 Poster: A snowHead
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As my confidence declines, our 15 year old lad’s is galloping. None of this boring “blue” stuff for him. His 18 year old sister is bravely stepping into the gap and escorting him on reds whilst hubby babysits me (when he’d rather be with them). However son wants to go faster and steeper which understandably his sister isn’t interested in. His technique isn’t brilliant but he still gets down - and enjoys doing so!! We’ve got another ski holiday booked which ski-wise,based on this week, I’m now dreading!. As a family we are becoming poles apart. Daughter has a long term boyfriend so presumably won’t want family skiing any longer which leaves son stuck with us (and vice versa lol).
My question then is, is there a company that organizes to take teens on ski holidays? His school didn’t do one this year and the college where he’s heading in September only run them for the sports students (though we’ll be speaking to them next week to find this out for sure). It’s not just the skiing where we struggle but also having people his own age so he doesn’t get bored. Into the mix though is that he’s shy.
Does such a holiday exist?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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 a look at SC of GB, not sure what age you have to be but their "ski with a leader" tend to be faster, more red run skiing, so if he is a member & meets the age criteria, he could go off for the day with them?
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The other route would be for him to take lessons with other teenagers. If he's good enough, the higher ESF groups tend to take them off piste quite a bit - and they'll improve his technique. Skiing in a family where he's the most daring probably isn't that good for him. Skiing with other fast teenagers, behind an entertaining instructor, would be an eye opener.
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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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+1 for what @pam w, said. He may well be quicker than you all but from what you say his technique needs work and he could make some friends in a group. We all know we can all go fast at that age but it is technique that will get him out of trouble now and when he is older. I do understand the teen issue though. Any chance you can take one of his mates with you next time? We now meet and ski with friends and the kids get much more out of the holiday and then don't mind the ski days with slow coach Mum - esp as I may well stump up for a decent lunch!
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My son was "stuck" with us oldies this year and at the end of the week said he'd lost his ski mojo. He's in that sort of frame of mind at the moment though. He would never go back to ski school though - I reckon skiing with mates is his next step, either on the Uni trip (if he could be bothered to book it) or with friends that ski.
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Does racing interest your son? If so you could look at one of the organisations that provide training camps e.g www.brpcski.com
My daughter (just 16) does a few weeks a year, drop at airport and collect a week later 
Appropriate kit would be required though - skis, helmet with guard, shin pads etc
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| bambionskiis wrote: |
| As my confidence declines, our 15 year old lad’s is galloping. None of this boring “blue” stuff for him. His 18 year old sister is bravely stepping into the gap and escorting him on reds whilst hubby babysits me (when he’d rather be with them). However son wants to go faster and steeper which understandably his sister isn’t interested in. His technique isn’t brilliant but he still gets down - and enjoys doing so!! We’ve got another ski holiday booked which ski-wise,based on this week, I’m now dreading!. As a family we are becoming poles apart. Daughter has a long term boyfriend so presumably won’t want family skiing any longer which leaves son stuck with us (and vice versa lol). |
Sorry but I empathise with your husband!
Can you afford to buy him one private lesson per day? If he's going to ski faster, at least do so without embedding bad technique.
And why is your confidence declining? Go take more lessons yourself!
Otherwise, but also expensive, is to go to Canada where there are free guides round the mountain at different levels.
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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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Have a look at the free rider/pro rider group lessons that New Generation offer, sounds like they might suit?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@bambionskiis, I would book your son into morning ski school until he has reached ESF Gold or equivalent. After that there is a competition class in some resorts which he might enjoy.
You would then have a couple of hours each day to ski at your pace with your OH.
However I would also book yourself some private lessons so that you can confidently ski on reds as you would enjoy skiing far more on a wider range of runs. Sometimes it can be easier to ski a wide red than a narrow icy blue track so I wouldn't pay too much attention to piste colours.
