First time holiday with Kids

A snowHead

Hey all,

After skiing for years without kids, our friends are to braving a first holiday with (now we have them)..!

6 adults and 5 kids all booked for Courchevel 1550. Kids are ages 3-10. 4 of the adults are pretty experienced.

Looking for some feedback for those that have braved it before Toofy Grin

First question- We are looking at putting the kids into ski school for the mornings. They are all generally the same stage (beginners), ie will have done 5-6 group lessons at home before flying out. Is ski school the best option? Looks circa 400 each for the morning lessons for the week. Is there a mileage in private lessons for the 4/5kids? (The 3yr old might not ski) Assume ESF for lessons but haven’t looked into it too much yet.

Second question- my daughter (5yrs) has loved the lessons at home so far and I’d love to take her out with me in the afternoons- if she’s not shattered. Is the closest magic carpet/ beginners area in 1650 or 1850?

Third question- going to take my own skis, but wondered if people get there’s serviced in the resort? I’d generally get it done before going, but thought it might be cheaper in France..? We alap arrive lunch time on the Saturday so plenty of time to drop off. Worth thinking about? Or just do it at home.?

Open to any other sensible advice from the veteran family holidays!! Hopefully it’s a success and I’ve not built it up too much rolling eyes

Cheers
Dave

A snowHead

Are you going at half term? If so, vital to book ski school ASAP - some options will already be fully booked. Can't advise on schools in 1550 but one of the schools which guarantee smaller groups than ESF might be preferable. Don't worry about any of the rest of it till you've booked ski school....... preferably easy access from your accommodation.

They won't need to be in complete beginner classes and if different ages might be in different groups. If in doubt speak to ski school.

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Tip I say each time. Don’t think you are going on a ski holiday; think you are accompanying the children on their first ski holiday, and if you’re really lucky you might get a few hours on skis. It’s an investment for next time when things will be much smoother. Expecting the adults to have 4 out of 5 days great skiing is a recipe for frustration.
Also have very serious conversations with the adults about who does what, when. Again, each one expecting the other to do something can lead to unpleasant atmospheres.
Hope you have a great time, making it about the children puts a fun perspective on it.

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Next tip - it'll take three times longer than you thought possible to get 5 kids to ski school equipped with passes, a little choc bar snack (take loads) and nobody needing a last minute wee. If they are already used to lessons together group private lessons would be ideal, but very little chance now of being able to arrange that for half term mornings.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Flying out Feb 24th for the week. Will check ski schools now!

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Lucky you guys being allowed to take kids out of school. We did it for a day or two early on, then the LEA and independent schools clamped down for good.

Imho avoid ESF group lessons, but the private groups could be a great idea.

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Imo - don't bother taking your own skis - theres a lot of luggage already to schlep about at the airport and you are only going to get "short mornings" by the time you've dropped at ski school and got back in good time to pick up so you won't get far, unless you are going to take turns as "ski school monitor".

First time we took our kids we used ESF and booked them into extended sessions which included lunch - the extra hour wasn't much £s and gave us a decent amount of kid-free ski time. Kids learned loads of French as although we booked english ski lessons the instructors that took them to lunch didn't always speak such good english. They also tried foods they wouldn't have tried if we'd been there, and both got a taste for grenadine Laughing

We were with Ski Esprit (kids about 4 and 6) and our fellow chalet guests were very dismissive of our decision to use ESF rather than the Ski Esprit lessons (apparently the ESF instructors would let them wet themselves! wtf - my kids were both potty trained rolling eyes

) but it saved us about £400 (20yrs ago) and our kids were in a group of 5 - the Ski Esprit lessons were about 12 I think.

Ours had had a weeks intensive lessons on a dry slope so could use a drag, snow plough turn, stop etc. This was also great because they started two classes from beginning and could ski with us in the afternoon. Fond memories of the 4yrs old flying down slopes in Tignes in a huge snowplough at rapid rate of knots as he didn't listen to "let go from half way down"

After all it is free

The kids will probably have their own firm ideas (not necessarily all the same.....) about what they want to do. One problem in busy school holiday weeks is that all the lunch options within easy reach of ski school ending are likely to be mobbed. An apartment nearby where they can relax in their base layers and be fed familiar (and cheap!) fodder is ideal but not always attainable. Ski school lunch sounds a good option if available.

