J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by AllyG

Thanks very much for the avalanche report, I've never seen one before, are they always in French in France or do they do an English version?

I have never been ski-ing 'off-piste', and at the moment I have no intention of doing so, but do they not publish this information at the lift office each day, with the other stuff everyone wants to know - like which pistes are open, what the temperature is etc.?

I mean, not everyone has access to the internet while on a ski-ing holiday, and I would guess (not knowing anything about this subject) that the situation changes from day to day.

I usually ski in lessons, but I have noticed that the instructors check the latest information at the lift office before the class.

Ally

Hi Zwee,
Well I'm sorry those lessons wouldn't suit your daughter, because as well as being very good I thought they were also comparatively cheap. She sounds rather like me - I still tend to go into a snowplough when I'm nervous, and I just hope the instructor isn't looking!

I have looked at the Magic ski school which is in Val d'Isere, Meribel, Courchevel, and La Tania as somewhere for my daughter next year, but I was horrified at the prices. They do special classes for children of different ages, and they go up to age 17. Sunday to Friday, mornings only apart from Wednesday and Friday which are all day, the lessons cost 440 euros (this year). We only paid about 200 euros for my daughter to ski in morning and afternoon lessons with Prosneige in Val Thorens, Sunday to Friday.

Strangely enough, my daughter had a rubbish ski instructor in Bulgaria as well,her first ski holiday (which I have written about elsewhere)when she was only 9. Instructors seem to vary enormously, and some are much better than others. She says the 2 instructors (morning and afternoon lessons) she had with Prosneige were great.

She also says, if I can't find good cheap teenage lessons for next Feb half-term she will very kindly agree to go in adult lessons. We want to go to Courchevel because we will have another member of the family with us who is very fond of shopping (even if only window shopping with Courchevel prices) and other non ski activities. Plus, we have been to Val Thorens twice now, and we'd quite like to ski in trees again.

I don't think mixing adults and teenagers is a very good idea, but I suppose sometimes the ski schools simply don't have enough customers to split the classes. In my afternoon lesson in Val Thorens there was a 10 year old girl who'd been chucked out of her children's lesson because she was too tall for the other children. Apparently this constituted a hazard (because of the weight/momentum) for the younger children. And it wasn't very fair on her.

Best of luck with finding suitable classes for your daughter,

Ally

Hi Zwee,
We skied at Val Thorens during Feb half-term, and my 15 year old daughter skied in teenage classes with Prosneige.

These classes are specially devoted to teenagers (I think they only run in school holidays but you'd have to check), but they have to be 'in confidence on all slopes' which basically means they have to be able to rocket down black pistes and be willing to try going off piste and over jumps.

After we got there we discovered that she was supposed to have passed her childrens gold star level, and she had in fact previously been ski-ing in adult Upper Intermediate classes, which I'm sure is lower than this. However, she coped O.K. and didn't get kicked out.I think children (and teenagers) learn faster than adults.

It was her 6th ski-ing holiday. By 4 years do you mean your daughter has been on 4 previous ski-ing holidays? Do you think she could cope with this level? My daughter really enjoyed herself and her ski-ing has come on in leaps and bounds. She can carve down black runs now, and go all the way down off piste in a lesson. She much preferred it to adult lessons.

So, we can thoroughly recommend the teenage lessons with Prosneige.

Ally

Ian,
I will try and remember that you are the good looking one. Sorry for the mix-up. Perhaps instead of ski-ing I should book myself into an old folks home for a holiday and give my husband a break.

And I hope the original poster finds a great catered chalet somewhere at a reasonable price for next Feb half-term.

Ally

Sorry Tony, don't know why I said Ian. Total brain misfunction - old age creeping up I suppose.

Ally

Tony,
I didn't mean that one extra day cost £500, what I meant was that the lift passes cost a bit more because we had 7 days, not 6 (the extra day of ski hire was free, luckily).

The £500 was the total cost for lift passes, lessons morning and afternoon, and ski and boot hire in Val Thorens during Feb half-term '09 per person for 7 days.

The skis and boots were adult, 'red' and 'black' i.e. not the cheapest beginner's 'blue' ones, booked on the internet a long time before we left, at 40% discount if I remember correctly, from Intersport. The lessons were about £200, lift passes £200, and ski and boot hire £100.

And I agree we do spend a lot of time on the train. However, we live about 50 miles from the nearest motorway, and about 100 miles from the nearest airport. We are trying not to fly any more to reduce our carbon footprint. My husband stays home to look after the farm (but very kindly lets me takes the kids ski-ing) and I don't fancy driving all the way to London, quite apart from global warming, to get the train to France. The added bonus is that we get to stay the night with my elderly parents in London, and catch up with their news.

