Best skiing resort for a complete beginner?

;-) You should try being poor in a flat land... I skied on plastic for 10
years before I finally made it to snow. I did enjoy saying "it's my first
week on snow" when asked how much experience I had. Ya can't dine out on it
for all that long though.

From what I remember the main issue was handling moguls (which they didn't
have on plastic slopes at the time). Other than that, snow's much easier
than the real thing.

Occasionally people still ask how I learned to board, as apparently most
brits can't. It's still fun to explain that it's all down to the plastic,
although not many of my Canadian powder-hound buddies have actually come
over to try it out ;-)

In message , Clive Backham
writes

I don't think anybody, British or otherwise, can explain skiing in mere
words.

I don't believe I ever suggested that. Of course the techniques need
to be demonstrated, but it is also helpful for the instructor to be
able to describe how it should feel, and it helps if they have a full
command of your own language.

Perhaps the most useful thing in a class with a British instructor was
being able to tell her how I'd felt (something scary had happened
between lessons and I'd been unable to get my balance back - naturally
she knew a way to do that) but it also helped that we had a woman
instructor and a mostly female class.

Since you'll find instructors with adequate English in any large resort,

There is also the danger that you could get lumbered with one of the
instructors whose English is woefully lacking. Unless you're prepared
to pay for private lessons, you'll get whoever is taking the group
that you are assigned to. Maybe you have been lucky, but most of the
French and Italian instructors I've been with said little more than
"do what I do", or "follow me".

That's less likely to happen if you use private ski schools and go when
the resort isn't busy (ie avoid school holidays).
I'm told that if you use the local instructors' cooperative, it's best
to tell them when you book that you don't speak the local language at
all (but make that as untrue as possible, of course).
--
Sue ];()

In message , Steve Haigh
writes
the best
exercise for skiing is...skiing
True, but I do find doing weights in the gym helps a little bit, and
I'm told by a physio that it will reduce the chances of injury, even if
I don't feel much fitter. That's what I do now, but I live quite close
to "Bracknell Alps" so I might try that sometime - anyone been there?


I live near there, but I've never used it. A friend did go there
before he tried snow for the first time, but he didn't think it helped
much and he said it was like concrete when he fell on it.

For developing those thigh muscles, on the other side of Bracknell
there's some MTB singletrack for £1 a day, some of it's quite difficult
and there's all the chestnuts you want to take home and cook.
--
Sue ];(

"NewsGroups" wrote in message
...
Can someone please suggest the best ski resort(s) in Europe for a complete
beginner.

Adult I presume ?

I am looking to go skiing for a week in January / February and would like to
learn while at the resort.

Is this for a radio/TV programme?

I think that you should get the UK tour operator brochures and pick a resort
where your accommodation, the lifts/ski runs and ski school are all close to
each other, and you dont have to come down a black run to get home. Ideally you
want a good selection of blue/greem runs.

I would suggest that you consider the small resorts as your wont be limited by
the fact that they do not have many runs.

Choose a country where you like the atmosphere particulary the night life if
that is important to you.
(e.g. France is a lot of self catering and is not so good for night life - fine
if you are taking the family on a restricted budget.)


Hire boots and skis when you get there in case you want to change them, not in
the UK.

I dont know how long it takes to learn to ski on modern equipment, but I would
suggest that week (6 days) is not enough.


Michael Chare

Cervinia, Italy.

Richard

In message , Michael Chare
writes

I dont know how long it takes to learn to ski on modern equipment, but I would
suggest that week (6 days) is not enough.

If the 6 days go reasonably well, it should be enough to decide whether
they want to go back again. After that first week it only gets better!

How long it takes to learn to ski depends how long a piece of string is
- you'd never stop learning. Allowing for their age, what other sports
they do, how many years they're spreading the learning process over,
time lost to bad weather, etc, etc, I'd guess after about 4 weeks they
should be able to keep up with their friends from the
rowing/badminton/hockey club.
--
Sue ];(

"NewsGroups" wrote in message ...
Can someone please suggest the best ski resort(s) in Europe for a complete
beginner.

