Does this sound OK?

A snowHead

Bit of advice sought for our next holiday.

Four of us going, wife and me - both low intermediates - and two adult kids who both did well on the 'ski in a day' course, but have no other experience.

Wife and me have 3 weeks on snow and a couple of days in fridges and can parallel easy runs.

All of our time to now has been spent in full day group lessons which has left us no time to just have fun, so this year we are thinking of not bothering with lessons, apart from maybe an hour or two with a private instrector, the rest of the time we can spend practising what we've already been taught and just having a giggle.

Kids don't want to join a group either, so I'm going to pay for them to have a couple of hours just the two of them with an instructor on a couple of days while we are away. We all really enjoy each others company and I'm sure wife and me will be able to have fun guiding them down the green and blue runs, and we can nip away for a bit each day to do something a bit steeper.

Does this sound like a plan?

A snowHead

If they've only done a day, DEFINITELY get them some lessons before they inevitably pick up any bad habits - it will be much better for them in the long run (assuking they want to be able to ski properly some day?), even if it's only a few hours in the mornings. If they don't want to join a group, get private lessons for them. Tbh, really they should have at least two full days with an instructor at the start of the holiday, it should make a big difference. Putting in a bit of work now will make any subsequent trips more fun.

For yourselves, possibly an hour a day could be a good idea as well - there's no point practising things 'you already know' if you're doing it wrong, it will jsut re-inforce any bad habits and make it harder to break them further down the line.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

youspurs1, there's always the option of you all doing group lessons in the morning, and then skiing together in the afternoon. I think that would be my choice, but with the proviso that the lessons would have to be good quality - maximum 6 in a group and (especially for you adults) fluent English speaking. For the kids just to have an "hour or two" for their first week ever on proper runs would be very minimal. How old are they? Kids can have a lot of fun in the right kind of group and they'll progress much faster.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Why not get the group and get an instructor for the week, and just brief them on what you want - a couple of hours instruction, then a guided tour of suitable terrain for ability for all of you.

Or lessons for everybody in the morning, then guided skiing for the kids while you and wifey go off and do your own thing (as you're a bit more experienced)

Shouldn't be too expensive between the group, and you might well find others who want something similar if you ask about.

It's what I'd do - best of both worlds really.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

pam w, They're adult kids, 25. They can't afford to pay anything towards the holiday so we're paying - but we aren't exactly rolling in it so paying for everyone to attend group lessons is probably going to be too much. I think the ESF school charge 120E per head for a week in a class.

It wouldn't be useful for us all to take lessons in the same group, surely? Either the pace would be too fast for the kids (to suit us) or vice versa.

I can't honestly say that my experiences of ski schools has been that positive in retrospect - you are always going at the pace of the worst in the class, and the last two years the worst was pretty darn useless!

I want the best for the kids, so if wife and me go without lessons and spend that money on more lessons for them?

You'll need to Register first of course.

As clarky999, says, definitely get lessons for the kids and, if you can afford it, a couple of private lessons for you and your wife would be good.
Where are you thinking of going?
Maybe someone on here can suggest a good ski school or specific instructor for where you want to go. Private lessons with an excellent instructor is definitely money well spent in the long term.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

SaraJ, We are going to La Norma, in the Maurienne. There's an ESF there, not sure about anything else. From doing a search on here it seems that not too many snowHead

s have been there.

I want the kids to enjoy themselves - I'm hoping that they get addicted so that they want to come again - and obviously if they feel that they are improving significantly over the week, the chances of this happening increase. Even though the school in La Norma is only a 2 hour a day one I'd rather they went private. The chances of there being enough english speaking beginners there to make a group? It's a small resort.

Mrs Spurs and me need more lessons, I know. We are not close to where we would need to be to be able to safely get out of any trouble that we might stumble into, but I reckon that if we stay on blues and wideish reds in decent conditions we should be able to cope for a week with our present skills.

After all it is free

youspurs1, I'd go along with the opinions already given, the kids really should go for a week of group lessons. There's often a sense of bravado with just getting on with it, but a week of decent lessons very early on will pay dividends if they plan to ski in the long term. And as they're practically beginners they'll be surrounded with people of a similar ability.

As for you and your wife, it's debatable how much benefit you'll get from further group lessons. So you could make the decision out there based on how you're getting on whether to get a private lesson or two.

Yes, get the children lessons but you and your wife will have a lot of fun without. We could all do with more lessons but sometimes you just need ski time, and if you've had lessons all of your other 3 weeks then you really need some time just to ski. After all, the holiday is all about fun and to be honest heading off to explore the ski area is about as much fun as it gets!

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

youspurs1, I sympathise with your dilemma (we are paying not just for grownup son but for his entire family!!!!!!)

I also sympathise about English speaking group lessons - never a possibility in our small French resort. And if your offspring speak no French at all they'd get less value and fun from the group than would normally be the case.

