Snowboarding lessons - bad experience

This sounds like Schladming! We had to do a lot of walking with the instructor, skidding the board round in a circle and sliding down front side for 2 hours. Gave that up, went to the midstation at Hochwurzen and taught myself.

The skidding the board along business did come in handy later getting on lifts etc.

Stick with it - it will be worth it

madman2swords wrote:This sounds like Schladming! We had to do a lot of walking with the instructor, skidding the board round in a circle and sliding down front side for 2 hours. Gave that up, went to the midstation at Hochwurzen and taught myself.

The skidding the board along business did come in handy later getting on lifts etc.

Stick with it - it will be worth it

We had to drag the board along on the flat for about 5 mins (5 minutes of agony) and then drag it up the hill to start the lesson. We spent about 2 hours trying to slide on the front and back edges. We didn't make any progress at all, nobody did really. People were telling me before I'd gone that I'd have to get a lift pass within a couple of days. At the rate we were going (the two of us that hadn't dropped out) I don't think we'd have needed a lift pass all week.

I thought the learning curve would be like ice skating. When you first stand up on those skates, you can barely hold your balance, so the last place you'd won't to go with them is the ice! The thing is with ice skating after that initial shock, most people seem to be able to get along and leave the side of the ice rink within a half hour at most. I thought snowboarding would be the same, but I found it a lot harder.

This was (a very crowded) Bad Hofgastein by the way.

DON'T GIVE UP........it will be worth it in the end.

I started to ride 13 months ago in La Plagne, I was 31 and had never been on a mountain before. I took a 2 hour lesson on the first day and quit after an hour. I was unfit, the other girl with me claimed to be a complete novice, but later admitted 8 days experience, it was frustrating for me and the instructor as I was so far behind.

If I hadn't hired the equipmet for a week and bought a weeks pass, I would have just given up and got drunk for a week, but I didn't and I am so happy about it.

I went off for 4 days alone on the nursery slopes and taught myself, by watching people and trying it out. Now I do have bad habits, but I can get down a mountain very comfortably, run all grades of slope (still struggle with very narrow red runs however) and have some real fun. In 2 weeks I will be in the Amade Ski range for my second full week of the season (I'm aiming for 30 days this winter, I've been in Val d'Isere already) and I will be taking private lessons 1 on 1 for at least part of it to rid me of my bad habits.

BTW, I was able to teach a friend the basics towards the end of my 2nd week of riding in Mayrhofen (he is 14 stone), so if you choose the solo path it will not be long before you can help your kids!!!!

tino_11 wrote:I went off for 4 days alone on the nursery slopes and taught myself, by watching people and trying it out.

In hindsight, this is what we should have done. The problem was that our rep told us to swap our equipment for skis first thing in the morning and book into the ski school, for ski lessons this time. After we'd lugged all this equipment back through the tunnel to the ski school, they told us they were full all week. At which point we took all the equipment back again, much to the amazement of the ski hire man.

I have to admit I taught myself after a two hour lesson. However, I bought every book and video on learning to snowboard, and studied them intently between days on the slope. Often it is one little tip or just a different way of explaining something that gets you over a plateau, so a wide range of resourcs is helpful.

The problem with copying others, is that so few people show good technique and those that do will use it in such a subtle way that you won't figure it out.

Trencher

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:

I'm planning on getting some lessons in the UK at xscape Glasgow before hitting the Alps next year. Cant wait as every year I'm skiing I see more and more boarders on the slopes and I want a piece of the action and of course a new challenge.

:D

Iceman

Sounds as if you were given some BS and the ski school was just saving the cost of an extra instructor. The perk of taking lessons at the end of the season is that people often end up with de facto private lessons at group cost.

The initial part of the learning curve for snowboarding is very steep, but even in the circumstances you had, the Instructor must have stunk to make it so hard, especially in the private session.

What were the conditions like ?

Trencher