All day ski school for children and supervised lunches

A snowHead

I think that every Austrian resort I've been to offers ski school from (say) 10-12 and 13-15 and for an extra €10 the children are taken to lunch by an Instructor or employee of the ski school.
I've looked into other countries but apart from some Swiss resorts, ski school seems to be morning or afternoon but not both.
I'd be grateful to know of any French or Italian resorts which offer the same as Austria . Thanks

A snowHead

ESF in Les Deux Alpes does this, but they may only offer it during school holidays. Instead of being taken to lunch by an instructor they ski back down to town and all eat in a big hall. We did it with Jnr a few times and he seemed happy enough.

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

I'm fairly sure that the ESF in Tignes offer this as well.

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Interski Italy as part of their holiday package offer lunchtime supervision much to the instructors delight!!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

hammerite, Heh the ESF feeding kids???...what do they do, bring the French kids inside and let them throw buns out the window at all the other kids??

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dazman, If it was a bunfight I think Jnr would win. Nothing get's in the way of his lunch (or breakfast, dinner and anything in between).

Was a couple of years ago so can't remember what he ate, but he seemed happy enough the days he was there.

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Not sure about ski schools but TO's like crystal have a whizzkids which is basically childcare all day with lessons in AM if required. Yes it's expensive, but the kids really are well looked after, before, during and after ski school. Plus, if you book whizkids, they have a 2 hour pyjama club in the evenings whilst the adults eat. Superb.

After all it is free

Any ClubMed

ESF in Val Thorens offer this too. They have restaurant/canteen at their base at the bottom of the resort.

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Surely it's cheaper to leave the kids at home if you don't want them with you on your skiing holiday?

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gatecrasher, rolling eyes

here we go. So, how do they learn to ski if you leave them at home? Ski school will often finish at 3-3.30 leaving time for them to show of their newly learned skills.

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gatecrasher, we've done all sorts of combinations. In Austria if you want your child to have lessons they're pretty much always all day. In L2A we booked all day lessons too, but he had a couple of full days where he came out with us.

Just because you take your children on holiday with you doesn't mean they have to spend 24hrs every day with you. Jnr seems to have enjoyed all of what we've done, being an only child he likes skiing with kids his own age some of the time, making friends and loves it if the instructor is a bit cool. He's pretty confident so just tends to get stuck in.

You know it makes sense.

gatecrasher, well I wouldn't be able to teach my hypothetical child to ski. What is your problem with Kids clubs? I loved holidays with kids clubs when I was young. Much more fun to hang out with kids than mum & dad.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

kat.ryb,

I get that. Ski school finishes, I pick the little bugs up (still about an hour before the lifts close) and say "how about a family ski then?".

I think there should be an after ski school kids club till at least 2 pints after the last lifts close.

A snowHead

Esprit do the whole day with a supervised lunch if you choose the option.
Last year we booked our 6 year old into morning ski lesson with supervised lunch afterwards. This meant that if we were held up in our grown up lessons we didnt have to worry about picking up junior tyke. She could have stayed in the kids club all day but we elected to keep her with us in the afternoon.
When we asked her this year what she wanted to do she had no hestitation in opting for the same again.
A big consideration for us is that Mr and Mrs tyke are beginers/improvers but junior tyke is more advanced (yes really) so I was terrified that she would set off hell for leather down a red run and dissapear into the distance leaving mum and dad way behind! At lease with the instructors she is much safer, especially with Esprit as they provide staff who stay with them as well as the instructor.
The last thing kids want is to be dragged around with the parents 24/7.

A snowHead

hammerite, kat.ryb, different strokes I suppose, kat.ryb, sorry I was looking from a selfish point of view wanting my kids with me while they're still at an age to "want" to be with me, no problem with kids clubs for a few hours but all day...? You don't have to teach your hypothetical kids there are other ways!

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

When Jnr was younger and had lessons in the morning we used to give him the option of meeting us at lunch and skiing in the afternoon, or going with the kids club. This invariably led to us finding out what the afternoon activity was with the other kids. If it was anything snow (bum boarding, snowman building etc...) related he tended to opt to stay with them. If it was painting and playing of the like he'd come skiing with us.

We didn't like the whole day ski lesson thing at first, but Austria it's all you do. First couple of days we met him for lunch, after this he wanted to stay with his cool instructor and other kids in his group. He opted for the same in L2A when we gave him the choice.

We do tend to have 2 weeks skiing a year though, so have one week where we'll have lessons (where we'd also do lessons) for half day skiing together in the afternoon and one week where we all ski together.

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ESF La Rosiere offer a ski school plus lunch option. I think you can do the afternoon ski school too..we picked our children up after lunch.

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

Probably Austria again then. Just for the record, they both want to do all day ski school and we are around at lunchtime rather than in another valley/resort but when we have not booked them in for lunch, they have usually complained at being separated from their new friends.

