 Poster: A snowHead
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I want to learn how to do dowhill skiiing, mainly to improve my cross country technique. I have tried to find package holidays that I can book online but this is proving to be surprisingly difficult yet my Google-Fu is normally strong. I want to:
go to a provider's website,
click on start and end dates required,
click on departure airport,
click on type of accomodation required,
pay for holiday.
I will then arrive at the airport in good time on the day of departure and present myself. And that is as much organisation as I'm prepared to do. I expect the tour provider to arrange all accomodation, equipment, food, transport, instruction, passes etc.
Why is it proving so difficult to book such a holiday online? 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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Oh - and another thing - depending on the specific provider, you do need to make some choices yourself, particularly about what quality (and therefore price) lessons you want. Ditto equipment.
Ditto passes - most areas have a choice of different passes and you can't expect the TO to read your mind about what you want. 
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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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| pam w wrote: |
Classic or skating? |
Classic. Ultimately I'd like to do Telemark which is why I want to try downhill.
I'm very flexible on country, dates, quality of accomodation etc but still find it difficult to find packages online.
And yes, I'm UK based.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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OK - a specific suggestion. Go to action-outdoors.co.uk, tell the website you want to go to Flaine, 17 March, full time instruction.
Full board, all your gear, lift pass, instruction (very good instruction) and coach travel included.
That would be multi-share room though.
If you want a room to yourself and are prepared to pay single supplement, then a more upmarket provider, Mark Warner, give you a lot of choice - http://www.markwarner.co.uk/ski#filterBar
But that won't be full board, it won't include instruction or gear hire, those you add for yourself.
There are a huge range of providers, from cheap to mind-blowingly expensive.
You need to give us more info - do you have a budget? Are you prepared to share a room? Do you want a range of bars for the evening or will you sit with a good book?
I suspect you'll find downhill skiing easy (provided your XC skills include descents).
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Budget is not a problem. Single room will be required due to my olympic standard snoring and strange sleeping habits due to working night shifts. I've just booked 2 weeks in Norway X-country skiing as it's so much easier (for me anyway) to organise than downhill.
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Bob G, Have you tried contacting a specialist ski travel agent (as opposed to a Tour Operator)? Give them your requirements and they'll do all the legwork for you. I've used Alpine Answers in the past - other Snowheads will be along soon to recommend others. Most packages will be Sat/Sat or Sun/Sun and the choice from London/SE/Midlands might be greater than that from the North/Scotland. The Package might not inlude the lift pass, equipment and tuition in the first instance, but the reps will organise these in resort. In Austria, most ski-rental shops work directly with the ski schools to offer a combined package (many ski schools have their own rental shops) and can often sell you the lift pass as well.
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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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Bob G, Alpine Answers, or similar, sounds a v good idea. However - I'd suggest that you think hard about having private lessons, if budget is no problem. You are likely to learn far faster than most beginners and the things you particularly want/need to focus on will be different. Just about all resorts will have private lessons available and given your interests, I can't see any reason why you shouldn't start with tele gear from the outset - you can always fix your heels, after all.
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When you have your destination sorted out, telephone the ski schools and see which ones give you most sensible answers to your questions.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Group vs Private lessons: I was thinking of having group lessons in the morning and private lessons in the afternoon. How much skiing can an old pair of hips/knees take in a day?
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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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Bob G, it's simple to book a TO package holiday online. You just put your dates and departure airport in the search function and see what comes back. The difficulty might be if you aren't booking a long way in advance and you want a single room. Single rooms are in very high demand and are usually the first to get booked. Many hotels only have one or two single rooms plus they are rare in chalets. I normally book 10-12 months in advance to secure mine.
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| Quote: |
I was thinking of having group lessons in the morning and private lessons in the afternoon
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Why? This makes no sense. The advantage of a (small) group lesson is that you pay less and have the joy of realising that others have exactly the same problems that you're having, so you have fun laughing and learning together.