I think I still need ski lessons because I'm not very good yet, and I have read all about the 'intermediate plateau' that a lot of people get stuck on. I would like to be a good skier, so that I can get down any piste comfortably, without too much anxiety, and safely. Naturally I'd like to be able to ski with style as well, but that's probably asking a bit too much!

The added bonus of lessons is that it means you can ski in practically any conditions as long as the lifts are running. We skied this time in thick fog/snow in a lesson, and the teacher kept us entertained by getting us to ski with our eyes shut! We all had a good laugh, and we were practically the only people on the slopes, and the teacher was there to make sure there were no collisions (she had her eyes open). And the same thing happened last year - we had absolutely no idea where we were, because of the fog, but we just followed each other and the teacher and managed to ski all day.

I am very jealous, Ian, that you can ski any time. My elder daughter has already left home for Uni, and maybe when my younger one leaves home I will again be able to ski when I like in Jan and Feb, before I have to look after our own holidaymakers here.

Ally

Tony,
I agree with you, I think that's very cheap, but I don't suppose that's Feb half-term. There are some very cheap offers around, e.g. an offer on today - Cheval Blanc apartment Val Thorens, 21st March, 4 people, £200 each with Thomson including flights from Manchester (half price offer).

And I was thinking about the whole cost of the holiday. My daughter and I always have lessons morning and afternoon, because she skis too fast for me and complains bitterly if she has to wait for me, and I don't want her ski-ing on her own, nor do I want to ski on my own either, plus I think we improve faster in lessons.

We had an extra day in Val Thorens this Feb (got the night train back), and lessons plus ski passes plus ski hire was an extra £500 each.

I agree perhaps I over generalised, I was thinking of my own situation. If you can go when you like, where you like, and you don't need lessons and you bring your own gear, then ski holidays can be very cheap. However, as I think I said, we prefer to go by train, which involves a 250 mile train journey to get to London, with one change, then across London on the underground, then train to the Alps, then bus, then walk to the apartment. My daughter wanted to buy her own skis but I said 'no' because I just couldn't face carrying them as well as all our other luggage. And boots would be even worse. And it's much too far for me to drive all the way to the Alps.

And as I said she doesn't want to miss school (she is doing very well at the moment), and I have to work here at home from around March right through to the New Year with our holiday cottage lets and farmwork, so we can't go when it's cheapest. At the moment, unfortunately, I am stuck with going at half-term in Feb.

Ally

Hi Caines,
I was looking for a ski holiday for last Feb half-term, and I'm looking for one now for next Feb, so I understand your problem. Practically any sort of ski holiday seems to be incredibly expensive at that time, because it's the peak week/possibly 2 weeks of the ski-ing year.

When my children were younger we used to go in school time, at the beginning of January after the Christmas holidays. Presumably this option isn't open to you? But this year my daughter was in her GCSE year and didn't want to miss any school. The prices were about twice what we'd have paid in January. So I decided to change my tactics.

I managed to find a very cheap holiday for us by going self-catering and booking through a French estate agent, and booking the train and transfers myself. I know this isn't what you want to do, but the price difference is amazing. For example, I booked an apartment for 5 people for 675 euros for last Feb half-term, in Val Thorens. The apartment had a fantastic location, with the piste going right past it (not quite ski in ski out but pretty close), a few yards from the shops, and the ski shop was close. The train was £250 each (direct to/from St Pancras) and the transfer was around 20 euros each. Total per person assuming full occupancy around £400. A chalet with flights would have cost me anything from £800 upwards per person (most of them were over £1000 per person).

I may be totally wrong, and no doubt if so someone will correct me, but I think if you stick with your stated requirement you won't find anything much cheaper than what you already have. And, because there are so many of you, I don't think you'd find a last minute booking either.

Next Feb half-term I think we're going to Courchevel, again French self-catering. You can't book until about July, but if prices stay the same it should be 950 euros for an apartment for 4, 3 star, ski in gondola out (that's what you have to do if you're at the bottom on the flat!),sledging run virtually outside the door, train around £200 each (flights are cheaper but I prefer the train), transfers probably around 20 euros each again return. Total cost per person around £540 (plus of course ski passes, lessons, ski hire, and insurance).

If you go self-catering you do of course have to buy your own food, as compared with a catered chalet, but I reckon this evens out because you can go back to the apartment for lunch, and lunch on the slopes can be very expensive.

Lots of people here seem to think Niederau is great for beginners and intermediates (as does one of my friends - I haven't been there myself) but Austria doesn't generally seem to do self-catering.

I'm sorry to be so depressing, but ski holidays are very expensive, especially at Feb half-term.

Ally