 Poster: A snowHead
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| boggyjo wrote: |
If there are others out there who run school ski trips....
I try to keep our costs as low as I can without compromising quality. For the 2026-27 season, my school trip will be £1500 for 6 days full board, coach via Dover. Nice hotel, but 30 mins to either Ischgl, St Anton or may try Serfaus.
We break up early for Christmas, so go the week before most schools can which, even is the snow is poor is not too much of an issue at Ischgl.
I am slightly worried that in reaching the £1500 mark, the might psychologically put people off.
My question is, how much are your school trips if you are trying to keep them rreasonably priced?
Many thanks in advance. |
I organised a school trip to Finland before I moved jobs, it was £1,950pp and included skiing, x-country skiing, dog sledding, ice fishing etc was great fun and had no problem getting 30 pupils
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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On the half day thing, many schools choose Austria because ski school is often 2hrs morning 2hrs afternoon with lunch in between.
Saves the worry about free skiing etc as they are in lessons
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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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| Stu3333 wrote: |
On the half day thing, many schools choose Austria because ski school is often 2hrs morning 2hrs afternoon with lunch in between.
Saves the worry about free skiing etc as they are in lessons |
Yes. We have 5 hrs instruction each day. The progression off the children is impressive.
The one thing that does really annoy me is the cost to buy an extra instructor for the week. Over £2k!
Pre-brexit I used to take a friend and parent who was BASI 3 and a level 4 race coach.
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Do schools book the elements of the trip separately or do they just outsource the whole thing to a travel company?
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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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@boggyjo my understanding is it's still possible to take instructors with you since Brexit.
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| Klamm Franzer wrote: |
| Do schools book the elements of the trip separately or do they just outsource the whole thing to a travel company? |
always outsourced to specialist schools/group type company in my experience
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Outsource the whole trip. The level of organisation would be unbelievable if you tried to book each element. Also, the stress of any one element going wrong (eg flight delays / cancellation) with 40-60 kids would be impossible to deal with.
In terms of 'free ski' or skiing without supervision, it's a topic that comes up frequently. I don't think some parents fully understand how much is involved in organising a ski trip, and how allowing any 'free skiing' could have a massive impact on a trip. The risk assessments that go with any trip are huge, even for a day trip out of school. For a ski trip the risk assessment can be hundreds of pages and that's before you've even left school. No school authority would allow free skiing these days, and teacher led (probably even if qualified) skiing is thankfully way in the past. I think it's actually quite rude of some parents to expect teachers to allow their kids to ski without instructors. Yes they may be very good black run / off piste skiers but accidents can happen anywhere. It should clearly state in any letter that all skiing is to be instructor led and if you're not happy with that I would suggest that parents don't sign their kids up.
This may sound like a bit of a rant but the consequences of any accidents could be very serious for staff.
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| james75 wrote: |
Outsource the whole trip. The level of organisation would be unbelievable if you tried to book each element. Also, the stress of any one element going wrong (eg flight delays / cancellation) with 40-60 kids would be impossible to deal with.
In terms of 'free ski' or skiing without supervision, it's a topic that comes up frequently. I don't think some parents fully understand how much is involved in organising a ski trip, and how allowing any 'free skiing' could have a massive impact on a trip. The risk assessments that go with any trip are huge, even for a day trip out of school. For a ski trip the risk assessment can be hundreds of pages and that's before you've even left school. No school authority would allow free skiing these days, and teacher led (probably even if qualified) skiing is thankfully way in the past. I think it's actually quite rude of some parents to expect teachers to allow their kids to ski without instructors. Yes they may be very good black run / off piste skiers but accidents can happen anywhere. It should clearly state in any letter that all skiing is to be instructor led and if you're not happy with that I would suggest that parents don't sign their kids up.
This may sound like a bit of a rant but the consequences of any accidents could be very serious for staff. |
Thanks for this. Not quite the question asked, but very useful for anyone who thinks they can run a trip without going through a provider.
I only know of one school who does this…. Madness and they don’t save much money at all!
I use SkiTeam4 and have done for years. I just wanted to test the waters regarding other companies, but I am more than happy with ST4.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Apologies @boggyjo! Went 'off piste' a bit!
I think 1500 for 6 days all in is ok. We are on about 1350 for 5 days ski this year (Austria - hotel 20 mins from slopes). It's an expensive hobby / trip but if the demand is there it's worth doing.
