3hrs private tution or group lessons?

A snowHead

My wife can plough turn and gets down blues slowly, she was starting to move onto parallel turns but struggles with letting the speed increase. She traverses everything and doesn't like picking up speed when turning.

We are going to la plagne in april and wondered if 3hrs tution would be good to gain some confidence, she doesn't want 5 days groups. Does anyone have experience dealing with this situation?

Thanks

A snowHead

Had a days private tuition on my third week, definitely helped me as opposed to following an instructor all week. Make sure she is explicit about what she wants out of the three hours.

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kevlewins, I think 3 hours private is a great idea, and much more likely to target your wife's lack of confidence than group lessons.

See if you can get an instructor recommendation on here.

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Instead of one exhausting 3 hr private lesson, do two 1.5 hr session, with a day in between for pratice.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

kevlewins, sounds like you could be describing me! I have found that the key for me is developing basic skills that I can learn to trust, on a piste that I find easy, at a speed that I find comfortable. Then as the skill develops the speed starts to gradually build up. However as soon as I move to territory that I find challenging, the speed drops off again until I learn to trust my skills will work here too. Does that make sense?

One important skill for me has been sideslipping - I find it easier done diagonally forward, not trying to start from a standstill. It's a great way to lose height under control when it's a bit too steep for comfort. Another has been to "play with" the edges while traversing - I mean gently rolling onto just a little more/less edge and noticing the change in course/grip. On my last trip I was also encouraged to learn "emergency turns" for dealing with "oh my gawd I can't do this" situations. This was more a psychological thing than a really different skill - it's doing a single turn & stop, starting in a plough and bringing the inside ski to parallel quickly so that you end on two parallel edges, probably sideslipping a little before coming to a stop or continuing forwards into a traverse. I probably haven't explained it terribly well (experts please forgive me!) but the key idea was to give me the confidence that this will let me turn under my control even if it's a bit too steep. Starting in a plough stops the feeling that you're going to shoot off down the fall line; finishing on both edges is securely back in the controlled traverse position.

My advice fwiw is, like abc says, to go private but split it up. Ideally you want to find an instructor who is really willing to listen to what is wanted and explain that she needs her confidence building not bashing. Also I'd say don't have a lesson on day 1 - find the ski legs first. If I were her, what I'd like you to do is to encourage & nurture the developing confidence and have the patience to allow the speed to come naturally. If you find a slope on which she seems to do better, go there again. Stick mainly to the places she finds easier as being apprehensive breeds tension and drains confidence. Lots & lots of opportunities (and then some more!) to get it right will strengthen the confidence and when that happens speed follows.

BTW it may be useful to amend the thread title to include that you'd like a recommended instructor in LaP.

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Thanks for the advice, I can find anywhere that has 1.5hr lessons. I would be worried about booking a 1hr lesson as once you get up a chairlift etc there would not be much time left.

I am looking for x2 2hr sessions.

Does anyone know of any good tutors?

After all it is free

kevlewins, sorry but I don't know anyone there. I'd change the thread title (by editing your first post) to something like "recommendations for private lessons in La Plagne please" - that may catch the eye of someone who knows that resort.

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yep, I agree too, that 3 hours is much too long. 1.5 or 2 hours far better. I am fairly fit, and quite an experienced skier. I had a two hour lesson a couple of weeks ago, and it was enough! Any more and I'd have been into diminishing returns; my legs, after two hours mostly off-piste, were beginning not to respond to orders.

You don't need, at your wife's stage, to go up lots of chairlifts. It's a case of working on stuff at slow speed, not covering the ground. Indeed, that's often true of lessons at most levels.

I think I'd go for three lessons, on day 1, 3, 5 (I'm not sure I agree with butterfly on that one - I feel that if someone's really apprehensive the faster they go 1 to 1 with a good instructor, rather than floundering round on their own, the better).

I have a very nervous early skier coming out here for a week on Wednesday. I've got to book some lessons for him and I'm working on exactly the same question - when to book them.

Someone mentioned practice - very important. If your wife has worked on specific exercises on a specific piste, much better go back to the same place and really practice them - write some notes after the lesson so she doesn't forget.

If all this might get a big boring for you - why not take some snowboarding (or telemark) lessons and then you can practice together? wink

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kevlewins, Had a private lesson about 3 years back in Belle Plagne with an outfit called El Pro (don't worry they teach the basics) and which was excellent and that area has plenty of nice gradient pistes to build confidence on. Should be easy enough to reach if you are staying in main La Plagne bowl without getting too knackered before/aft lessons.

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kevlewins, I'm in a similar situation to you i.e. my wife skis slowly, even after many weeks skiing (one a year) , as she does not want to get out of control and lacks that urge to go a little faster to make the turns easier, despite my constant encouragement and pushing. She also worries constantly about someone crashing into her and won't set off until the uphill coast is clear. Private lessons have helped her a lot so I totally agree wth what's been said. We generally use ESF in France and have found older instructors tend to suit her better. Also, I know it's difficult when you can ski yourself and want to be off down the hill but it's good to spend time with her leading her so she can follow your tracks - that works well for us. Regards.

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3hrs private tution or group lessons?

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