Ski school advice for 5 year old Montgenevre

A snowHead

We are going to Montgenevre in March with our children aged 8 and 5.

8 yr old has skied twice and will be doing 1 star this time. 5 year old skied twice at 3 but didn't learn much as she was just in the nursery area going through hoops - she will be doing Ourson this time.

We are thinking of the International ski school for the 8 yr old boy.

For the 5 year old girl could anyone advise me whether to go for International ski school or ESF?

Reasons I have for thinking of International - definitely English people in group, sound friendly on the phone, group size no more than 6

Reasons for ESF - might have access to more facilities..eg loos if needed, nursery slope and carpet lift.
Apparently the International ski school don't use the nursery area at all but this might be an advantage as my daughter hasn't made progress in the nursery area so far.

Any advice gratefully received.

A snowHead

snowymum, at 5 she'll probably be fine without being in the "baby" area - a great age to learn! Small group is a big advantage.

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

snowymum, I am going there next week half term Shocked

so I will reccy for you if you can wait? If you are going low season you can probably wait a little while.

We are going in a big group, my son is 5 and is booked into Apeak - the ESI school there. We will have two beginner little ones age 3 and 4 in our party and they are having 3-4 shared private lessons also with Apeak, so I will get to see which areas they use and the facilities etc. I will also make a point of observing their little ones groups and see where they go. We have 2 other kids in the group think they are about 8/9 and 10/11 and they might go with the ESF as they have been with them before in that resort and were happy with them.

You are right about Apeak being very friendly to deal with, I am really looking forward to my son's lessons with them if they are even half as good as they seem to be Very Happy

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

Thank you Pam and Sarah for the useful advice.

I think you are right that group size is very important and a group of 6 sounds good. I think the likliehood of an all English speaking group is greater with Apeak.

Sarah - thanks so much for offering to tell me how your son's lessons go. I would be very interested to hear all about the Apeak lessons. I hope your family have a great time in Montgenevre. Is this your first time there? Do post a trip report/photos on here if you have time.

We aren't going till 27th March so still feels a little way away.

The recent upturn of the £ against the Euro prompted me to think about booking the skiing lessons. Apeak mentioned they have a lift pass + ski school offer which I might use for my 8 yr old. I think the lift pass is free for 5 yr olds.

Anyway will look forward to hearing how you get on.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

My 5 yr old did fine in the ESF snow garden in LDA (she passed her Flocon.... no idea quite what the difference between Ourson and Flocon is for the older snow garden kids!) - she is quite a bold child. Even though you pay for lower class ratios in the snow garden they seemed to form large packs during the lessons. Her older (more sensitive) sister struggled with the larger class sizes in her ESF class - the instructors were good and pragmatic in that they split 2 classes by ability and mixed the classes through the week depending on how kids were doing. Sensitive Child no1 only did well in small class sizes when that was where she ended up .... think she somehow felt more able to contribute with fewer people about. Bolshy child no 2 able to do her thing no matter who is there!!

Class size does feel to be a key factor - language seems less important to my two (based admittedly on 2 ski trips but to areas with 2 different dominant languages....kids still seem never to comment on that end of things!!)

You'll need to Register first of course.

snowymum, just back, will post more detail when I have time and am not so tired, but I knew you were waiting to hear so you can book. Book them both into Apeak school, you will not be disappointed. Even the younger one, they use the extensive nursery slopes and magic carpet with the beginners and quickly get them up the mountain on the greens and they have just 6 in the class. I saw 2 classes of youngsters and they were doing brilliantly and having fun.

My 5 year old has just had a brilliant week with them, he loved it and loved his instructor, his best week of ski school yet, has just got his silver cristal = 3 * Very Happy

. We are absolutely delighted with Apeak.

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

Sarah - Thanks for posting so soon after your holiday. Sounds as though you had a great week in Montgenevre. It is really good to hear such a positive report of Apeak. I have contacted them and provisionally booked my sister (a beginner) and the children in for lessons with them. I gather their lessons start 15 mins later than ESF too which will be a bonus in the mornings!

Could I ask your advice over the class levels? My daughter wil be just 5 and has done piou piou twice before - gliding down nursery garden and doing pizza stop (but hasn't done turms)- do you think she should do the premiere glisse class with 6 in a group or the next class (cristal) which I think has 8 in a group? How much had your 5 yr old son done before doing cristal this time?
My son will be just 8 and has done ski school twice gaining cristal the first time and flocon (ESF) the second time. I initially thought of putting him down for the bronze class but am now thinking that maybe he should do silver? He can take a drag lift ok and traverse with skis parellel but does snow plough to turn- I'm hoping he will learn parallel turns this year and have a feeling he will have to do the silver class to do this.

I have tried asking Apeak the questions above and I think they thought the children should do cristal and silver respectively but I just want to check this wouldn't be pushing them too far as I don't want them to struggle in their groups.

If you have time to post a trip report or general info on the good runs, tips for restaurants/cafes etc I'd love to read it. Did you ski over to Claviere?

After all it is free

snowymum, sorry I didn't make myself clear, the levels are a bit confusing, my son got his Silver Cristal this week which is approximately equivalent to ESF 3 *, he has done 4 weeks of resort ski schools and had a lot of indoor slope time last season, so he's very good for his age.

For your younger one I would say to do the 6 in a group class which would be the Bronze Mouse level I think. Reasons for this are that she has only ever been in the garden before and is not yet turning and that they get a bit more attention with just 6 of them rather than 8. Also the other kids will be more her age than the Cristal which will have older beginner kids. And if they think they can move her up they will, they did a bit of moving last week and in my opinion far better to move a child up a level than down. This class starts on the main village nursery slopes which are big, fenced off from through traffic and sunny. They start on the magic carpet, progress to an easy button and then after a day or two they go up the gondola and ski the green and blue down. She will probably get the Bronze Mouse or the Cristal badge from this.

For your son, if you were going to put him in ESF 1 * then put him in Bronze Cristal, they will start to do parallel turns in this group. As before let them move him up if they need to rather than move him down.

I agree with you about not pushing them too hard and having them struggle, far better for them to be amongst the strongest in the group than the weakest. Also I think that the ESI generally are less rigid about the medals they award than the ESF so a child doesn’t necessarily have to be in a particular class to achieve that class medal IYSWIM, they award the medal based on the individual child’s ability. For example a strong skier in one class might be awarded the medal of the next class up and vice versa; a child might be able to keep up with a class but not quite achieve the technical level and so would be awarded the medal of the class down.

For a bit more insight into the ESI levels look at this

I will try to write a bit of a TR later if I get chance snowHead

Sarah - Thanks very much for this useful info on the ski school levels. I think the mouse level would be ideal for my daughter but will have to wait to see if they have others for this class by the time we go. When I phoned a few weeks ago they were planning to have a large cristal group and divide it in two. I have put her down for the group of six in the hope there will be enough children to run a class. Some English schools (mainly private I think) will be on holiday when we go so I think there is a good chance there will be a mouse class.

I have emailed Seb about my son asking if he should do the bronze class and am awaiting a reply. If he does the bronze class rather than silver they have a cheaper lift pass offer so am tempted to take advantage of that.

Thanks also for your PM. Wow - wonderful to have so much information. I will send you a PM back later today!

Help!!

Ski school advice for 5 year old Montgenevre

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