Skiing school for kids

Sports and Hobbies
1
Hey folks,

My 6 years old kid never did skiing (we have been in Switzerland for more than 2 years) and I think it should be changed finally

Do you have any recommandation for schools? We plan to go around christmas season.

Should we consider nearby countries (Italy/France)?

2
Wow, at first glance I mis-read your thread title and username all as one item, and that was scary: "Acid Syrup for Kid's Skiing School".

3
In my experience with kids, a large group class is a waste of time for beginner children. Your child will spend most of the time waiting for around whilst having to watch the other children fall over one by one. It may be much cheaper but is, IMO, a complete waste of time and money.

A single instructor will pay dividends.

Group lessons are fine when the children are more experienced and will ski down the slopes together and have little competitions etc.

As for schools - most are part of the same organisation and all will have instructors who are ok or better. (they can all ski but ability to teach will vary).

4
https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-ch/...0ski%20lessons

5
I found Austria to be really good for ski schools and cheaper than CH. the group classes worked well for the kids as they are motivated by the others, make friends and fool around so they are happy to go. They learn really quick at that age.

Some general advice:

1) be as near to the ski school drop off as financially possible. Taking ski buses with small kids is a nightmare.

2) Check said drop off - sometimes it’s a the top of the mountain and if you are not skiing yourself, may be annoying (and costly) to take kid up there.

3) Buy the best ski clothes you can afford - the really good stuff like Reima etc sells well second hand and will go a long way to avoid frozen hands/bum etc which all cause a lot of whining

Good on you for doing this for your child!

K

6
You can travel for a week to Austria (or France/Italy, but I am not sure they have German classes), or if you live in Zurich area, i.e. Hoch-Ybrig or Pizol ski schools have weekend group classes for kids (i.e. 5 Sundays in a row).

7
If you can find a school that guarantees a class of 8 or less pupils, it's the one to book. It's pointless standing around in the cold waiting for 25 people to put in 3 turns 1 at a time.

8
I would suggest “start humble or tumble”. Do you ski?

If not, take it easy.

Go to Brunni (behind Einsiedeln) or Volketswil. Respectively small or ultrasmall ski slopes, cheap, not much stress (Brunni easy with decent public transport).

3 days there, with a ski instructor, then maybe start thinking about other places.

If you want to save money: it boils down to buying the equipment, instead of renting, and avoiding as much as possible going to cafe/restaurant on the slopes

9
Another small place to start is Oberiberg at the Roggen ski lift. They have magic carpet and a small ski school. Easy to reach and big parking right there.

I do not recommend buying equipment for children, they grow so fast,may decide their boots hurt etc.

10
Totally agree with Tom about going for private lessons over group lessons..

My kids got nothing out of group lessons when they were beginners, it's mostly standing around. Fine if you are just using it as a creche but not to actually learn.

Paying the extra 20-30 chf gets them so much more, like using the lifts straight away.

Around where we go we used the ESS and we were able to choose the instructor (from photos on the website). I've got two girls so they wanted a young female teacher who spoke some english rather than an old guy.

They ski the whole mountain now but we still do a lesson each season .

11
This is a Christmas vacation for the family you're planning?

I would plan it around what works best for the whole family, your toddler will be fine anywhere. The choice of places is huge and the standards for ski schools is excellent in Switzerland, Italy and France. (This is most likely also true of Austria but I don't have any personal experience there). Any of the schools in the larger places will be able to provide an instructor that can communicate in English.

Last season was a bust in the neighbouring countries due to Covid while Switzerland remained open, therefore it is a safer to plan within the borders. I'm reasonably sure that Italy and France will be open this ski season, but very likely with Covid Certificate mandates. Switzerland may be heading in that direction as well.

My favourite places in Switzerland are Davos and Zermatt. I'm hoping to spend a lot of time in Courmayeur and Gressonay this season, but I can also recommend Valtournanche and the Dolomites.

12
If you don't ski and your child has never been on skis start very small. Not one week. That is too much. Start with a half day here and there. They might hate it or be scared. Maybe go to one of the smaller resorts mentionned. Brunni is easy to reach from Zurich. If you have a car Sattel Hochstuckli is also close. Elm or Amden are also nice.

Maybe go there the first time just to watch and walk around. He is already 6 so this might be less of an issue than with smaller children but still think about it.

Does your child want to ski or do you want him to ski? Can also make a big difference.

I would rent skis and shoes but you need warm clothes. Try a Kinderkleiderbörse they usually also have snow clithes. But not yet. Its too early

13
My kids did some lessons in Campo Blenio before going on their first white week.

I've never had lessons, and used to race in high-school!

Tom

14
I just did a Google search on White week and got "Welcome Black week" as the second hit.

Oh, sorry, wrong thread....

15
I know that in the past some hotels were offering free ski passes and lessons for kids per night in the hotel. eg: Mountain Lodge Arosa

https://arosalenzerheide.swiss/de/Re.../All-Inclusive

All Swiss Ski schools have highly qualified teachers who go through rigourous training. The difference is mainly in the personality of the teacher.

16
Thanks for all inputs, folks!

I don't ski as well (ok, tried once, but wasn't big success). So ideally I'm looking for something for my kid and myselft at the same time (with different teacher of course).

Probably I start with half day something near Zurich (to reduce commute time) to see if the kid likes or hate it.

Gear is a huge question mark for now: I don't have anything except heltems we used to sledging. What indicators I can use to decide between renting vs buying? I would say the kid will overgrow fast (6 yo), so maybe buying is not a good idea. What about buying second hand? Or renting something outside of resorts and bringing it by car?

17
Actually they allow very basic qualified hobby instructors to teach, with a fairly low level of skiing. 5 years ago, skiing as a group the weakest skier in the group was giving my wife some tips, it then dawned on me that I had paid for a skiing lesson with this person 25 years before.

This is very different in France where they have to be a very good skiers to even start entry level training to be instructors.

18
Sounds like a private lesson with your kid is the way to go at least for a couple of lessons, then you probably won't be able to keep up

Definitely rent at this stage, plenty of different sorts of skis for different situations. I have 9 sets, 6 of which will get used regularly.

Slalom skis, Giant Slalom, Touring skis, very light weight touring for long assents, on/off piste skies & powder skies. The other 3 are old ones that get used when the snow is poor & lots of rocks showing through!

19
On the subject of renting, for childrens' gear - renting for the whole season really isn't much more expensive than renting for a week or two.

20
Rent the equipment here:

https://pro-skirental.ch/en/

Price is based on ski length including boots and poles. It should not cost you much more than Fr100 for the whole season, and you can change anytime in case you need a bigger size later on.

I've been renting from them for my kids for more than 6 seasons I think. Go before the end of October to get the best choices and Fr.10 discount.