of parents teaching (or trying to teach!) their kids to ski. I’m not saying it’s a good idea, but it’s not illegal.
Age 2.75 we happily took our daughter up and down the baby slope and button lift (in France, right next to the ESF). I wouldn’t claim we were teaching her, but we were helping her slide around. Hugely rewarding and an experience I’ll never forget, tho probably 15-30 mins at a time was enough, then a bucket and spade were much more fun.
Top tip. Take a bucket and spade. Snow castles are great, and frequently trump skiing.
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@snowdave, is right. Of course you can teach her yourself but in very small doses. Bucket and spade essential. Get her tiny skis - no more than chest height.
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Why not just put her in Piou Piou with ESF Morzine? They are very good with the small kids and they will just spend the week in the garden, right next to the indoor area for snacks and to play if they get fed up.
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Out of interest - what are the costs of Piou Piou with ESF like for half a day?
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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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We used Piou Piou for half days at that age and it was a great grounding for them. We didn't try and ski in the afternoon when they were that age, just collected had lunch and then played/rested/watched DVDs depending on the weather.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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It all depends on your child - our 2 were desperate to ski and learned at 3-4, with our oldest (at 3yrs 3 months) taking to it really well and making great progress. He was at the top of the mountain at the end of his first week. Three years later, our youngest (at 3 yrs 11 months) was much slower and also got more tired, and a couple of times we arrived to collect her and found her asleep on a giant cuddly polar bear. She didn't like the nursery slope at all, and it was only when we persuaded her that she needed to demonstrate control to be able to get out of there that she stopped straightlining the slalom course. She could turn really well, but didn't want to and didn't understand that she had to to make progress. Her second week got her to the top of the mountain on day 2, with us working with her closely to encourage her and help her get more practice. Both had 2 hours at Hemel before going, just to get them used to the kit and walking with/on it.
Both learned in Austria, in Hinterglemm. 2 hours in the morning and 2 in the afternoon worked well for them, but other kids in their group struggled to last the pace. Both are now good skiers, anywhere on the mountain, and don't have lessons any more. Neither are teenagers yet, so this was all relatively recent.
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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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It all depends on your child
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This. Some are keen at 3.5, and resilient both physically and emotionally. Others aren't ready to learn, for one reason or another, till they are a fair bit older.
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We had a bit of a disaster last year in Chatel with the ESF and my four year old. Only booked him in for 5 mornings and he ended up only going twice. He is usually very confident and happy to be left, and before we went he was very keen to learn. But the class sizes were huge (we went mid-march) and the instructors were less then enthusiastic, most of the kids seemed to spend a lot of the time on the floor in tears and they were made to eat their snack in silence in a dark basement! It just wasn’t a fun learning environment. He had a lot more fun messing around on skis with us on the baby slopes and sledging of course! I’m sure we will try ski school again but it won’t be the ESF. Having said that I know they are all different and children react to environments in different ways...maybe see how she goes at the snowdome before committing?
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You know it makes sense.
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We did ski school at Kitzbuhl for half days when ours was just 3. After 3 mornings they wanted her off the nursery slope and up the mountain with the group for the day. We weren't happy with her up in a group as felt she was too young to wait at the top of lifts for the rest of the group so she skied the rest of the week with us up the mountain.
I wouldn't say we've taught her we've just skied at her pace and played lots of games as we've skied.
Ski school can be great but at 5 we still struggled to find English speaking kids as not school holidays. Fingers crossed for us this year now she's 6.
