 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all
Short-time reader, first-time poster here.
This Feb we went to Tignes, and us beginners went to a great school in Ultimate Snowsports (Thanks Sean!).
We're just booking our ski holiday in Meribel for next February, and I'm looking at ski schools. We'd probably be doing the "Advanced" lessons, or whatever lessons are suitable for people who'd just started going on Red runs.
Does anyone have any recommendations? What we liked about Ultimate was that the instructor was English (though I appreciate that might be hard to find), and that the class sizes were pretty small (there was just the 5 of us in our class).
Much appreciated, and looking forward to February already. 9 months can't pass quickly enough!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Book in with Parallel Lines. Again run by British Instructors with small classes. All of the instructors are British too so English speaking won't be a problem. Parallel & Beyond will probably be suitable for you from what you've said.
http://www.parallel-lines.com
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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VolklAttivaS5, the French New Gen instructors at the EoSB spoke far better English than the British ones.
They were all superb instructors.
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Michelle, No nor me, I've got nothing against New Gen, they are very good I've heard, although I've not experienced them first hand mind you so I can't say from experience.
I've had a private lesson before with Parallel Lines, but I did know the instructor already anyhow from courses and stuff so that's why I booked it. Saying that mind, from what I've seen this last couple of years, whoever you get who is at BASI old Level 1/ISTD level (or equivalent) is gonna be pretty damn good usually anyway aren't they. Personally I wouldn't mind who I have.
I would have suggested both schools as both are British schools in the area, but because destria said she liked the fact the Ultimate instructor was English, (I took it he/she meant British  ) I thought at least you know you're definitely going to get that with Parallel Lines, whereas with New Gen you can't guarantee it unless you ask for it, which might be a bit embarrassing perhaps asking for someone British. Then again I expect they probably get other people asking for an instructor who is "English" so they're probably used to it at New Gen with the number of British that go to Meribel! 
I guess as you say, it depends on what destria wants, whether that's definitely a British person that he/she is after, or that it doesn't matter as long as they can speak English really well and get the point over and have good analogies in English for things when explaining them.
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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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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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VolklAttivaS5, Gail was nice, but her accent wasn't quite as knee wobbly as Claudes
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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 was kind of impressed with magic in motion to be honest.
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Michelle, ah I see. Hmmm Gail, now that might have been the same lady my friend had for the week in Feb. Rings a bell.
How exciting! Although French accents/Italian whatever don't really do anything for me I'm afraid......
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You know it makes sense.
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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parallel lines have expanded quite a bit but still have all Brits, Angus, Ed (fun guy), neil Milne (english off piste mainly) and the Pirie family (Ed and gregor.. scottish top racers),
new gen zoe cambell (basi trainer)
magic have some very good free style types Jean-Micheal has taught my daughter and he is a fantastic instructor with excellent english
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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skimottaret, yeah they seem to have got quite a few guys there now from what I can gather.
Talking of Meribel I am going myself on 3rd Jan! Yay can't wait.
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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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I'd definitely recommend Gaelle at New Gen having had 3x private lessons with her at the Eosb.
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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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Wow! What a flurry of replies! Thanks for all the input
New Gen sound pretty good... a girl from work thought highly of them (though she was in a class of 8... which I'm not sure about. Maybe we've been spoiled by our class of 5!).
Though I see I sparked a bit of a debate about the English/British instructor. Oops... the emphasis on my preference should probably have been on the class sizes. The fact that he was English was a bonus. I'm sure the French instructors out there speak perfectly good English.
I'll be sure to check out Parallel lines too.
Damnit, I'm already looking at piste maps. Is this normal?
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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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destria, you're very welcome. Don't worry it's all in good fun anyway!
Hey the thing is, probably class size is most important anyway, you could get a British instructor that speaks English as their native tongue but is not a very good explainer as it were. I think you will probably have a very pleasant experience with any of the schools mentioned as they are all to such a high standard.
Have you not been to Meribel before then?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| destria wrote: |
... (though she was in a class of 8... which I'm not sure about. Maybe we've been spoiled by our class of 5!).
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I don't think any of the mainstream schools in Meribel would have class sizes as small as 5 as a matter of course. I think the Brit schools, including NewGen and Parrallel Lines will have a maximum of 8.
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I've not been, but some of the more experienced skiers in our group have been there before.
My first time was this Feb, in Tignes. Managed to get a fair bit of practice on dry-slopes, and a trip to a snowdome, beforehand which helped (though not as much as I'd have thought... one of the other learners in our group who had about 4 hours on the dry slopes picked it up just as quickly).
I think we got lucky with the class size of 5 though. It actually dropped to 4 by the third lesson, as one of our group dropped out (lack of confidence, and felt a bit bad that he was holding the group up). That and we had a trainee instructor with us as well as our instructor.
8 is fine though... I've just got disturbing visions of the 10+ hordes of red I saw with some of the ESF groups.
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FAQ
Do you mean that their explanations on how to do things were better than the British ones, rather than their English was better? 
