 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi I am looking for guidance on Ski lessons for my 6 and 8 year old. We have been to Avoriaz the last two years and used Village Des Enfants. I think they were great when they were young but last year my older son was in a large group of 13 and all other children were French and the teacher made no effort to speak English. He really had a miserable week - in the afternoons he loved skiing with us. I spoke to VDE at the end of the week and they were so rude to me. This year both sons will be in the group and am looking at other options but the timings for Evolution etc are not so good - would need to be back quite early to get them. Has anyone used PDS Academy (quite a new company)? 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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PDS Academy are a great bunch. I've not used them for kids, but have used the same instructors for myself, and I'm sure they'll have a good time.
The Snow Institute would also be worth a look.
There are lots and lots of other British instructors working from Morzine etc. so you should have no trouble finding someone.
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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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Have heard similar about VDE from friends. We are booked in with ESF Feb half term.
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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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Sorry to pick up an old thread but I'm asking a similar question. Going to Avoriaz Sunday 15 - 20th December with my two x 10 Yr old girls. One of them is keener than the other.
Used to having skiing lessons in Austria between 10 and 3 (Inc. Lunch) so I can get some miles in and ski a bit with them in the early morning and late afternoon. Having had a good look at the offerings in Avoriaz this doesn't seem to be a possibility. Can anyone help with some alternative ski lesson patterns or ideas for further investigation. Thank you
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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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@trolleyed, group lessons in France tend to be mornings or afternoons, usually 2.5 to 3 hours long. Some ski schools (notably ESF) may offer accompanied lunch as an option but that may be limited to high season. You're going low season, so I imagine most ski schools would have plenty of flexibility if you opt for private lessons for your daughters - but it won't be cheap, if you want similar hours to what you've had in Austria.
Others can probably provide specific recommendations for Avoriaz (we've not used the schools there).
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Avoriaz Alpine Ski School might offer private lessons? or ESF Private Lesson might be cheaper than Avoriaz alpine ski school for the two of them..... then you can set a start time?
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In the same way that there is no such thing as a fish, there is no such ski school as The ESF.
There is an umbrella organisation ESF which provides structure, branding, literature etc.. but importantly each resort has its own ESF and they are independent workers cooperatives.
Some people might be wary of ESF schools because they have heard 'horror' stories like "They spoke French", "They just skied all the time", "They made little Johnny go in another group", "The instructor smoked", "She put my kids on a chairlift with strangers", "He ate my hamster", etc.
Because of the independent nature of the ESF schools, each one is different. The tone, approach & direction is provided by the director who is elected by the other instructors. This will dictate everything from their approach to customer service, flexibility of timings, private lesson Vs group lesson priotization etc.
I know the a few people from AvoAlpineSS, Evo2 and the ESF Avoriaz and the ones I know are all really nice people as well as being great on the snow.
We have also used Mint and Switch 5 for park lessons both of whom were very good too. (Our kids went to the VdE, and had a great time, but this was 14 years ago, we knew a lot of the instructors and the kids spoke French, so can't really compare).
I think you would be unlucky to fall on a bad school again.
One thing to note is that anyone coming at half term, if you have not booked ski school yet, do it now, as many classes are already full.
The issue this year is that English half term does not fall at the same time as the local zone half term.
ESF schools contract in extra instructors during the holidays. These are fully qualified instructors, but have chosen other careers - quite often school teachers.
This year, these extra instructors will be doing their day jobs during English half term so the ESF will have reduced capacity compared to previous years.
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Just wanted to update on this - I booked an Instructor (Dome) via MaisonSport for a few 3 hr private lessons - worked out really well - the children had a fantastic time with him - he made the lessons fun, educational and they got better at skiing! Most importantly he met us wherever we needed him to and dropped the children off wherever necessary to fit our plans.
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