After all it is free

Get rid of the kids for as much as possible and have a good ski.

Why pay a ridiculous amount of money to go skiing, and then spend your time looking after the kids?

muddewater,

My kids love the Austrian system. They are about to sample Switzerland...I'll report back after Christmas Very Happy

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Well our little Jenny is three on Monday and the school just asked me to bring in her photo and 20€ for the season ski pass... Two days a week (plus the optional ski club on Wednesdays), the school will be taking her skiing in the afternoons. No wonder our village (Bareges in the Hautes Pyrenees), of 283 inhabitants has 2 current ski champions.

Forget the expensive ski lessons, move to France and try to find a way of working from home... Or can the boring job and become mountain guides like we did (bit radical perhaps, but it does save on lift passes/lessons). Hopefully it will let us save up and start coming to the EOSBs again Razz

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Canadian resorts we have used ski school is 9-3 with hot choc break in the morning then ski until lunch and a hot choc stop in the afternoon in the afternoon. Or you can do morning or afternoon only.
We once "lost " my niece to afternoon ski school after we met up with her morning instructor in the lift queue he had a class of very quiet shy girls (2 sister and their cousin) who would not communicate with him so asked if he could borrow her until the end of class. OK but the 3 girls and niece then ended up all in the same lessons for the next few days.

Although I've upset several snowheads by daring (like gatecrasher) to suggest that the best holiday is one that you spend with your kids, they do have to learn to ski at some point and they're more likely to learn properly in the hands of a qualified instructor. And, if the day must be spent in ski school, it's much, much better for both parents and children for lunch to be taken with the school. It's better for the kids because lunch in a crowded restaurant isn't great family time and because they;ll have a chance to get to know the kids they're skiing with, and it's better for the parents because they can explore the whole mountain instead of having their day chopped up into not-very-useful 2 hour slices. Family skiing can take place before or after ski school and, even better, by not booking lessons on every day of the trip.

It's absolute nonsense to assert that kids don't want to ski with their parents. Ours wanted to ski with us did when they were 4 years old, and they still want to ski with us now they're now well into their teens. After 2-3 weeks in ski school they, like most kids, were comfortable skiing black runs; a year later, they were exploring off-piste, so they didn't restrict our skiing even though we had to slow down for them. Now, of course, they often have to slow down for us, but they still want us to be with them. Looking at the relationship my friends and colleagues have with their kids, that's pretty common and pretty healthy.

If your kids have more than two weeks skiing experience, they're probably already skiing at a decent level so I'd strongly recommend that you don't dump them into a full week of ski school. Give them 3 days of instruction - including lunch - and ski as a family for the rest of the holiday. They need practice as much as tuition so they'll learn faster that way, and it'll be better for your family life too.

You know it makes sense.

muddewater, Arc 1950 http://www.arc1950.com offers exactly what you are looking for. The Spirit ski school also owns the Cariboo Club, for those not skiing, and so lunch is provided for those taking all day lessons in the clubhouse. The car free village is also ideal for families.
I make no comment on your choice of holiday arrangements, that's between you and your family. I would also hope that no-one questions my choices either.
AR

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

The issue my family have is that my brother and I can't stand each other and have totally different skiing styles. S what we generally do is one parent to each of us for most of the day, switching after lunch and with some time as a whole family.

A snowHead

When our kids were 4+ we went with Esprit who do ski lessons in the mornings, lunch and then snow club or more snow sports in the afternoons. When they were little the snow club was great, they couldn't ski all day at 4, too tired. When older they really enjoyed going off blading or boarding with their instructor after lunch. One afternoon a week they skied with us, also sometimes from about 3pm, and on the 6th day all day. So we had a holiday too! The family time came after skiing till bedtime in the chalet.
When they got to a competent level they had an occasional private lesson and we met them at lunchtime and skied with them after lunch.
Now they are 17 and 21 and they ski with us as long as we are paying for their lunch....! We have great family time. There are not many holidays which satisfy all our needs but skiing is one.
I asked the owlets what they remembered about our first few skiing holidays and they can only recall good stuff like blading in the trees and bunk beds..obviously not at all traumatised by being left in the early days.

A snowHead

RibenaRockstar,

I think that will be my next challenge in a couple of years time Sad

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

Jonny Jones, relax, no one was suggesting banishing the poor little unloved children to a Siberian prison camp.

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musher, I hope it's not as bad for you as it is for us - what I get from my brother would be called domestic abuse if he were older than me, Neh Neh

I'm hoping he's a bit less awful when I go home at Christmas from uni, haha

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RibenaRockstar,

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

musher, nah, my parents' rule was that if I retaliated it was my fault. I decided fairly early on that I had to stay 'whiter than white'. The classic is my sitting eating dinner being pummelled by kicks under the table. He's 16.

Help!!

All day ski school for children and supervised lunches

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