I don't think the savings of going it alone are worth the stress.
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| swskier wrote: |
| @boggyjo my understanding is it's still possible to take instructors with you since Brexit. |
Do you know how they get insurance? Friend of mine is BASI (not sure if 2 or 3) and a teacher, but BASI said insurance wasn’t valid in EU.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| swskier wrote: |
| @boggyjo my understanding is it's still possible to take instructors with you since Brexit. |
It is a pain in the proverbial to do. Need to get written permission for Austria. No one answers your emails.
The cost of an extra instructor is very high if you are paying for it though!
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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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My lad was off to the Madonna Di Campiglio 14 - 20 March 2026, but the hotel unilaterally cancelled them and apparently a load of other UK school trips last week. (maybe to do with the Dolomites cap??). They (skicompany.net) have since rebooked at another resort for a week earlier.
Costs £ 1,285.00
What's included
Return flights, return airport and resort transfers by coach, full board accommodation,
winter sports insurance, 5 day full area ski pass, 5 hours per day ski lessons for 5 days,
hire of all ski equipment, all evening activities and all local taxes and gratuities.
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That seems an extremely good price, especially as it includes wall to wall child care!
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You know it makes sense.
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| artaxerxes wrote: |
My lad was off to the Madonna Di Campiglio 14 - 20 March 2026, but the hotel unilaterally cancelled them and apparently a load of other UK school trips last week. (maybe to do with the Dolomites cap??). They (skicompany.net) have since rebooked at another resort for a week earlier.
Costs £ 1,285.00
What's included
Return flights, return airport and resort transfers by coach, full board accommodation,
winter sports insurance, 5 day full area ski pass, 5 hours per day ski lessons for 5 days,
hire of all ski equipment, all evening activities and all local taxes and gratuities. |
That is during school term time is it not? Very surprised any schools are allowed to do that. Still, a very good price.
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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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| boggyjo wrote: |
Thanks for all the replies.
I still think we have a good deal and being a state boarding school, I think that many parents are happy, if they can afford it, to send their kids away with their mates. |
Out of interest @boggyjo and a total side quest, which school is this? I only ask because I went to a state boarding school - Wymondham College in Norfolk - and went on a school ski trip to Austria (after much begging to my parents) circa 1995 which gave me the ski bug. Awful hotel and a very long coach journey, but a great trip nonetheless. Hoper you manage to get it organised and sorted!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| boggyjo wrote: |
| The Duke of York’s Royal Military School. |
Good choice to go via Dover. You'll appreciate the break in the journey after spending two minutes on the coach.
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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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Absolutely! Although the EES might make life interesting.
We go the week before most schools break up for Christmas. Ischgl or St Anton with hardly anyone else on the slopes. Always a great trip!
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| Quote: |
The one thing that does really annoy me is the cost to buy an extra instructor for the week. Over £2k!
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On paper sounds like a lot. But guessing each instructor has 6 kids. So each kid is paying £55 per day - which for full day tuition doesn't seem outrageous.
Also assuming you are not booking directly with the instructor, the company you book with and whichever ski school they then book the instructor through will both take cuts.
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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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School ski trips will rarely have 6 in a group. More like 10 (although I have seen groups of 17!)
I think you make a fair point. We have 43 children with 5 instructors.
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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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| boggyjo wrote: |
School ski trips will rarely have 6 in a group. More like 10 (although I have seen groups of 17!)
I think you make a fair point. We have 43 children with 5 instructors. |
Yeah when you cost it per child it seems much more reasonable. I guess the ski schools providing the instructors won't want to undercut their regular pricing.
I can tell you trips aimed at adults are much more extortionate  My experience of central Asia is local company puts together the trip and adds on 5-10% fee. The western company then adds up to 50% to this before selling it on to tourists. For a 10 day package tour it's fairly normal to make $1k profit per person (with a normal group size being around 12). Of course thats divided between the local and western companies, and both have overheads and other costs involved. But still, a lot of money to be made putting together/selling group trips.
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| boarder2020 wrote: |
| But still, a lot of money to be made putting together/selling group trips. |
Yet it's an industry with such a high rate of payments chargebacks that many mainstream payments providers either won't process card payments for small operators, or charge excess insurance fees and have long holdback periods. Maybe it all looks good until COVID. Or a volcano. Or a plane crash. Or a war. Or any other long list of high impact, potentially uninsured/uninsurable events.
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