Obviously private lessons for the week would be absolutely ideal - but at a cost! Engaging an instructor for whole days is even more expensive, though a nice idea for those made of money.

One other possibility might be to get hold of some good ski instruction DVDs - have a look at Fastman's website - www.yourskicoach.com

His "basic balance" and "basic edging" DVDs would be good for you and the Mrs and if the kids are fast learners and attentive they'd benefit too, though the DVDs are not pitched at complete beginners.

It wouldn't be a case then of the two more experienced skiers going round at too fast a pace for the beginners. You'd all be doing those exercises on easy (preferably green and wide) slopes and could help each other and have a laugh.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

It's funny - everyone here is saying "get lessons", which of course I agree is the best thing to do, but then I know so many people who ski in Europe who never take lessons after their first week on snow and manage to get around ok. They try and learn from watching others ski. They ski fast and get by ok. I wouldn't call them 'beautiful skiers' though and they'd probably struggle in the bumps or in forests but then they ski in resorts with wide open pistes. Little Angel

I know so few European skiers outside this forum who bother to take lessons.

Me on the other hand, I've had so many lessons, the Whistler Dave Murray camp coaches have given up on me as being a sandbagging bad case who'll never be able to ski like a pro. I pay them to tell me this of course. Shocked

snow reports

youspurs1,

Dropping lessons too early (for mainly the same reasons as you guys) was one of my biggest regrets: sure I'll ski comfortably anywhere on piste but my technique is full of holes and I only got to a decent level because I lived close to mountains and was doing quie a few day trips each season on top of a full wek somewhere..

I do agree that full day lessons is too much but there is a middle ground between that a couple of private lessons. When I was a kid, going as a family with my parents, it was lessons in the morning (2/3 hours) then the rst of the day having fun with the rest of the group... This way you progress and you still spend over 50% of your time with your family/group having fun.

That would be my recommendation, budget allowing of course... You're all at the early stages of learning, the worst time to not get proper lessons..

You know it makes sense.

youspurs1, I have sometimes contacted the ski school directly in advance to see what is offered.
It sounds like you will have to do a bit of planning to optimise lesson time/value for money.
You will need to ask them if they will definately have a specific English speakers adult beginners class the week you are going. If they do you are in luck, if as is likely they don't you have to work out what is the best way of doing privates.

There is sometimes a price structure for privates at different times of the day, you need to find out what this is to get the best out of it. If it is high season they may only offer them over lunch. You then need to arrange preferably a series of lessons over a few days that will give your kids at least an hour a day with the same English speaking instructor.
In my experience this is easiest done in advance with the ski school.

If you can afford the lessons it might be an idea to arrange time so that the instructor can hive 2/3 lesson to your children then 1/3 to yourselves but may not be reasonably affordable.

Edit just had a look at the website it does not look like they vary the pricing of the privates, to pay the same price as the group lessons you could may be have 5 days of privates for the children with the first one of two hours and subsequent for an hour each. I would want to confirm in advance though that it is the same instuructor and they are english speaking.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I agree with most of the above. Get yourself some private lessons after a few days of trying, your kids should go to for group lessons most of the week. I started skiing when I was about 18 years old, it's nothing to be ashamed about. Actually its quite a lot of fun Smile

.

A snowHead

youspurs1, if you arrange some private lessons you could use them as seems best - if there are four of you and you want to enjoy a lesson between you, I can't see a big problem. It isn't a matter of the youngsters not being able to cope with the "pace" - more a question of being given your own drills to work on, and an instructor keeping an eye on how you're doing. Whilst the kids are just speeding up their snowplough turns and learning to make nice round turns, you could be doing exactly the same thing, on the same slope, but working on specific balance exercises. Doing turns with one leg lifted, for example, or as rob@rar had us all doing at Hemel a few weeks ago, with completely loose boots. That gets you focussed on balance! Or side slipping on the top edges, etc etc. It might not be ideal, but ideal is going to be expensive and you can have fun all doing things at your own levels. And as laundryman says they'll probably be twice as fast as you by the end of the week.

I remember joining an ESF class in La Plagne after my OH had to fly home to cope with an emergency (roof blown off). People in my chalet, mostly rather better skiers than I, had been extolling their instructor. I went along to ask to join the group, and said to him that if I wasn't fast enough to keep up, I'd be happy to drop a class. After the first few runs he said to me "It's not a question of whether you can ski fast enough, but whether you can ski slow enough". He then made me ski 2 metres behind him, in very deliberate and controlled turns, down a steep red run and told me if I caught up with him - or worse still overtook him - I'd be instantly demoted! I just about coped, but it did bring it home to me that it's not all about going fast.

A snowHead

Big thanks for all the replies. I need to talk this over with mrs Spurs and the kids to see what the best use of the cash will be.
I'll get them to read this thread.

Help!!

Does this sound OK?

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