 Poster: A snowHead
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I am looking for advice on ski resorts that wold be suitablefor my children.
My youngest was four in December and can confidently ski down the main slope of our local dry slope using snowplough turns.
However on this years holiday we could not find a ski school that could cater for such a young child being able to ski and ended up with beginners and hence did not benefit from the instruction.
Hopefully we can also find somewhere with a number of green runs where we can ski with her for some of the time.
My other child, is a member of local ski club and is confident, but we would also be looking for lessons to help him progress.
Any suggestions base don experience would be very welcome.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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ruthsy, based on personal experience, would suggest you look at Peisey Vallandry in France. Vallandry is a quiet family friendly resort and has access to all of Les Arcs and, when they fix it, La Plagne as well. Two ski schools we have used there are New Generation and Darentasia - both have provided lessons (either private or group) to our kids from around age 4 onwards
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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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ruthsy - Les Gets is absolutely fab for kids. Lots of green terrain, with the "Grand Crie" - an Indian themed children's ski park with obstacles (easier for (short) children than (tall) adults!), activities, "real" Indians and face painting to break it all up. All accessible via a bubble lift or very, very gentle chairlift.
Not sure on the lesson front as I suspect you'll have the same problem most places without resorting to private lessons.
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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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ruthsy, check out Puy Saint Vincent and in particilar www.snowbizz.co.uk , myself and a few other  highly reccomend the resort and the 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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ruthsy, many North American ski schools take kids from 4. Our kids started in Breckenridge when my youngest was just past his 4th birthday. It was a few years ago now, but the resort made learning a heap of fun, not least with Riparoo the skiing dog who used to make the kids hot chocolate in his hut when they got cold. A high quality ski school really is worth every minute of the longer journey time.
Breckenridge was great but, with hindsight, I think that I'd choose somewhere a little smaller and quieter - although definately across the pond. Kids don't ski huge distances, so small is beautiful.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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ruthsy, ESF at Les Arcs 1800 took our kids out on the mountain in a group at 4yo but first I had to hire the lady who had initially said no as a pvt instructor in order to force her to see with her own eyes that my kids could indeed already ski blue runs.
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another vote for snowbizz from me - although PSV may be too small for you and older child it will be just right for the youngest.
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Leave them at home 
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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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Ordhan, who said
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| Leave them at home |
can always be relied upon for a helpful and well-informed opinion.... 
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In our experience, resorts in France are cr*p at handling young kids who are already good skiers, whilst Austria and Canada have been great.
In France (Chatel) we got told by the ski school that junior was too good for them and needed to be up the mountain, but they didn't take U5s off the nursery slope. Other resorts we looked at didn't cater for U5s at all.
In Austria (Solden, Mayrhofen) the intructors watched him in a ski-off, and put him in the appropriate group - they didn't care he was only 3 (Mayrhofen) or 4 (Solden). In Solden, at the end of the week he won the ski school race.
In Canada (Silver Star, Big White) they advertise (and run) advanced lessons for U6s called "Junior Hot Shots". But this year he was too good for that so got moved up to the 7-12s group and spent the whole week skiing deep powder in the trees!
We are seriously worried how to cope for the next 10 years ski school...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Agree re Austria, Ski School in St Anton were very good with both our confident 7 year old and less confident 5 year old. They both had a ball and were skiing top to bottom. Who says St A ain't for beginners?
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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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Many thanks for all your responses so far
Rx
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You know it makes sense.
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Serfaus in Austria. Excellent for kids. I would say Lech is better than StA.
Loads of greens in Teluride and Buttermilk, Colorado.
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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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Morzine had great terrain, village atmosphere and "The Snow School" ski school was fabulous. It's a British organization, but actually quite good! 
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Poster: A snowHead
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BigDaddy, The Snow School in Morzine is owned and operated by ESF. It was set up last season to compete against BASS and E2SA who both offer significantly smaller class sizes than ESF. They've branded themselves to look British to attract skiers who have been previously put off by ESF.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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We have just skied at Les Collons in CH for the first time and were very happy with the ESS. They catered for Dutch, English, Danish as well as the standard French/ German/Italian speakers. Our 7 year old came on very well in kids ski school and our 5 year old went to the kids garden. The kids were all assesed on day 1 and the 5 year old was on the mountain on the very first day and I saw other kids from the kids garden on red runs very early in the week.
They were very nurturing to the kids and when the 5 YO said he was tired and asked to go back to the garden saw it as no problem. We put ours in for morning lessons plus lunch letting us ski till 13:30 and then we had the afternoon with the boys. Overall I got the impression that they went at the kids pace if they were good enough to leave the garden they did. Both Boys said they were very happy to go back to the ESS in Les Collons. Now for the disclaimer, we own a place there but would not pimp the resort or ESS if we were not happy.
Have no experience of any other Swiss resort but hopefully some others have. The one issue that might be a problem is that the ESS in Les Collons is Mon - Fri so we booked a 2 hour private lesson at CHF110 for 2 hours which included both boys on the Sunday.