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We’ve been doing this with friends for many years now and usually in the 3Vs (although we rotate between La Tania and Méribel) with a variety of approaches. Link in my sig for my most recent 3Vs trip report.

Lessons: Good shout getting the kids (and some of the beginner adults?) lessons ahead of time. How far along have they gotten? We had the kids in group lessons the first couple of years with varying degrees of success (ESF who were annoying for the typical ESF reasons (groups too big, too formulaic in approach, and very very French wink

). The last year the core group of kids did lessons, we got them a private instructor for the week (through Oxygene in La Tania) which was so well-received that the next year when Dan wasn’t available the kids refused lessons altogether (they were good enough to do what they wanted to do). If the kids get on well together (this is *hugely* important) and are broadly similar in sportiness (less important, but can compensate for social dynamics), private is really the way to go. I’m probably unusual in preferring afternoon lessons with kids (which may be easier to get). As @pam w said, getting everyone clobbered up for an 0900 start time (unless you’re using Esprit, who get the kiddos booted, suited, and marched to their lessons whilst the parents enjoy their breakfasts) is a real hassle, and if you don’t have a lot of tolerance for faff and timewasting, massively stressful. A civilised 1400 start then gives the adults a chance to ski in the afternoon (or do their own lessons). The 3yo complicates things (ours all started rather older), and you may not have any alternative to ESF piou piou (their 3-5yo setup).

Location: C1550 has direct access to C1850 from 0745-2330 via the TC GRANGETTES bubble, (which means if you go for morning lessons, you could start them in 1850) or the TS TOVETS chair (less viable for genuine beginners, but that doesn’t sound like your lot), which means you have direct access to the Courchevel 1850 green network hands down the finest in the world in terms of variety of terrain, tree cover, distance, lift access and piste-side restaurants (and is only vaguely rivalled by the corresponding green network in Méribel the next valley over). Your daughter will easily be able to handle any of it after a day on skis. C1650/Moriond (also a nice area!) is more complicated to get to on skis (you’ll have to make your way through 1850) or you can take the bus, but just go to 1850.

Skis: I usually take my own, but as @skimummk notes, it adds considerably to the amount of stuff you need to drag around. (And to be honest, I probably only bring them for the vibes, I certainly don’t *need* my own for performance-related reasons). But anyway, I get them serviced in resort, dropping them off at wherever the group is hiring from while they’re dealing with boot fitting, etc. (afraid I don’t have any recommendations for C1550, I do like FreeSki in Méribel) and picking them up the next morning.

Other

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Can’t help with French skiing, we stick to Austria and did family hotels while the kids were little little. But bring extras, gloves get wet, kids don’t want to be out in the cold with wet hands. Smalls even well potty trained can have issues getting everything off, we always brought extra bottoms that would be a bit big in our youngest and a bit small on our eldest as a just in case.

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Thanks for all the messages, some food for thought!

Excuse my ignorance but ESF seem to get a bit of a hard time! My daughter will be 4, will have done circa 7/ 8 lessons before she goes. Thinking club Piou Piou is most appropriate? Although this is ESF run? Should we be concerned and look else where- if so- any recommendations? I see there’s a couple of other options

Cheers

You know it makes sense.

@BlueBird13, club piou piou will not be on the slopes, but in fenced off area to do some ski sliding & playing in the snow.
ESI are like ESF if you want to compare

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

Hello, I’ve just finished a week in Morzine with my 3 and 6 year olds so can chuck in my tuppence worth! We decided on ESF Morzine. I booked my youngest into Piou Piou and eldest into beginner lessons. The nursery is open from 8.30, we did half days excluding lunch (12pm pickup). Eldest did lessons 9-11am. Piou Piou also do lessons at the beginners garden 9-11 - they don’t go onto the proper slopes.
This gave us just under two hours of “proper” skiing before picking daughter up and doing some greens/easy blues for an hour before picking up youngest from nursery.
3 year old not particularly bothered to ski so we spent the sunny afternoons building snowmen/sledging or snowploughing him on the debutante slope.
On the bad weather days we headed back to the chalet for some downtime after lunch.
Our 6 year old loved it and would ski all day if she could. 3 year old was fine on the sunny days but struggled when it was cold/snowy. Both kids had a few meltdowns - usually when especially tired or hungry. Some days we just made the decision to go back early and get them fed and bathed and in front of the TV.
I’d have liked to have done a bit more adult skiing but was happy to have two hours per day. Like a pp said, the first holiday is about getting the kids up and running so hopefully next time they’ll be at the next level and ready to ski a bit more.
I was happy with ESF. Both kids happy to be dropped off in the morning.