Where you are in Montgenevre at the moment the Gondrons area is a good place to go in the afternoons. The whole family could take the lift together, you could each pick a different colour run and meet up to take the lift up again. There is also the café next to the lift if you wanted to have a break for half an hour.
For future holidays I would suggest trying to go with another family of mixed ability so that you have someone who wants to ski at your pace and your son has a friend to ski with.
My daughter is on a school ski trip at the moment and having an amazing time. I would definitely ask your son's next school if they could accommodate him on their ski trip.
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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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Such good advice everyone; I really appreciate it.
Telford mike - sounds brilliant for the future when he’s more competent but I’ll defiantly book mark it.
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| kempski wrote: |
| Have a look at SC of GB, not sure what age you have to be but their "ski with a leader" tend to be faster, more red run skiing, so if he is a member & meets the age criteria, he could go off for the day with them? |
Will have a look into that; sounds good. We aren’t members and had’t considered it before
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You know it makes sense.
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Why is your confidence declining? Is there anything you can do to stop that decline?
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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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Spot on Pam and cheesie. He could do with an experienced instructor who’ll strip out the cockiness and take him back to basics I think. Ref skiing with others, he only has 1 friend who skis and they stay with his French grandparents in their chalet and ski as a family so that’s a no-go sadly. Would solve a lot of problems though.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| skimummk wrote: |
| My son was "stuck" with us oldies this year and at the end of the week said he'd lost his ski mojo. He's in that sort of frame of mind at the moment though. He would never go back to ski school though - I reckon skiing with mates is his next step, either on the Uni trip (if he could be bothered to book it) or with friends that ski. |
It’s a really difficult phase - far trickier than when they’re young.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Swj that’s a great idea and I floated it by him earlier and he seemed very keen. We live not far from a dry slope where they do race training so this may work out. Just got to get his GCSE’s out of the way in May first
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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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Another vote for lessons - most of the main ski schools do teen groups which would give him someone to ski with and push his technique. And consider the SFaB as well, as a way to find like minded people to ski with - there are often mid teens on that (my daughter has really enjoyed it, despite sometimes being the oldest kid).
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Agreed orange200. I WANT him to go with them as I’m fine alone but he prefers to stay with me (to make sure I’m safe I think). He never moans and is very encouraging but I can see he wants to do more. Ref lessons for son, it’s what to do the rest of the time as he’s just bored so it was something a little more I was looking for. Ref me, god knows what’s going on. It’s just confidence crises. I know what I’m doing I just can’t relax. So frustrating.
We’re booked to go to Canada at Christmas so that’s a really good point. I’d forgotten about the guides.
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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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| Sitter wrote: |
| Have a look at the free rider/pro rider group lessons that New Generation offer, sounds like they might suit? |
They look really good. They aren’t in any resort we’ve thought of so far but will bear it in mind
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Caravanskier really good advice. You are absolutely right. I would actually rather just be left to do my own thing (you resonate very much with me!) and I think it’s something I really need to do. Hubby keeps worrying about me (in fairness he’s witnessed me have a fair few meltdowns) so wants to stay around. We are usually really independent but with skiing he wants me to be happy. He needs to let go though I think.
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Snowymum thanks. He is quite competitive so that sounds good. Ref me I had some private lessons again last year and hated it; it was like I couldn’t ski and was no help (not the instructor’s fault). Left to my own devices I’d be happy tootling around on greens whistling tunes. Weird I know!! You’re right though it does severely limit resorts if you can’t do reds so it’s not a good strategy for me. We’re heading up to gondrans tomorrow. I like poussin and that blue bumpy bit off Sanges?, hate Lac ( had 2 near-misses with out of control ski school kids when it was a bit icy). I had a bit of a meltdown on a steep slushy bit of Pharo (just below chalvet top station) which set me back - think I’ll skip that bit and do suffin instead. I liked the other bits of it though.
Sadly we don’t know any other skiers. Literally none of our family or friends.
His school decided for the first time this year that year 11 was far too important for skiing so they cancelled it for his year only. I really wasn’t happy and felt so sorry for him.
