Independent ski guides?

A snowHead

When we've been on package deals we've had a 'ski guide' as part of the deal which we've really enjoyed.

Do people provide this service independently in some resorts, or if you want to ski with someone who knows the area do you have to book a ski instructor through EFS or ESI? This seems pretty expensive as it seems they charge for the number of people rather than for the instructor's time - which seems weird as you still only get his/her hour no matter how many people.

I'm assuming ESF and ESI have a monopoly on instructing so you can't book a 'private' instructor to act as a guide as I do remember a ski guide in La Rosiere who was a qualified instructor in Scotland tell us he couldn't instruct while he was guiding in case ESF spotted and reported him, although he did follow us and do 'instruction' on the lifts.

A snowHead

....yes....independent guides operate throughout the Alps - I know a few in Switzerland (some English, some Scottish, some Swiss) and they are all very good people. Better to book them through word of mouth and recommendation, since their style varies and the dynamic between people is really important when having 1:1 tuition or guiding. If you're simply talking of 'being shown around a bit...' then booking a good guide is OTT, for that join the SkiClubGB and hook up with one of their guides, but other than this law tends to prevent low level guiding since any off piste needs good qualification and local knowledge. I think private guiding and tuition is worth every penny, but you have to get the right person. If you fancy Switzerland then contact Yves Caillet at Swiss Mountain Sports (Crans Montana) and he'll set you up with a guide or instructor anywhere in the Valais, at any level of support and level of skiing.

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

Not looking for off piste - just someone who knows La Touissuire/Les Sybelles area and is happy to spend say 2/3 hrs with a family showing them good runs and possibly giving some hints on their technique and advice on which runs (if any) they should avoid (ie. the reds that are really blacks type) as we haven't been skiing for 3 years. The kids won't go to ski school (and tbh we don't want them to as it restricts where we can go) and looking at the cost of private lessons we couldn't afford more than either 1 hr each or 2 shared (but although they can ski similar runs they are completely different) and I'm not convinced they would learn much unless they had several.

Last time we went they had a joint private lesson with an ESF instructor at the end of which he said they could get down everything blue/red in the resort (Grand Bornand) apart from one run that he pointed out on the map and he suggested a few to start with - but I don't think they actually learned much because 1 lesson isn't enough and they needed different things emphasised.

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

skimom, ...hmmm....that doesn't sound like good tuition...this is the importance of word of mouth in relation to guiding and instruction. I have had one morning with Dave Morris (Courchevel and 3 Vallee generally) which was worth it's weight in gold...a good instructor plugs into your needs and does what YOU need, not what they want to do...

...priceless quote from Dave....try to keep your skis underneath you, where they are really useful...

...my two tiny ones are technically excellent....but they get tuition from Yves every time we hit the snow....and improve in leaps and bounds....

....sorry my knowledge of guides in st jean les arves is not good - try using a thread title like 'advice needed re good guides...les sybelles...'

Help!!

Independent ski guides?

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