help needed for beginners holiday

Hi,
i'm a newbie on here and to skiing. And i have to say i know nothing about the skiing world!
Me and my daughter have just completed our level 1-4 for skiing and we are seriously addicted!!
:mrgreen:
We would like to go on holiday early next year and wondered if you had any reccomendations or tips to give?

We are on a budget being a single parent but can anyone recommend a good place to go for 'beginners' (i think we still are aren't we?) particularly seeing as we will be travelling alone. would you advise going with a ski school or will i need extra lessons, type of accomodation needed, best time to go, anything really.......

many thanks

Daiana

Welcome Daiana,

Here is some advice from a really really addicted skier.

I am sure you have heard this comment before! When you go "on holiday" you actually are taking 3 holidays.
The first holiday is planning all the fun you will have.
The second is actually living this fun
The third holiday is re-living it with your friends!

I assume you really are a neophytes, thus have no equipment or ski outfits. If so, the first step is get ski outfits


You want your holiday to be positive and lasting thus I recommend a ski center that is "centered on learning"

Take the time to learn correctly how to ski, I promise you your addiction will provide much pleasure.

I am sure you will get many suggestions for ski centers, again I stress that you go to a ski center that is known for great ski instructors.

I prefer ski centers that provide 4 hours of lessons per day. That is 2 hours in morning and 2 in afternoon.

I also suggest you make sure you can "move" from class level to class level. Thus if you are fit and a great student you may "progress" faster than rest of class!

Rent the very best skis and boots. Do not get "cheaper" skis which often are called rental skis. For a little more you can get "high performance" skis. These are not racing skis but just more "sensitive" also get women specific skis. Same with boots. Do not get rear entry boots! I will be spending a whole class ( in tuning section) on selecting boots and pros and cons to rear entry boots. Suffice to say these boots are nearly all off the marker except for rental ( or as they say in England "for hire") programs.

May I suggest a smaller better groomed center.

Since I do not know your budget please send me via PM your budget and I will show you how to save some money!

Hope this has helped you.

Pavel

I was going to reply, when i saw Pavel's reply and saw it was basically perfect!!

You really are a credit to this site, brilliant work Pavel.

Anyway...back on topic :-)

Hi Daiana

Welcome to the world of skiing - you will never leave! 8)

Pavel covers the bases pretty well but (I'm assuming you're in the UK) there are some specific pointers you might find useful.

• Get as familiar as you can with the jargon, and read up on the basics of technique - this will help you make faster sense of the lessons once you hit the snow. Browse through the Ski Technique section here on j2ski and scan the old forum discussions.


• Find some pictures of mountains and put them on your wall (I have a beautiful panorama of Mont Blanc dominating my lounge), and imagine yourself there.


• Get as fit as you can before you go - learning to ski is great fun, but hard work.


• Time your holiday to avoid the peak weeks (Xmas and the February half-term) if you can. March is a good time to ski - not too cold, good snow and few crowds (usually).


• Go somewhere small - as beginners you don't need a big mountain; you want somewhere you can get to know quickly. With ski resorts, small usually means friendly.


• Pick somewhere that you can take a day off and do something else (like sit in a Spa!) to rest those aching muscles.


• Have Fun! Learning is fun, falling is fun (usually), snow is fun, face-plants are, er, a good excuse to break for a hot chocolate or something stronger...

And finally... start getting excited! You can do that now - the solstice is well past and the days are getting shorter. Forget summer (not difficult if you're in the UK at the moment!), it's now winter you live for...

Powderhound

Hi there

I can recommend Niederau in Austria. My husband and I went there as complete beginners and we're going back for the third time in January. We go then because it's quiet but you have to be careful with snowfall. It's a great little resort and the quality of instruction is excellent (Wildschonau Ski School, the reds). It's 4 hr lessons, 2 hr in the morning, 2 hr in the afternoon. We stayed in the Hotel Austria, right across the road from the ski school, nursery slopes and gondola and the ski hire is underneath the hotel. If you progress well, they will move you up into another class. Niederau is about a hour transfer from Innsbruck.

Try and get as fit as you can, it will make skiing more enjoyable. I power walk, jog, do a high impact aerobic class twice a week and have two horse riding lessons twice a week which are pretty good for balance and leg strength.

The basics you will need are salopettes, waterproof jacket, waterproof gloves, hat, scarf/neck warmer, two or three pairs of decent ski socks, a couple of thin base layers, thin polo jumpers/fleeces, goggles and sunglasses. You'll find if you read through other ski forums you'll pick up quite a few hints and tips.

Happy skiing! :)

Hi Daiana,

We can help you with a complete holiday package, taking the worry out of transfers, hiring kit, getting ski passes, etc, etc, etc....

We can offer you accommodation in our catered chalet at the foot of the pistes in our great resort of Cambre d'Aze in the French Pyrenees. Our chalet prices include airport transfers (Perpigna - Ryanair or bmibaby) of just 75 mins, accommodation, breakfast, afternoon tea, apaeratifs and four course evening meal with wine. We will be on hand to help you all along the way of your holiday so you can enjoy the skiing not the organisation!

Being in the Pyrenees we can offer prices usually much cheaper than in the Alps and once you get here you will notice the massive "reduced" difference in prices of lifts passes, ski hire and beers!

Check out our website : www.pyrenees-ski-experience.com for more info or give us a call or email.

Regards
Sarah Blackmore
info@pyrenees-ski-experience.com
00 33 468 04 18 79

Hi as a beginner I would wholehartedly reccomend Les Gets in France Its a beautifull resort not built up cheap lift passes (go for the local lift pass only) its got lots of mountain restaurants for a much needed hot choc/vin chaud stop off the people are very friendly its got an ice rink in resort for something else to do plenty of lovely little shops and is very pretty and also has many tree lined runs therefore much more scenic. One thing though it is quite low so be carefull with snow cover they do have cannons which is good and reduce the lift pass price if all the runs arent open. ESF ski school is ok - we went with the holiday company Esprit holidays and you can get some great last min baragins for 1 adult 1 child and their child care is excellent and you will be sharing a chalet with other families so you can relax. my dd had lessons with esf through esprit and they were limited nos in the class (8) and all from our chalet so all english which made a big difference as for lessons with yourself we used a guy for private lessons I cant remeber his name but if I do ill post it on here and he was english and fab - If you have allready done some dry skiing you might be as well having a couple of provate lessons and be off on your way although for a 1st time ski trip grp lessons have the bonus of like ability skiiers and you can ski together after the lessons as well. One thing before you go get fit! it really makes a difference and enjoy it we have been late comers to skiing having gone only in the last 2 yrs - but having said that I snook in an extra trip at easter this yr as I am totally hooked ENJOY :-)

Hi
To help you and your daughter get around resort with your skis and poles try Skiweb. www.skiweb.uk.com It wraps your skis and poles together and makes it VERY easy for you to walk around the resort.
By the way Neiderau is great to learn and the instructors are fab. I learnt there. Another good place is Ellmau with many slopes and a bit more to do in the evenings.
Austria is a must to learn to ski
Have a great first trip
Sian