Also have a dry ski slope in town but I’m not convinced it’s representative

There’s no comparison (IMHO), and it really hurts when you fall over. I think the value is very limited compared to one of the indoor places.

Skipass in the back of your glove. Beep beep, easy. Some gloves even have a little zip holder for it.

Not one of those ridiculous lanyard things that everyone is told to buy on their first school ski trip!

Decathlon or TK Maxx for clothing
Don’t take a backpack on the slopes
Lift pass goes in the lift pass pocket of your jacket
Take some crocs or Birkenstocks to walk down to the ski box in
Check helmet and goggles work well together.
Enjoy

March can be really warm. I’d focus on layers, far more flexible than an insulated jacket. Base layer, fleece, shell and maybe a puffy for cold days. I wore my walking and biking gear after a big break from the snow and it was great. None of my outer wear in insulated, I just add what I need.

Get good eyewear. I always wear goggles and have two lenses. There’s a good selection on line, TK Maxx etc.

Dry slopes are awesome. I started, and still race regularly, on one and it’s great and cheap way to hone the skills and keep them sharp all year round. I skied for 3 hours this morning for £18! A young man called Woodsy learnt on one and now has a few gold medals to show for it.

@rockhopper70

Also have a dry ski slope in town but I’m not convinced it’s representative?  Might be ok to get used to boots and skis.

They’re not the same, groomed snow is generally easier. However they’re great for learning technique on, and if I had easy access to one as a beginner, I’d be down there as much as possible, building confidence and learning technique before my ski holiday.

The reason being is that in a ski resort there are the nursery slopes, then green, then blue runs in order of difficulty. You need to be able to ski the green runs (and ideally the blue ones too) in order to start to be able to move around the mountain.

If you already have some technique, then your lessons will take you off the nursery slopes, ideally on the first lesson, once they’ve seen that you can control your speed, turn and stop. This will mean that you’ll start to be able to go to different parts of the mountain for lunch/apres etc, which makes it much more fun.

Worth looking at Sport pursuit for ski gear, loads of kit at v good prices on there

First couple of mornings will feel stressful if you are trying to get yourselves to ski school on time, so give yourselves plenty of time to faff w skis and boots and dropping skis on each others heads, leaving gloves behind etc, trying to do boots up.

Have a great time, it’s stunning being in the alps

Further to the dry slope bit….

I worked at one for about 5 years and taught loads of beginners. The first two hours are generally the hardest. Just learning about the kit, how to move etc.

I’d recommend doing this for the last cost… Two hours into will get you moving, possibly even turning a bit. This will leap frog you into a higher group on holiday and effectively save a day out there so you’ll achieve more when you are out there.

I’m not saying you need to get great, but it’s about opening up the mountain to exploration. That’s where it’s at for me!

As for evenings, some folk go from the piste to the bar to the club and roll in half and hour before they get up, still in boots. Some go straight to the apartment and an early night. Do what you want to do, it’s a holiday! I always see it that I’ve spent a load on lessons, gear, passes that skiing is the focus. I’ll be in bed by 9 this year probably!

We’ll be there (same resort, same hotel) a few weeks before you so I’ll check back with anything worth knowing about in advance.

Back just last night from a week in Tignes, having stepped into a ski resort and onto a snowboard for the first time four trips ago at the tender age of 40. (I grew up in South Africa.) It’s tough feeling like a total newb when everyone around you looks like they were born skiing.  I had imposter syndrome something bad for my first couple trips, feeling like I was going to get escorted off the piste for not having a clue what I was doing. Be stubborn with it.  Enjoy it. You’re going to fall. Pick yourself up. Fall again. Smile. Learn what you did wrong. Get better.  Feel the buzz when you get down your first blue in a oner. (Or don’t stack it getting off that icy chairlift.) And don’t forget to look up at those beautiful mountains, and raise a toast to playing out amongst them on a gorgeous day. 

Have a great time! 

One legged squats will strengthen the required muscles. As will sitting against a wall. You will use muscles you didn’t know existed learning to ski.
Take Ibuprofen for the evening. Stop at happy hour and have a few beers , usually 4pm .
Learn how to get up
Learn how to stop your self sliding after a double eject,
Take multiple lenses for your goggles
Go to chill factory a few times before you go.
Spend time before your session putting your boots on and off
Do not buy a white ski jacket, or let your family , looks great in the bar becomes invisible in snow or fog

It’s sliding around the snow in mountains. Don’t stress! With a decent thermal base (cycling kit works) then waterproof top and bottoms (again cycling kit works, although ski trousers will fit over boots which is better than mtb ones which have tight cuffs) you’ll be fine.