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Swiftoid, I have no idea. I’m taking super safe skiing to the absolute extreme. My turns are now really pretty good - because I work so many into EVERY run. It’s ridiculous. I could do with a bit of my son’s gung-ho spirit.
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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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Mgrolf I hadn’t considered a bash as I assumed it would be families with much younger kids. I’ll give that some thought next year though as it’s a good idea.
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We are in Serre Chevalier and with my 13yr old daughter who although capable of skiing with us would get more out of lessons. I was concerned she wasn’t quite upto the teenage lessons though.
Had a chat with the Ski Connection ski school, and thanks to another snowhead we put my daughter, their 2 daughter into an adult lesson which ski school was also booking other teenagers into.
Unfortunately they also added a couple of adults who at least one of had been massively slowing them all down (it is the top adult group), however as she is with friends she is still having a great time.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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That’s a stroke of luck then Nicky. Glad it worked out for her, though shame about the slow adult (although I can relate to that
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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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| bambionskiis wrote: |
| Swj that’s a great idea and I floated it by him earlier and he seemed very keen. We live not far from a dry slope where they do race training so this may work out. Just got to get his GCSE’s out of the way in May first |
Same with my daughter, no skiing now until they’re out of the way. Dry slope race training will bring his skiing on massively - and the club may arrange trips too.
What slope / club are you near?
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"His 18 year old sister is bravely stepping into the gap and escorting him on reds whilst hubby babysits me (when he’d rather be with them)."
"I WANT him to go with them as I’m fine alone but he prefers to stay with me (to make sure I’m safe I think). He never moans and is very encouraging but I can see he wants to do more. Ref lessons for son, it’s what to do the rest of the time as he’s just bored so it was something a little more I was looking for. Ref me, god knows what’s going on. It’s just confidence crises. I know what I’m doing I just can’t relax."
@bambionskiis, not wanting to beat about the bush, despite the title of your thread you don't make it sound like it's the teen that is the underlying problem here!
"Ref me I had some private lessons again last year and hated it; it was like I couldn’t ski and was no help (not the instructor’s fault). Left to my own devices I’d be happy tootling around on greens whistling tunes." "I had a bit of a meltdown on a steep slushy bit of Pharo (just below chalvet top station) which set me back"
My take from what you've typed now is - Your family is quite concerned about you around a ski resort and is scared to let you go alone. Which is very sweet but is building frustration for all involved.
If I'm right, you can a) quit skiing, and stay in a pool or spa, b ) carry on tootling around greens but secretly worry in case something goes wrong and you can't handle it, and your family similarly constantly worries, or c) make a determined effort to get over the mental block that you seem to have.
I'm your son 30 years on, I could get down most things with balance and teen muscle strength but it ain't pretty, and now the muscle strength is going and I'm over 50 I'm starting to fail, and without the gung-ho spirit too. Strong spirit on weak foundations. So I briefed private instructors "I don't want to be scared". (Sod perfect carving turns, they bore me to tears.) Turns out even my parallel stops were crap - a bit of adjustment and drills and within a day I had the confidence to attack far steeper runs as now finally I knew I could stop easily. I asked them to teach me moguls, soft snow, little jumps, gulleys... anywhere that previously I'd tense up as I didn't know what to do, and no longer had the gung-ho teenage spirit to get me over it. As your confidence builds, you relax more, and can ask instructors to teach you the next step. And meanwhile your family will be having fun as they don't worry about you.
It's cost me a fair bit in private lessons, but so worth it, I'd never get that personalised diagnosis/treatment in groups. In Lake Louise I took advantage of the First Tracks courses, dirt cheap private lessons. Just make sure you ask for the same instructor each time as they don't usually do that. Not sure why you couldn't get on last time, I agree that not all teachers gel with all pupils, but I wonder how ready you were to have your basics pulled apart, that's definitely humbling (humiliating!). After 16 weeks of skiing I was quite disillusioned this guy was wasting my time and money fussing with my hockey stop - but wow he was so right. Sometimes a female instructor helps teaching a female, sometimes not... (I've seen someone here who says he got his stressed wife a young male instructor who was very easy on the eye and suddenly her skiing really improved!)