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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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Thanks for replies. My daughter is very energetic and a great talker. She is desperate to learn and hoping to get her through to braehead before xmas. Esf is 215 pounds for 6 morning sessions for her. I accept she will probably be shattered in afternoon and we will take it in turns to amuse her. I was just a bit concerned as heard some horror stories about kids not getting taught anything and just being left to cry and get cold. I suppose it depends on instructor and whether they like kids. Here's hoping ours does
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Poster: A snowHead
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| caspriddy wrote: |
| We had a bit of a disaster last year in Chatel with the ESF and my four year old. Only booked him in for 5 mornings and he ended up only going twice. He is usually very confident and happy to be left, and before we went he was very keen to learn. But the class sizes were huge (we went mid-march) and the instructors were less then enthusiastic, most of the kids seemed to spend a lot of the time on the floor in tears and they were made to eat their snack in silence in a dark basement! It just wasn’t a fun learning environment. He had a lot more fun messing around on skis with us on the baby slopes and sledging of course! I’m sure we will try ski school again but it won’t be the ESF. Having said that I know they are all different and children react to environments in different ways...maybe see how she goes at the snowdome before committing? |
We had a bad experience with ESF at Chatel before, which I've mentioned on here previously, so I share your pain. We also didn't have the greatest experience with them in Les Gets on another trip. We have, however had many good experiences with other ski schools, but I've taken to teaching our kids myself, when they were that age.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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As an extra note, when your child is old enough, I'd very much recommend Freedom 2 Ski in Avoriaz. They're very good and we've always been hugely impressed with Pete for his service and all of the instructors the kids have had over the years.
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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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@porkpiefox, wish I’d done more research and read your post before we went to Chatel! Thanks for the recommendation, I will check them out next time we head to the PDS.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Esf is 215 pounds for 6 morning sessions for her
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Wow, that's expensive. In our local ESF the low season charge (ie after French hols finish on 9 March) is 118 euros for 6 mornings piou piou.
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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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| pam w wrote: |
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Esf is 215 pounds for 6 morning sessions for her
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Wow, that's expensive. In our local ESF the low season charge (ie after French hols finish on 9 March) is 118 euros for 6 mornings piou piou. |
I think your area is particularly cheap.
Just checked and Radstadt where we are going at half term are €189 for 6 mornings.... though just realised price above was pounds not euro. But stand by €118 being very cheap.
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The OP is going in March - I presume after the mad French holidays - so I quoted the low season price. Our area is quite a bit more expensive at half term - 177 euros for 5 mornings, but still a lot less than Chatel and a bit less than Radstadt! Ski lessons, including private lessons, are very cheap in low season (and generally very good). It always surprises me that there is no high/low season difference in lift pass prices.
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Our local ESI started last winter doing very small kids groups - which were obviously a lot more expensive but terrific value - my grand-daughters were in two different classes, each supposed to be 4, but one only had 3 kids, and the other 2.
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| pam w wrote: |
| The OP is going in March - I presume after the mad French holidays - so I quoted the low season price. Our area is quite a bit more expensive at half term - 177 euros for 5 mornings, but still a lot less than Chatel and a bit less than Radstadt! Ski lessons, including private lessons, are very cheap in low season (and generally very good). It always surprises me that there is no high/low season difference in lift pass prices. |
Conversely the Radatadt ski school just quotes one rate irrespective of when you are going, but the area lift pass has low and high season rates
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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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It seems odd to me that both aren't variable - there is excess demand for kids ski school at half term (I failed to book for my grand-daughters on one occasion, though it was months before when I tried). And in our area there are acres of almost totally deserted pistes at times in the low season - bliss to ski, but you'd think it would be worth their while offering some cheap ski pass deals.
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Club Piou Piou without a shadow of a doubt. Admittedly my experience was in Morillon but they were great. Combination of skiing and crèche and they even changed my sons nappies as he was only just 3 at the time and not yet out of them. I’m sure that was at their discretion. My son loved it and still treasures his badge. In spite of us missing last season, he’ s now looking forward to the familiarity of another ESF group at Ourson level which is really worth considering- nothing worse than tears on a morning for fear of going to ski school at a later stage.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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We had our son in the Piou Piou club in Morzine, just a few months short of his 4th birthday. He also learnt the basics at Braehead beforehand. I wouldn’t say he loved it, but he wasn’t upset about going. Unfortunately he was the only English speaking kid so spent the week kind of on his own. Instructors seemed good however one was really strict with the French kids. Whether she was the same with ours when we weren’t watching I don’t know, but he never complained. There was a younger guy instructor and my son really liked him, he looked great with the kids. This was around 7 years ago.
He did the mornings with Piou Piou and it helped as it was a really warm period (early Feb so unexpectedly warm). We’d have lunch then we would take him out a bit with us. There was a great bit just up the top of gondola with a magic carpet which was great for him practising and he enjoyed this. He was the only child in our group of 6 adults so he got lots of attention!
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