 Poster: A snowHead
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We are looking to book either a ski school course or private lessons all with ESF, but are not sure what to do. We are 3 adults, one has skiied for a week the other 2 have kind of learnt on a dry ski slope. We are staying in Les Coches. Any ideas? Ideally for the mornings, is it that the ESF do their private lessons in the afternoons? Many thanks
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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excited, welcome to snowHeads 
If you book a private instructor you can specify someone with good English. If you sign up for cgroup lessons it can sometimes be luck of the draw on who you get. When are you going? This can affect whether you can book private lessons in the morning (during school holidays, especially Feb half term, all instructors might well be used during the morning for group lessons, then privates in the afternoon).
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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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| rob@rar wrote: |
excited, welcome to snowHeads
If you book a private instructor you can specify someone with good English. If you sign up for cgroup lessons it can sometimes be luck of the draw on who you get. When are you going? This can affect whether you can book private lessons in the morning (during school holidays, especially Feb half term, all instructors might well be used during the morning for group lessons, then privates in the afternoon). |
the majority of ESF ski instructors have all adequate and some have exceptional English.
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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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We are going on the 12th Jan 08
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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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| Christopher wrote: |
| the majority of ESF ski instructors have all adequate and some have exceptional English. |
Not in my experience.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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excited, for the level of skiers you mention I think you would benefit more from a group lession as you get more time skiing with a group of similar level skiers. If you are really ambitious and are happy to go for it while you're not in the lesson then private might be better as it will be focussed just on you and will push you to your limit.
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Sorry to disagree with zebedee, but at any level, from day one skier upward private lessons are best IMHO. Put it this way would you like 1/3 of the instructors attention or 1/10? The only reason I can see to take group lessons is if you are a solo skier for the social side of things. if you are in a small party, you'll progress faster with personal tuition.
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AxsMan, it depends on your budget but what I mean is say 2 private lessons of 2 hours versus 6 group lessons of 2 hours. So, you may progress faster in the private lesson, but it's much more dependent on you while you're not in the lesson, that's why I mentioned how motivated the skiers are.
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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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zebedee, Its a fair point, but I just don't see group lessons as worth the cost. too much time spent simply following along behind another learner. If you're not on eof the first 2 or 3 behind the tutor you're not really learning anything you couldn't do on your own. I'd rather have less hours of high quality 1 on 1 (or 2 or 3) attention, then free ski for the rest of the day to practice.
That said, group lessons can be fun if you just want to learn your way round the hill and meet people, but for me that's not what lessons are about. As you say budget is an issue, but if you can afford the travel costs, the kit costs, and the price of staying in the alpes.... 
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But it is possible to have private lessons which are a bit like a miniature version of a group lesson - especially with ESF. It's still better, in that you get to follow the instructor around on your own, and can go at your own pace, but you don't necessarily get more specific and detailed feedback. Language problems can certainly get in the way here - it's often very subtle things which are needing to be communicated. Are there any other schools in Les Coches? There are certainly some good ones up in La Plagne. If you can all get there, it might be worth seeking them out - people who know LP better than I have recommended several. That's a quiet week, so it might be possible to book even at this late stage.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I am in the same position (but as an intermediate). Until now I've just done group lessons, but suspect that bad habits are starting to get ingrained and wish I had started private lessons earlier. So for my March trip I plan to do both ie. morning and afternoon group lessons with ESF but during the 3 hour lunch break also take some private lessons (which also are cheaper then). Just got to decide between Val Cenis (and take my chances with ESF for the private lessons) or La Plagne (where I believe there are better schools for the private lesson, but have to put up with larger group sizes and a reportedly dodgier ESF for the morning and afternoon lessons).
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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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excited, you don;t say what resort. If you go with someone like Ecole Ski 360 (not in all resorts) they are around e35 per hour for private lessons. I would estimate that an adult would not benefit from more than 3x one hour lessons on the first 3 days of the his/her trip.
So in other words, if the three skiiers bought three lessons each (which can follow on from one another and even double up) ti would cost no more than e105 each.
However, there is certainly a social aspect to skiing in groups that you would miss out on.
Never known a language problem with an instructor. Ever. In all my years of skiing (since 1983).
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Soeone who has skied 7 hours per day for a week may be at a different level those who have "sort of" learned on a dry ski slope (or not, I don't kn ow). It could make a big difference to where you can ski - you don't want to be stuck on the nursery slope!
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