Private lessons for you, with the instruction to build your confidence...
Or maybe I'm completely wrong
Where will you go in Canada?
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You know it makes sense.
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| Swj wrote: |
| bambionskiis wrote: |
| Swj that’s a great idea and I floated it by him earlier and he seemed very keen. We live not far from a dry slope where they do race training so this may work out. Just got to get his GCSE’s out of the way in May first |
Same with my daughter, no skiing now until they’re out of the way. Dry slope race training will bring his skiing on massively - and the club may arrange trips too.
What slope / club are you near? |
Such a pain isn’t it - roll on the summer!! Gloucester is our nearest slope
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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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Brilliant reply orange - thank you for taking the time. You are absolutely right in all you say. I’ve just sent the family off with a vague “meet you later” and I’m going to do drills to focus myself. Sounds like I need to persevere with lessons then - I was terrified with the last instructor so I probably didn’t give them good enough feedback. We’re off to Banff so will defiantely do the ski school you suggest. I’m liking the idea of a “fit” instructor - I’ll ask for profile pictures before I book
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Poster: A snowHead
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Yeah!
You'll see the (long) TR for Banff in my signature, if it helps. I don't know if Lake Louise ski school offer the cheap First Tracks all season or only, say, March onwards (lighter, warmer, less business), that will be for you to find out. I don't think Sunshine offered such good value. But it worked for me as, coming from Europe with time difference, we were always awake by 5am so getting the early bus for First Tracks (and stopping skiing by 3pm when tired) made lots of sense.
When I go skiing next time - house renovations are sadly delaying it each year - I might get twin tips and concentrate on Park skills so I learn how to jump and twist. Again, always trying to build up a package of skills so I reduce the chance to get in the situation "help now I don't know what to do". Makes me more confident, more relaxed, and an enjoyable holiday.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Orange I’ll have a read of that tonight when I get back then cheers.
Good point about schools as we are going at an unsociable time of year, so I’ll have to look into that. Good point about jet lag!!
Hope the reno is over soon. We had 10 years of it and like the Forth Bridge need to start work again as it’s now tatty. Good luck with the skis. Jumping and twisting sounds like my idea of hell as you might imagine, and something I spend my time avoiding but I do still see the attraction and love to watch it.
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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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Basically, when I hit an unexpected bump and am launched into the air, I'd like to maximise my chances of landing cleanly rather than stiffening up and then breaking something!
Looks like First Tracks is all year, this season's site says "First Tracks Program runs December 14, 2019 until April 13, 2020. Start time is 8:30am and there is a maximum of 2 people. Requires advanced booking." The 2.5hr lesson looks expensive but 1.5 is excellent - I think that's in time for instructors to then run a 10am-12 noon lesson as normal as well.
https://www.skilouise.com/ski-snowboard-lessons/adult-lessons/adult-first-tracks-lessons/
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| bambionskiis wrote: |
| Swj wrote: |
| bambionskiis wrote: |
| Swj that’s a great idea and I floated it by him earlier and he seemed very keen. We live not far from a dry slope where they do race training so this may work out. Just got to get his GCSE’s out of the way in May first |
Same with my daughter, no skiing now until they’re out of the way. Dry slope race training will bring his skiing on massively - and the club may arrange trips too.
What slope / club are you near? |
Such a pain isn’t it - roll on the summer!! Gloucester is our nearest slope |
Great club at Gloucester and they organise a race series ideal for those new to racing too
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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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Good luck with your progress orange.
Thanks so much for the lessons info. I’ve printed it off and put it in my file. Cheers.
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That’s good to know swj, many thanks
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FAQ
And other times I headed for the nearest swimming pool and left them to it 
