 Poster: A snowHead
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We (me and 19yr old son) are off to VD on 10 Feb (yippee). I haven't booked ski school or lift pass yet.
We like ski school for tuition and to meet others so groups of 10/12 preferred. Any recommendations ?
And should we buy lift passes in advance or in resort ? Local or incl. Tignes ?
We are low intermediates.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I would be tempted with the tignes pass. I don't think the difference is so huge. If you have been 3 or 4 time before at least the link over is straightforward. Le Grand Motte in good conditions offers excellent skiing. There was an excellent idependent ski school when I went there in 1994 but times have moved on. I prefer independent ski school for lessons as the classes are usually smaller. Precision is good place to hire skis from albeit not the cheapest. Have a good trip
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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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mike.healy, go for the full area pass, Tignes has got some great skiing.
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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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When we went last year, 2 people in my group had group lessons with the esf. Neither of them enjoyed them and one of the instructors was shocking. He would only let his group side step up the begginers slope for the first 3 days, and my friend wsa obviously more capable and should at least have been moved up a group. At the start of the third lesson we asked the instructor if he would take them at least on the drag lift that day and all he did was give the gaillic shrug. So steve swapped the remainder of his lessons for a credit against private lessons, had 3 private lessons, and was on red runs 3 lessons later.
He loved his private lessons but the group ESF ones didn't seem to be so good.
Evolution 2 in Val are good, and they have a branch in Tignes. I had lessons with them 3 years ago (red+ which was spent mainly on improving technique on blacks) and they were very good.
Book sooner rather than later if i were you. We had trouble getting lessons in Tignes last year as they got booked up very early.
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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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Any other ski schools recommeded please ? We want group lessons, Sun - Thurs mornings
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I believe New Generation operate in Val and a friend of ours is also a fan of Magic in Motion (albeit in Courchevel)
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Mike,
I'm taking the family to Val D in March so have done a good amount of investigation into ski schools there (its going to be my son's first time in ski school).
Assuming you don't want to fork out for a 'British' ski school, a couple of good private French schools (with English speaking instructors) are Oxygene (still a bit pricy) and Evolution 2 (cheaper although are a bit more variable in the feedback stakes). I used Oxygene in Val last year for a private lesson for my son and I've booked him into Evolution 2 for a weeks ski school for this year. If you are looking for something a bit more adventurous, I've been looking at intro off-piste lessons and Top Ski (they won some ski school award recently) have both good feedback and what seems like a cracking price (55 Euro's for a 4 hours [morning] of off-piste lesson with max group size of 6 - English speaking instructor again). Evol 2 also do intro off-piste lessons, same price, but they only tend to run them in the afternoons so not so good. I've not yet booked up here so I could be missing something about the price!
I think most ski schools groups lessons run Monday through Friday so finding one that runs Sunday through Thursday could be tricky. You could book a Monday through Friday group lesson (ok so you waste one of the days) and then book an off-piste lesson on the Sunday: the first day of skiing after you arrive - in at the deep end and all that 
I didn't think you could buy just a Val area ski pass. I thought you could only buy an Espace Killy one which includes Tignes. I've always bought the lift pass in resort without any problems. The trouble I've had with buying them online is the whole site seems to be geared to selling the resisdents pass or the 'loyalty' pass (which gives you a 10% or so discount: trouble is you need to supply old passes and I ditched ours from last year). Not looked into it in much detail yet though.
I hope that helps.
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Was in Val d'Isere recently. The new electronic lift pass system means that you can now buy a local (Tignes or Val) lift pass or an Espace Killy lift pass. The latter is only 10 euros extra so I would definitely recommend it. I was disappointed with the new VIP card which is supposed to reward loyal clients. I tried buying one on-line but it seemed too complicated, especially having to supply a photo and a previous lift pass. In resort I was told they are not available over the counter because they take three weeks to manufacture. (This is true even if you can work out how to apply on-line, so it was lucky that I gave up trying.) They gave me the traditional 5% loyalty discount for a six day pass but said that next time I must have the VIP card to qualify for a discount. Trouble is, I usually book the holiday only a few days before. I hope I will be able to buy the card and then present it in resort to be loaded with the correct dates.
No direct experience of ski schools but two in our party three years ago were pleased with Evolution 2.
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