Unless you get unlucky, it will probably won’t be that cold. You’re in Italy in spring, so the sun will be hot if it comes out.

We are now looking at lesson at either Chill Factore in Manchester or Snowzone/Xscape at Castleford.  Not much in in travel time for us and £/hour not much differance.

Just wonder if we go all in for the five hour training, supposed to be to level 4. Or two x 3hours, the first 1-2 then the second 3-4?

Either way, it appears we will get some sort of certificate or pass that we can take with us to skip the basic lessons.  I presume they cant stop you leaving the nursery slopes once you are on your own in the afternoons anyway?

Perusing Sports Direct website (yes, I know I know Mike Ashely etc), seems to be some decent discounts on gloves and socks, assuming the RRP was legit in the first instance.  I do have some “vintage” Pearl Izumi Amfib gloves which will probably/maybe do and someone mentioned earlier seal skins gloves, which I also have.  The only benefit I can see with specific ski gloves if they have a pocket on the back of the hand that I believe is for the lift pass?

And again, very grateful to everyone who has contributed to this thread.  Helpful and reassuring in equal measures!

Just wonder if we go all in for the five hour training, supposed to be to level 4. Or two x 3hours, the first 1-2 then the second 3-4?

If you can run to it, either would be excellent preparation.
IMHO it’s better to split it into two sessions: It gives you time to physically recover as it’s quite strenuous until you have some idea of what you’re supposed to be doing and you will be finding muscles you never knew you had; Also, it gives you a chance to process the experience and advice mentally. I think 5 hours straight would be hard physically and a lot to take in mentally.

Either way, it appears we will get some sort of certificate or pass that we can take with us to skip the basic lessons. I presume they cant stop you leaving the nursery slopes once you are on your own in the afternoons anyway?

The piece of paper won’t mean anything in the resort. The ski instructors will assess you ‘as presented’. They’ll likely split off the ones who say they have never skied before, then get the rest of you to ski a few yards down a gentle slope and split you into groups of about a dozen based on that. Then there’s usually a bit of shuffling through the week to even up abilities between groups (the better people move up a group and the weaker move down so that everyone within a particular instructor’s group is of a similar ability). Your family could end up split between different ability groups, but don’t fight it.

You’re free to go anywhere you want outside the lessons. The ‘nursery’ slopes at PT are a really wide swathe of snow that forms the bottom of a lot of other runs and you can ski pretty much any direction you want. There are a couple of nice, long, easy blues (one at either end of the resort) that you’ll be on before the end of the week. They have a couple of ‘magic carpet’ lifts in the ‘nursery’ area now that are less intimidating for beginners, so I think you’ll be skiing independently quite early on.

Enjoy!

P.S. Lift pass works fine in one of the top pockets of your jacket (on the left hand side) – or jacket sleeve pocket. It’s all RFID stuff.

Just beat in mind the indoor slopes are mental busy at the moment as everyone seems to only realise they need lessons just before their holiday.
May be good practise for busy slopes though.

The ski school will decide which class you need.
Wear the sun sceen even if its really cloudy and there’s a blizzard.
I always wear a very thin smear of vaseline around the ankle, shin and lower calf.
Enjoy and don’t poke the other skiers in the life queue, with your sticks, unless they’re pushing in.
Dave Ryding learnt to slalom ski on a dry ski slope. Google him 😊

Edit – take out the insurance on your lift pass.

I’d only do the 5 hours session if it wasn’t possible to come back for the two three hour sessions.

Pockets in gloves for ski passes are “nice to have” rather than essential. As others have said they also work in chest pockets, left jacket pockets, and left trouser pockets, although be careful about not having other stuff in there so that they don’t fall out and get lost.

On that topic, when you get your ski passes they’ll have receipts with them, keep them in the hotel safe in case you lose your pass. If the passes have any numbers on them it’s also worth taking photos of them on your phone, again in case you lose them and need to replace them on the mountain.

don’t poke the other skiers in the life queue, with your sticks, unless they’re pushing in.