A snowHead

In 2015 I took my then 7yr old grandson to Plagne Villages - just me and the youngster. Leaving aside logistical issues transferring luggage to apartment on arrival and in the opposite direction on departure, there were no insurmountable issues.

Local ESF were OK - 9am drop-off just 50m walk from the apartment building ski locker room and 11.45 collection gave me a comfortable 2hrs skiing every morning with some leeway for delays. Yes, his group were predominantly French, one or two spoke some English and the instructor was "inclusive" of the entire group.

Afternoons were a mixed bag - as the week progressed I worked out that bribery (Orangina, chocolate, etc) was more persuasive than cajolery, that and as his subconscious competence developed so did his desire to ski a little after lunch. However, always accept you might be indoors playing Uno or doing something that's not skiing!

The weeks away in 2016-2019 were increasingly easy.

A snowHead

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Obviously it's personal preference and has obviously worked for @Blackblade and possibly many others - but our preference has always been for morning lessons.

Admittedly, we do normally go later in the season when afternoon conditions aren't much fun for learners (in fact, down right horrible) but I've also been on a few warm weeks in Feb.

We normally stay within a stones throw of the ski school, so it's not that early a start (and kids are generally up early at that age anyway) - and normally full of beans.

The danger is that they use all that energy before the afternoon lesson, and then start lessons tired.
Our kids always preferred to go into lessons full of energy - knowing that if they run out of energy in the afternoon that they can call it a day at any point. But it definitely is different strokes for different folks so find what works for you and your kids.

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

Some places do kindergarten as well. It can work out expensive as you would need to pay lunches to bridge ski lessons & kindergarten.

It may be worth pricing up a private group lesson for all the kids if they are all beginners.
At least as parents you know they will all be together (if needed in an emergency) & also should have the same experience & not be in different mixed groups where some may make friends & some may feel they dont fit in or getting bullied by kids they dont know.

After all it is free

Have taken both my kids skiing for the last 3 years and my daughter came when she was 4-6.

Last year youngest son was put in the piou piou club despite us having spent £1000s on lessons at xscape and it took them 3 days to work out he could ski Mad

so make sure the kids are put in the right level of group.

We haven’t typically done much skiing with young kids in the afternoon after morning lessons because they tend to be worn out. Just odd few runs etc. private lessons with your group of kids might be a good shout.

Flashes of nightmares in ski rental shops and morning boot rooms are flooding back.
One tip, take some grey gaffer tape and permanent marker and label all the kids boots n skis so you know who's is who's

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We've taken our 2 kids and gone with my partners brother and his 2 kids for the past 6ish years.

We always do morning lessons and I always book ESF as they're often hugely cheaper. We go at easter so the classes are smaller anyway as there's less kids. I've no issues with them at all, TBH, I see getting any ski lessons at all as a kid a huge privilege that most of their friends never get to experience so I don't lose sleep over choosing a ski school.

The morning rush is a faf but hey, you're in the Alps, it could be worse. Ours have 3 years between so have always been in different classes but have always had a cousin with them, which I think helps loads. Depending on their personality, a group lesson with no one they know may or may not be an issue. It is for one of ours and not the other.

I always do lessons as well, so I usually pick them all up after the lessons and usually take them back to the apartment for noodles, or whatever they want, and an hour downtime. I appreciate the break as well. Getting them out again can be a bit of effort but usually a hot chocolate bribe will work.

Ours have been skiing probably 5 times now, since they were 6 and 9. One loves it and wants to do another week per year (I'm going to the Bash for the first time this year, if it works she'll maybe come with next year), the other tolerates it at best. I suspect when she can go with friends she'll love it but spend more time dancing on tables and slamming jagermiesters than actually skiing.

Its a great way to spend a week with family and friends though. If you can manage to keep in mind it's supposed to be a holiday, not a boot camp, and not everyone is going to love it like you do, then there's a good chance you'll do it all again next year.

A mate once told me that family ski holidays are the only way you'll spend a week together as they get older - because they'll never turn down a free ski holiday. I think she might be right.

Help!!

First time holiday with Kids

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