Ski School - Esprit or ESF?

A snowHead

Hi

We are hoping to get to Belle Plagne in March this year with Esprit.

Current dilemma for an 8 year old enthusiastic skier - pro's & con's of ESF ski school versus Esprit's ski school? Opinions/experiences of each most welcome. Any other Ski school in the area that would trump either of those?

Also, any advice how to get the last day Saturday skiing in for a lone child (parents unable to ski) - ski school would finish on the Friday & I can only find 2 hour lesson for the Saturday at the moment!

Thanks in advance Smile

A snowHead

Hi,

Go with Esprit.
* Take advantage of the Esprit is in the extras such as taking your child to/from lessons, SnowBuddy, Supervised Lunch
* Far more sociable for your child if hes in ski school with the same kids from your accommodation.

The reason Esprit works so well is their complete wrap around childcare, if you go ESF you'll lose many of the benefits.

Rich

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

Esprit use ESF in some places (you need to check directly with them), but limit the numbers to 8 for that age group.

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

You might also check out Oxygene.

Generally speaking (IME), the likelihood of a better experience outside the ESF is higher (smaller class numbers and possibly better English). This doesn't mean the ESF will be a worse experience....but you won't know until you try (obviously).

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Thanks for the info.

I asked Esprit and they say the lessons are organised by them with ESF instructors. However on the ESF website it would appear to be £100 ish cheaper to book direct with ESF for the 5 days.

But we definitely need the social aspect of Esprit so that could outweigh the additional cost.

Any ideas for the Saturday? ESF have quoted £360 for 3 hours in the morning & 3 hours in the afternoon, that's more than their 5 day ski school Confused

so I am trying to re-think!

Thanks again

You'll need to Register first of course.

From experience I would definitely do esprit. There is a ranger who stays with the kids as well as the (usually ESF) instructor. The rangers do all kinds of warm up songs and dances for the kids, snacks, lunch, nose wiping, toilet trips, carrying of boots and skis included, you basically dump your kid off and then have an hour or so to get yourself sorted and off to either lessons or out and about. They also have an award ceremony at the end of the week, one of the rangers ends up getting a bucket of slime chucked over them..........my kids loved it when they were younger. It’s well worth paying the extra. I know esprit did do guided family skiing on a Saturday if you are skiing yourselves) Perhaps you could look into that. By the end of the week my kids were desperate to spend some time with us........a bit of a ski down some lovely easy forest slopes, a bit of lunch, a walk into town, plastic tat buying, sledging. There are lots of other things I imagine to do on resort. I’d also recommend if you are novices to get the basics sorted at your local ski dome prior to traveling. That way you will be able to explore more when you are away.

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

Thanks Debra, unfortunately I dont ski & other half is out of action with a knee injury so we are struggling for the Saturday. Our 8 year old is pretty confident on the slopes but needs practice and instruction. I think I've managed to sort most things except for the Saturday! Kinda stumped at mo with that one.

After all it is free

There are some current doubts about Esprit (see the different thread about dropping standards in accommodation). However when our daughter was small, lessons organised through them worked very well indeed. They use a local ski school (typically ESF in France) but select which teachers and set up small groups of Esprit kids only. Coupled with the surrounding childcare that leads to happy children in a familiar peer group.

I remember a trip to La Rosiere when daughter was seven or so; as we were skiing we happened to come across her group and were impressed to see it being followed by an Esprit staff member with a clip board doing quality control. You will be more likely to get high quality English language instruction than taking pot luck with ESF.

@StewfromScotland,

Check on ESF Web site for Saturday. The rates quoted are much too high.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

I agree that there is a general drop in overall standards and quality but the childcare we have had the last 3/4 years has been first class.

As Debra says the key difference between ESF and Esprit is all the extra support round it. With ESF you will need to get your child down to the meeting point on the slope from your chalet and also pick them up when the lesson is finished. With Esprit you drop them at a nearby chalet normally and they have staff to take them to the lesson point (sometimes via minibus if its far away and they are small) and they also have a ranger with the lesson as well so if your child has any problems there is an extra pair of good English speaking hands available to help. They then help bring them back to the chalet as well. After that its up to you if you use the supervised lunches / afternoon care to enable you to get further afield skiiing/snowboarding or you want to join up with them. A couple years ago we felt bad as many were taking theirs out in the afternoon so we did on the Thursday and the boys said that would have preferred to have fun building iglus with the club Laughing

so they obviously enjoy it.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

@StewfromScotland,
Just checked on our esf website and the day rate is 376 euro. There would be additional cost for lunch etc.

snow reports

mr Twopenny worth is that it depends upon how good your daughter is at skiing.
If she is enthusiastic but still snowploughing blues, then I would say go with Esprit as she will be well looked after and with English speaking friends.
If she is a very good skier for her age then I would go straight with Esf as they will promote her into the next group if she is of higher ability.
We booked our 8 year old into bronze last year and Esf bumped him up to gold on second day, he was with French speakers but didn’t mind.
Not sure Esprit would have done this as they would need an extra snow ranger?

Once the children reach intermediate they don't have a snow ranger accompanying the lesson

You know it makes sense.

We were in Anton last week with Esprit. Our 8 year old was in the all day intermediate class on her own for the week and had an 18 year old UK instructor all week - she had an absolute blast.

All the Ski School Arlberg instructors teaching Esprit kids were from the UK and the feedback from other parents was outstanding.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Thanks so much everyone for your input really helpful. I think we will stick with Esprit and try and book for the Saturday when we are there Very Happy

A snowHead

@StewfromScotland, If you have to go to Belle Plagne then I'd also say stick with Ski Esprit and they are flexible enough to move your daughter up a class if she's good enough. But if the two of you aren't skiing you'll be pretty bored stuck in the Deux Domains and there isn't that much to do around Belle Plagne. Maybe you should consider one of their resorts that's more valley based like St Anton. Alternatively go somewhere that offers ski lessons for any number of days. You might even want to consider self catering, after all, it will give the two of you something else to do each day. We recommend these guys to our clients. https://www.fischis-skischule.at/en/

Help!!

Ski School - Esprit or ESF?

snowHeads Forum Index >>> Resort Reviews and Trip Reports