I am looking to go skiing for a week in January / February and would like to
learn while at the resort.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Many thanks
John Scale


Hi John,

When I learned skiing (some 30 years ago...) I arrive at the resort on
the Saturday morning and did not wanted to wait for another day before
taking my first collective lesson. So I paid for 2 hours of private
lessons. I think it was the best think I could have done. After there
two hours, I was able to do any green/blue/red slope of the resort
(ok, the red with a number of technical shortcuts not to recommend
;~0)

Then I joined the collective curse... in the second year.

For the choice of the resort, I'd recommend indeed a large resort,
with slopes offering long descents to the beginners and to the more
experienced. Although I will probably be accused of advertising for
it, the "Grand-Massif" resort is not bad for that, definitely in
January and February when the "Cascades" slope is opened. It offers
half a day of very easy skiing in some of the most beautiful forest
landscape you can find, between two lovely cascade streams.

Our children have learned skiing in La Plagne off season, and it was
also very good. Off season offers you the chance of smaller groups for
your lessons (again, January and March are great for that).

Dominique Foucart
"Samoens que j'aime" - skiing and hiking in Haute Savoie
http://www.samoens.int.ms

info and booking: +32 (0)499 32 74 15

(Dominique Foucart) wrote in message . com...
"NewsGroups" wrote in message ...
Can someone please suggest the best ski resort(s) in Europe for a complete
beginner.

I am looking to go skiing for a week in January / February and would like to
learn while at the resort.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Many thanks
John Scale


Hi John,

A lot depends of who you are going with (children, experianced skiers
etc) and what you would like to do in the evenings. Most resorts have
a large enough nursary area and easy runs to keep a beginner happy for
a week, so you can then look at other things. There is quite a lot of
big resort / small resort debate so here's my tuppence worth:
Experienced skiers prefer big ski areas so the price of accomodation
will be higher in these places (a limited area pass in a big resort is
still more than a pass in a small resort).
As long as there are enough English speaking clients to have separate
English speaking classes there sohuld not be too much problem getting
lessons.
Big resorts (the village rather than the ski area) have more
nightlife, this may be a plus or a negative.

Also note that:
It is a big plus to have conveniant skiing, by first trip to the alps
was to Zell am ziller before Cristmas, the trip to the slopes required
a train trip and then a gondola/cable car to the bottom of the runs,
then a charilift before we could ski, this took about an hour and
involved walking in ski boots (not easy) and lugging skis and pole
everywhere. Staying at the botom of the lift makes life much easier
although high resorts tend to have less charm and conveniance costs.

In the second half of February prices skirocket, and crowds build. If
you have the choice avoid the school holidays and go in January or
early February. The later you go the more it will cost but the longer
the days and (possibly) the better the weather.

Here are a few ideas:

Small cheap resorts / areas

Andorra (especially Soldeu
Eastern Europe (especially Pamporovo)
Livigno

Alpine resorts good for beginners and families

Les Arcs
Isola 2000
Saas Fee

Resorts good for mixed ability groups

Les Arcs
Courcheval

"Clive Backham" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 7 Nov 2003 00:29:31 +0000, Sue wrote:

In message , Clive Backham
writes
Some of the things you
need to do with your body are quite subtle, and there are very few
continental instructors whose English is advanced enough to explain
these things.

I don't think anybody, British or otherwise, can explain skiing in mere
words.

I don't believe I ever suggested that. Of course the techniques need
to be demonstrated, but it is also helpful for the instructor to be
able to describe how it should feel, and it helps if they have a full
command of your own language.

Since you'll find instructors with adequate English in any large resort,

There is also the danger that you could get lumbered with one of the
instructors whose English is woefully lacking. Unless you're prepared
to pay for private lessons, you'll get whoever is taking the group
that you are assigned to. Maybe you have been lucky, but most of the
French and Italian instructors I've been with said little more than
"do what I do", or "follow me".

On 9 Nov 2003 07:28:59 -0800, (Dominique
Foucart) wrote:

Although I will probably be accused of advertising for it

Surely not ;-)

it, the "Grand-Massif" resort is not bad for that, definitely in
January and February when the "Cascades" slope is opened. It offers
half a day of very easy skiing in some of the most beautiful forest
landscape you can find, between two lovely cascade streams.

He's right, you know, although it must be said that it doesn't _have_
to be easy. Many off-piste variations are possible too.

--
Ace (bruce dot rogers at roche dot com)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.