Cervinia Ski Schools

We're just on the point of booking our third ski holiday and planning on going to Cervinia in the first week of April. Group comprises myself, husband and 14 yr old son. For our two previous trips we've just booked everything through the ski operator but beginning ( just!) to feel as if we're learning the ropes now and so planning this time to sort out ski hire, lift passes and ski school ourselves, as it seems cheaper. There appears to be three ski schools in Cervinia. Anyone got any preferences or comments to help us choose which one or are they all much of a muchness?

We're likely to book travel/ accommodation through Crystal. Presumably it makes no real difference ( other than possibly cost) whether you book ski school through Crystal as part of overall package or organise yourself?

Any advice or comment gratefully received. Can't wait!

Hi Catriona,
I've never been to Cervinia, so I was waiting for someone else to come up with some useful information to help you. But everyone else seems to be busy/lost this thread or whatever.

However, I have booked ski school several times in other resorts, and I have a pretty good idea of what to look for.

1. It's a lot easier if you can all book into the same ski school with the same start and finish times, so have a look at the lesson times.

2. Following on from this - we usually try and book early morning lessons so that we can ski as a family together the rest of the time. Plus, it does make us all get up early every morning :D

3. Have a look to see where the meeting place for each school is in relation to your accommodation - I don't know about you but I hate walking anywhere in ski boots carrying my skis!

4. Check what each school offers in the way of lessons. Pro-neige in Val Thorens in France did brilliant teenage lessons and my daughter says they were the best and most exciting ski lessons she ever had. Some schools say all kids over 13 have to go into adult classes and your son may not like ski-ing with adults, so check how they divide the age groups. Or of course, you may prefer it if you can all ski in the same class as a family.

5. The length of the lessons - personally I can't stick more than about 2 1/2 hours of lessons because after this time I'm totally knackered!

6. How many lessons there are during the week. Schools can do e.g. 4, 5, or 6 days of lessons, with a day or so off during the week. We've just been in a class where they have 5 lessons during the week and you can take either the first day or the last day of the holiday off to ski on your own. I decided it would be best to practise on our own the first day, since I hadn't skied for a year, and then begin lessons on the second day.

7. The price. We generally ski with ESF in France as we've found them to be the cheapest ski school and the standard of lessons to be acceptable.

8. Reputation etc. This one is very difficult, as people will have varying opinions of the ski school, and in my experience it just depends on the individual instructor you get, rather than the ski school. Some instructors are excellent, with near perfect English, and others are less good. We've tried English, Bulgarian, Austrian and French instructors and I don't find the English speaking ones to be any easier to understand when they're spouting ski techno-babble than the other nationalities.

9. Class size. Some ski schools will guarantee to ski with at least 4 in the group and not more than 8, whereas others will require at least 5 and may have a maximum group size of 12 people.

Finally - if you're not happy with the group/instructor etc. you end up with then you can complain about it in the office and hopefully get shifted to another group/instructor/cash in the group lessons for private ones or whatever.

Best of luck with finding a good ski school and I hope you have a great holiday :D

Ally

Thanks Ally for your comprehensive reply. There was a quie a few things there that I hadn't though of. I'll email the ski schools and get more info and take it from there. Thanks again

Catriona