J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Iceman

It would be even more fun. Would the kayak still need waxing?

:mrgreen:

I went in Jan 2008 and had a god awful time.

This was mainly down to the quality of snowboard school - learn to board with people who have boarded for a couple of years :evil:

HOwever, the ski runs themselves were very good, the nursery slopes are great - however all of the main runs feed onto them at the top so they can be a bit hectic!!

We also sufferred from fog and imense cold in March.

Dont get me wrong, we did not hate it but just the quality of boarding tuition was pants.

Have fun though :mrgreen:

Yes they are.

Sorry thats as much help as I can be :wink:

Trencher wrote:Iceman

What were the conditions like ?

Trencher

The first 2 days it snowed all day - could not really see that far, but the snow was well maintained and not moguled at all. On the 3rd day it cleared, there was no ice at all and it was beatufilly groomed.

I still could not cope with him. All he kept saying was "It's not possible....! "That was his extent of his english. I asked him why he just said "It's not possible".

I hear you about the language barrier being a problem but he must have a vocabulary of more than, "its not possible, see you at 2pm, the other way, slow down" Worse than useless.

Thomson have replied to my email saying they will get back to me in 28 days.

As you can imagine, I am not happy :cry:

I did 3 days. It was not a pleasurable experience at all. I have another post about the quality of lessons :cry:

Still had a brill holiday tho :D

Lessons???? LOL....

Look at the email I sent to Thomsons. Boarding???? Never again!!! Sorry :cry:

Myself and my partner booked the first time boarding package in the hope that by the end of the week we would be capable boarders and be able to enjoy exploring the runs of the resort on our final day. However this was not possible due to the following factors:-

1. On the first day relevant groups were chosen according to ability. We were of the understanding (as was the Thomson rep in resort) that first time boarding meant exactly that – you did not know the basic elements such as: how to put a board on, how one works, stand up, how to stop etc etc.

There were 6 people in our group, 4 of which had already experienced at least 3 lessons previously. Therefore they could do all of the aforementioned with ease, consequently the instructor (Eugene) conducted the class at their level. This obviously meant that myself and my partner found it extremely difficult to follow the lesson.

On the 2nd day 2 members of the group had dropped out as the pace of the lessons were too slow for them. However the lesson did not change they were still far too advanced for my partner and I. Consequently my partner could not cope any longer and was forced to stop going to the lessons at the end of day 2. This meant that the group was now reduced to just 3 – 2 people who had previous experience and myself with none. With this reduction the lessons should then have been like private tuition. It was not, again the tutor continued at a pace to suit the boarders with more experience.

On the Tuesday morning we expressed our disappointment and concerns with regards to the above with Louise the Thomson rep in resort. Louise was very surprised with this and said that should not be the case, our lessons should not have people in it with previous experience. After speaking with the ski school she was unable to change our tutor as he was the only one with first time boarding experience. In an effort to try and advance ourselves we decided to take a private lesson at our own expense (€45). This did not help us much at all. I went to the lesson on the Tuesday alone and I could no longer cope and had to stop the lessons at the end of that day.

2. In addition to the above, the instructor spoke very limited English. Therefore, when he did teach us it was very difficult to grasp what he was trying to say. He would also use skiing/boarding terminology without explaining it properly – such as fall line. We questioned the tutor about such things and he could not understand what we were saying. Again this is a reflection of the level he was teaching at. I would imagine that booking through a UK tour operator would result in learning with a ski school that does have the capability to teach and explain in English - this was definitely not the case

3. The instructors teaching style was also questionable, he seemed to let us all go at once and struggle if we were caught somewhere. All of the group going together at once meant that he could not spend time with each of us and teach us – there is no excuse when there are just 3 in the group.



We are obviously extremely disappointed with both Thomson and the Italian Ski/Snowboard school as we had come away with the intention of learning to snowboard. This was definitely not the final result.

I have been on many ski holidays with Thomson in the past and never experienced this kind of quality of service from the Ski School.

I feel that we have been misled here in what we purchased – First Time Boarding was definitely not what we experienced. I would therefore like to have the money for 2 x First Time boarding refunded to me.

I am still awaiting a reply :evil:

Just come back from boarding for the first time....got a broken coxyx (spelling?)

Back to skis for me :(

Want to come and live with me in manchester? I need a cook and a cleaner :wink: