Ski schools in Breckenridge and surrounds?

A snowHead

Hi

I'm wondering if someone could help.
We've booked on a family holiday to Breckenridge end of March and first two weeks in April 2013.
Accommodation and flights are booked so there is no turning back.
I've just looked on the main Breckenridge website for ski classes - I can't find them anywhere else.
It looks as if 5 days of lessons are about $800-$1,000 per person.
We were hoping to have the kids in ski school ( group classes) for at least 10 days but this seems prohibitatively expensive compared to what we're used to in Europe.
My kids are only 4 and and 7 so to pay $4,000 for lessons is ridiculous and that does not include any classes for my husband and I.

Am I missing something here - are their cheaper options to be found.

Any help/ advice would be appreciated.

A snowHead

elaine123, Firstly welcome to Snowheads

We were in Breckenridge last Easter. To the best of my knowledge there is only one ski school in the resort, owned by the resort and operating from three bases in resort. So I don't think you can find another school.

The lessons are for full days and include lunch, they are in much smaller groups, and they run lessons at every level no matter how many kids turn up for a particular level, rather than merging groups. So the set up is very good and the standard is really high.

I agree the price is crazy. Fortunately we were in the posisition of not being dependent on lessons so we just did a few odd days.

You may be able to get a better price by buying in advance from someone like Ski Safari Ski Extras, their lesson prices last season were much cheaper than resort prices.

IIRC the lesson prices over at Arapahoe Basin were cheaper, so you may be able to drive over there(not far) for some days and take some lessons there.

Also, if you have not already thought of this, you should look at your lift pass options well in advance and pre-book them. Certainly before the 1st Dec. You will most likely want to buy a Summit Value pass and the cut off date for those is 1st Dec. Again you can get this through Ski Safari or from the resort on-line. Last year was our first time skiing in the USA, we did not know about buying a season pass in advance, we paid well over the odds for our passes, even getting some discount as we were too late for the very best value deals.

Hope this helps a bit.

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

Thanks a million for all that info it's exactly what I needed.
It doesn't say on the website that the lessons are for full days so that does make it a little bit better value!
Cheers
Elaine

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

elaine123, it's been 10 years since we used the ski school in Breck, so our experience isn't really current but I suspect that not much has changed. We didn't think that the lessons were particularly overpriced at, then, around $95 per day plus lift pass including food and lunchtime supervision. I see that the price is now around $150 per day including a pass, so the inflation adjusted figure probably isn't too different.

There are some fundamental differences between European and North American ski schools that make lessons over there more expensive but definitely better. First, class sizes are always small - never more than six in my experience at any resort that we've tried with 3-4 children being more common. Second, you can book by the day, so there's no need to pay for a full week unless you really want to. Third, the daily system means that children get reallocated among instructors on a daily basis according to ability, so slow or fast learners can progress at an appropriate speed. Fourth, the daily system means that you get a daily progress report - usually in writing - so that you and your child can see exactly how things are getting on. Fifth, the Americans understand that childhood should be fun - I've never known an American or Canadian instructor to tell my kids (as has happened in France) that they're in ski school to learn and not to enjoy themselves.

Breck used to offer an early drop-off service from 0830 (I think this still operates) where the instructors play with the kids inside before taking them out on the mountain. That extra fun time with their instructors helped remove some of the fear when our kids were particularly young. Another great touch is Riparoo, the skiing dog (OK, he's actually an instructor in a dog costume) who invites the younger children into his hut (kennel?) for hot chocolate when they get cold.

We found that our children progressed much more rapidly on North American ski schools that friends' children did in European schools. I think that's because of the way that ski school is structured over there, not because our kids are particularly fast learners. Once you realise that you don't need to pay for so many lessons over there, the total cost to learn becomes more competitive. And you get to ski as a family much sooner which has to be a Good Thing.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Jonny Jones, good post Smile

Much more detailed than mine about the differences between USA and European ski school set up. All you say still applies.

You'll need to Register first of course.

If you look here - http://www.breckenridge.com/ski-and-ride-school/child-lessons/childrens-group-lessons.aspx#adayinthelife#Top it tells you exactly what a child will be expected to do during a lesson at Breckenridge.
I'd say their prices are around about what you would pay at any of the more well known resorts - our full day kids lesson last season was $169 - $179. Some schools do run a half day option but it really does depend on demand.
Ski schools in the US are run by the resort its self, and taking a lesson from an independent instructor is frowned upon and illegal in some states, so you won't find any other options.

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

Guys

Thanks for taking the time to put up all this info.
I'm feeling much happier about shelling out for the classes now.
We'll defintely put the kids in for a few days .
It will be nice for them to be able to take days off with us if they want to.
We have found that with the little one, he was skiing at three last year, he wasn't keen on going for full days everyday so it will be good to keep him happy by having the daily option.

After all it is free

elaine123, you can buy a 'pack' of lessons too usually at a bit of a discount on the individual day rate but you don't have to take them on consecutive days so you can have days off ski school easily. Also, and they don't really promote this, but they may be happy for you to use a day ticket as two half days which might work out well for the little one. We didn't do this last year but our friends have done in the past.

Help!!

Ski schools in Breckenridge and surrounds?

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