In France we were very impressed with Magic in Motion in Meribel, but not cheap. In Big White, Canada when our eldest was only 3 I was very impressed with the child care and friends that went to Banff had their kids in group lessons but they ended up with 1on 1 because the Canadian holidays did not clash with the UK
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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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Just come back from Les Gets, wonderful family resort. My little boy did a couple of private hour lessons and then went straight into the beginners ESF class (Flocon as he's 5) none of the children could do anything at all so we asked for him to be moved into another class. They happily did so and he was skiing down blues really well and doing jumps. Would definitely recommend ESF. The Grand Cry Territoty is fantastic and there are lots of great blues too. The drag lift in the Grand Cry is great to learn on as well, my little boy who is a small 5 mastered it in no time.
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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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I've just gotten back from Galtur in Austria, where my two year old did her first skiing. The ski school will take kids from 3 years old. The beginners set up is brilliant. At the bottom of the mountain, but away from general skiing traffic. So it's easy to take some time out to check out how things are going or to have lunch. The restaurant across from the ski school (in the Wirlerhof hotel) is very efficient at coping with a mass influx of kids and parents at lunch time. In fact the whole place is really geared up for family holidays.
There are some cons though. Most of the accommodation is a short bus ride away from the slopes. I didn't find this too bad, but I could carry my daughters skis on my rucksack, others may find this a bit more of a drawback. The other thing that some may not like is that it's pretty small with about 40km of pistes.
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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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We had a great week in sainte foy with our 4 year old and our friends two 7 year old twins. They shared a fab ski instructor who works via ESI or independantly. Although there is only 1 green run in resort, our 4 year old skied all of the blue runs with associated tricks! in resort as well as part of a red. We went with premier neige having previously been with ski esprit (5 times) and snowbizz (twice) Premier neige do both catered and self catered accomodation and you can either book a private nanny or make use of the cub club creche. I cannot reccomend them highly enough! We were very impressed with the family friendlyness of the resort and the slopes were deserted last week (never waited for a lift once). The piste map looks small, but the area seems to open up and if you are good skiers there is lots of off piste to explore plus you are only a few mins drive frm tignes/val D'isere, les arc (via villaroger) or la rosiere.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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We were in Les Gets during Feb half term with 5 and 6 yo. The resort is fantastic for the kids. We used 360 degrees French school and they were fab. Our 5 year old was very confident and he was put in the group with older kids.
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Banff-3 big resorts all cater for children far younger than 4. 5 for next year means she can join in ClubSki with you-lunch is included-3 day programme, 4 hours a day.
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Kaprun Austria and Villars France cater very well for young children that can ski, the later especially graded for skiing ability not age
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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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sorry Villars is in switzerland (you may get to see a F1 racing driver here as several have a pad in this resort we saw David Coultard)
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Agree- Peisey very good for children- runs easy and ESF insructors that have been used by us and our friends have been outstanding- (Muriel - MuMu and David fo the tinies and Juliene for our 6 yr old)- quite the opposite of the old ESF stereotype- fun/ friendly/fluent in English- but still French and Fast skiers!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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ruthsy, another vote for Canadian ski schools. Our daughter is the same age as yours (was 4 in November) and learnt to ski this season in Canada. The 3 - 4 age category there is known as "The Minis" and they have levels of ability that range from never ever through to a level 3 which means they are more or less skiing parallel. When she goes back next season, aged 5, she'll become a junior and be placed according to her ability. They have a large and well organised ski school at Whistler so it's probably very easy to have several groups of different abilities. Here's a vid to show you where she is now as she sounds like she's at the same sort of stage as your daughter.
http://uk.youtube.com/v/uQ3r5IOWkFQ
Sorry but I don't have any experience of European ski schools for children, only that it seems that you can't book single days which you can in Whistler. The ESF wanted us to book a whole week that started on a Sunday when we went to Morzine for Easter and we were only there for a long weekend from a Wednesday. Just echoing what others have said about Les Gets is that it's a great area for children to ski.
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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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I would seriously consider canadian. Not all the resorts would do lessons outside the play area for 4 yr olds, BUT silver star and big white have fab Ski cubs lessons which will take them whereever their ability allows. My 5 yr old was in racing racoons. I will just say that our son was fab at xscape, but real snow and real terrain is harder. However both these resorts have fab green runs for progressing beginners. My 3 yr old could do them all
Gryphea
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Just back from a week in puy St Vincent with Snowbizz. 6 adults ranging from intermediate to advanced and four kids aged 6 to 8. All had lessons. All improved. Kids were able to go down the red runs and really enjoyed going through the little tracks and rollers in the trees off the side of the piste. Better adults were pushed very hard off piste, doing 360s and other stuff i didn't understand. Older & stronger kids (teens) were moved into adult lessons where necessary. Personal lessons are also very cheap and conducted in very strong English. A top week but no good if you want to get miles under your belt.
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You know it makes sense.
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scheffau with ski esprit , great we have a 3 1/2 year old who can now do "pizza's" down a short slope
( although explaining that he deosnt have to roll in the snow at the end of each run seemed to spoil his fun)
cannot fault the care
also there was one family in our hotel with a special needs child - for an extra fee they provided
one on one care, and skiing instruction etc for the whole week
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