The advantage of a one-to-one private lesson is that it is much more intensive and of course focussed on you - but if you're already worried about hips and knees, you might want the less intensive group lesson. Having a group lesson in the morning followed by a private lesson will put you ahead of the group for the next morning, but probably not so far ahead that you can move up a group. I'd stick with the group lesson. If you are travelling solo, it also gives you a ready-made social group for the week.
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You know it makes sense.
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I'd agree with quinton - I don't think that would make sense, either. Not so much because it would be too intensive (though it might be) but because private lessons, focussing on exactly what you want, will leave you with a lot to practice before your next lesson. You're obviously keen - and the combination of time one to one with an instructor, and then disciplined practice time of your own, would probably be the optimum combination. I don't think you'll find a group you fit in with. If it's a beginner downhill group you would probably find it frustratingly slow as they spend a lot of time on stuff you'll already be able to do, or will pick up very quickly, and if you had private lessons in the afternoon you'd fit in even less well.
Have you used drag lifts? If you haven't, that's something you'd want to do early on, with an instructor - and chair lifts. And you'll need to learn about using edges, but a lot of the basic balance skills you will already have in spades.
If you're not freaked out by the additional speed, you'll find downhill easier than XC. Big fat skis with metal edges and side cut, to which you are firmly attached by strong and inflexible handles.
However, having done both, I would say that although turning, and stopping, are infinitely easier on downhill skis, it is a lot harder on the knees. Particularly if you don't get your weight forward enough - something an instructor will focus on. In fact, one of the reasons I just bought XC gear and had a week of lessons was because I wasn't sure how many more years of downhill skiing my knees have in them.
Not that telemarking is exactly easy on the knees! I think that's definitely a step too far for me, though some years ago I'd have enjoyed having a go at it.
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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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Bob G, possibly a silly question, and perhaps a bit biased on my part, but:
If you're definitely intending to telemark anyway, and have the funds to pay for private tuition, have you considered learning telemark-style straightaway?
It'll probably be easier for you than for most people since you're already used to the free heel... only downside is that you'd have to request telemark gear and tuition especially, but in theory that's no different from if you wanted to request private alpine lessons. I'll grant you that availability of telemark instructors might be an issue, though... all I'm saying is that a TO should be able to sort a telemark trip out for you just as well as an alpine one, I guess.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Bob G, If you want to learn to Telemark, one possibility is the Snowsport England Course. It's held at Kvitåvatn in Telemark, Norway, each April. It's not wholly packaged, but then with a package, you have to fit it, not the other way round. The only drawback is that single rooms might be a premium, but they might find you a little hytte in the grounds if you explain the snoring problem.
One place I stayed in Norway didn't divide the dorms by men and women, but by 'snorker' and 'ikke snorker'.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Most will add the ski hire, lesson and lift pass and deliver them to you - it's just not in the original price. Try http://www.igluski.com for a good search engine.
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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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| Quote: |
If you're definitely intending to telemark anyway, and have the funds to pay for private tuition, have you considered learning telemark-style straightaway?
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Yes, that's sort of what I was suggesting. Hire telemark gear, and have private lessons with a telemark instructor, but maybe just start with heels down, to get some of the downhill basics then once you can do parallel turns, free the heels!
I would have thought most resorts could come up with a telemark instructor for private lessons - certainly the ESF in Les Saisies advertises telemark private lessons.
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One place I stayed in Norway didn't divide the dorms by men and women, but by 'snorker' and 'ikke snorker'.
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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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| ap96 wrote: |
Bob G, possibly a silly question, and perhaps a bit biased on my part, but:
If you're definitely intending to telemark anyway, and have the funds to pay for private tuition, have you considered learning telemark-style straightaway?
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Yes, but I thought that I'd give yuppie skiing a go before I got too old.
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FAQ
I can't think why you are finding it difficult - they're pretty keen to sell their holidays. BUT most British tour operators (are you British-based?) don't provide flexible durations to European destinations. They are overwhelmingly Sat/Sat or Sun/Sun packages - one reason why more people are making their own DIY arrangements.
