Ski school for teenagers

My eldest is fast approaching this tricky age and it seems that next season she will be too old for Children's ski-school. She was quite a bit older than the rest of her class this year but because she was with her younger sister it wasn't a problem.
I don't think she would enjoy being on her own in adult lessons (she wouldn't be in the same class as us) and has only 4 years experience so would not be up for "race-training camp" which is the only alternative I've found.

I know in the school holidays there is more chance of there being more children in the adult lessons but we are still hoping to avoid going then.

Does anyone have any recommendations for places that cater for teenage ski-lessons?


Thanks.

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

Thanks Ally,
Unfortunately I don't think she is confident enough to do that type of class - she has done a couple of Black runs in previous ski-schools but she is nervous and resorts to snowplough quite often.
She has been on 4 skiing holidays - the last 3 she has had good tuition, the first in Bulgaria was rubbish - she has always skied with her younger sister (who probably would be up for the classes you recommend) so I think whatever she does next year will be a shock.
Zwee.

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

I'm not sure where you are going, or exactly how much this would cost, but have you considered maybe booking a couple of hours private lessons each day for your two daughters, and then skiing together for the rest of the day? You may find that with virtually 1:1 tuition they progress a lot faster, even if they do spend fewer hours in ski school.

Failing that, mixing teenagers and adults in a group needn't be a disaster, but as with any group lesson, it depends very much on the group and the instructor. When I was away in January, our group ranged from mid teens up to late 50s and we had a great time together.

Good luck with whatever option you go for :D

Thanks for replies.

Would prefer Ski-school rather than private lessons as its includes the social side of a holiday. We tend to go just as a family (i.e. not with friends) so it is good for them to make friends via ski-school.
Zwee