Ski Schools in Flaine

Has anyone experience of the ski schools in Flaine.

I;d prefer to avoid ESF.

I'm looking for lessons for 3 kids (all 9 yrs old) 2 of them total beginners and the other has done 4 weeks skiing.

Any comments more than welcome.

Thanks

My wife and a friend had private lessons with ESF in Flaine a couple of seasons ago; both instructors were brilliant. I'd avoid ESF Group Lessons, but if you're thinking of Private then definitely worth considering.

No knowledge of the other schools there, sorry - great skiing though.

Thanks.

It was group lessons I was most interested in.

The Flaine website have details of this company.

http://www.flaine-internationalskischool.com/ski-school-pxl-20.html

Any views / experience??

Hi, My son (he was 4 1/2) had ESF group lessons in Flaine last winter (2 weeks) and will do so again this year. They were very good. The first week was his first proper week on snow, and he did his Ourson test. He was in a goup of about 9/10 (it was new year week). His second week he did his Flocon, and was in a goup that varied from 4-7 kids. His instructor spoke very good English and there was a sizeable number of English kids in each lesson (the majority).

He also had two private lessons with Catherine Poupeville who is independant but affiliated to the ESI. She specialises in teaching kids and was brilliant: http://www.skicat74.com/ Well worth the money, but book early as she is very popular amongst regulars.

The ESI is the International Ski School, and most instructors were french, but most pupils were English speaking. TBH I don't think they're any different from the ESF.

try 360 international, that's who we have booked with.

My two kids (both pretty much grown up now) have had ski-ing lessons with 8 different ski schools in 5 different countries. Some of the instructors have been excellent, most of them pretty average, and 2 really awful ones out of a total of 11 instructors.

I don't think the quality of the lesson is as much to do with the ski school as the individual ski instructor one gets - which I think is pretty much a case of pot luck. Most of the esf ones we have had (I have lessons as well) have been fine. We've only had one bad one (the one who kept deliberately losing his pupils), and even he did teach me the 'mid-position' and how to pole plant once I'd worked out how to stop him from losing me.

I don't know what esf is like in Flaine, but I don't suppose they're any worse than they are elsewhere. Anyway, best of luck with finding some good instructors for the kids in your group.

Ally

I was searching for similar info to the original poster, no aversion for ESF but looking for alternatives, I have to say I fully agree with the comments of AllyG.

Regards,

Colin

I have to confess that I do tend to make every effort to avoid ESF. While I know their instructors are probably as good as any other ski school, my reasons for going elsewhere are

- smaller classes - ESF tends to pile them in during busy periods. I have seen as many as 15 kids in a class;

- attitude (1) - they take a very rigid approach and will have no qualms about failing a kid at the end of the week if they do not feel they have progressed sufficiently. While I would not dispute their assessment, I do not want my kids being demoralised in this fashion;

- attitude (2) - because they are the dominant player in each resort, it always feels to me that they do not make as much effort to accommodate your needs.

I have used ESI in Flaine a few times and was happy enough with them. Generally a bit friendlier than ESF and, IIRC, a limit of 8 kids per class.

As others have said, the quality of individual tuition is very much a matter or luck in getting an instructor that is right for you (different styles of instruction suit different people).