He’s going to Italy! That’s how queues work 😀

(Actually, the resort is generally very good for queueing – it’s unusual to have to wait very long unless you happen to arrive at the same time as a bunch of ski school groups.)

One last thing I thought of: you will fall, and you will almost certainly fall onto your side/hip/thighs. Dont put your phone or anything else solid or pointy in the side pockets of your snow pants.

I learnt to ski on the Halifax dry slope back in uni days (like 1990 / 91).  I’d suggest absolute beginner lessons there (if you can ski on a dry sklope, you can ski anywhere), then go to the snowdome of your choice, then onto resort.

The Paradiso is a nice enough hotel, Mrs NBT and I went there for a week when she returned to skiing after a hip replacement. Passo Tonale is a great place to learn to ski, you’ll have a great time.

@tillydog there’s actually no word for queue in Italian.

We went through this a few years ago.

Did a full day course at Castleford that got us off their nursery slope and on to the main run and being able to do really basic snowplough turns. Brutal day, but got it done. The “certificate” is sod all use to anyone – even when you go back to the snowdome you self-certficate than you’re safe to use the poma and the slope.

The first day and a half in resort was pretty hard work, but by the end of the second lesson a couple of us were well on the way to skiing parallel and we’d done a red with the instructor; by the end of the week I’d done a black run – slowly, cautiously but with no sit downs and I could make my way around the resort with a modicum of confidence.

Bike fitness goes a long way towards ski fitness. Once you’ve got making the skis work semi-sorted, an MTBers eye/head for reading terrain goes a long way to making steeper and more technical terrain accessible too.

Kit.
I started off with general outdoors stuff for base and midlayers, and I’m still very happy with my Mountain Equipment Goretex walking shell as a ski jacket. The first year I wore a pair of soft shell walking trousers with fleece tights underneath; since then a pair of top end Decathlon salopettes have been flawless; significantly cheaper than the cheapest “ski brand” kit and I’ve felt no need to upgrade to poncier ones. Lift pass just goes in the LH trouser pocket and stays there all week. It works fine for me there. (take a pic of the number on your pass in case you do lose it – you can generally get a replacement that way!)

Buy good ski socks. Especially if like most MTBers your shins have seen some abuse and the skin is fragile.

Gloves. Heavy winter MTB gloves may well work; I have rubbish circulation so have some big Black Diamond ones for winter walking. Cold hands are ****ing hideous on the lifts. Wrist staps/leashes are ace for not dropping gloves off a chair lift.

Goggles – I used my MTB/MX ones for a few years – darkish tinted lens. Didn’t have any fogging issues. I now have a fancy pants pair of Oakleys with posh lenses, which are just “nicer”, but they’re still rubbish in flat light/whiteout when your brain suddenly decides vertical is 90° off where it was 2 seconds ago.

Lids – rented the first year. Bought as soon as we decided we were going again. Mine has now seen some proper action and probaby needs replacing… Wear one!

Boots – rental ones are always going to be suboptimal. They need to be tight but not painful – don’t be afraid to go back to the rental shop if you’re in pain or you can feel your foot moving. Do them up from the top down, and store them done up. Use the bootdriers when offered/provided. Depending on where you are staying -v- lifts, it may be better to leave the kit at the ski shop or in a locker overnight rather than carting it back and forth everyday.

Above all – enjoy it. I reckon it would be better than bikes if I could do it more often. First runs on freshly bashed pistes are lovely and your first powder day will be just magical.

@JonEdwards

Do them up from the top down

No. Sorry to contradict you, but there is actually a correct way to put ski boots on and tighten the buckles.

Start by kicking your heel back into the heel of the boot as far as possible. Do the bottom leg one first as this holds your heel back in place in the boot, then the top leg one, then do up the closest foot one (gently, it doesn’t do much), then the toe one last (again gently). That’s on a four buckle ski boot.

Kramer -Interesting as i’ve always done my boots up toe to top (but they were properly fitted)
Rear entry boots are making a big come back.

there is actually a correct way to put ski boots on and tighten the buckles.

Normal routine is plonk yourself onto a seat, wincing at the knee pain. Bend at the waist, fighting the resistance of 10 layers of clothing. Grab boot and stab foot into it, fighting the dizziness of blood rushing to head. Attempt to close a boot clip, again grunting. Gradually fight clips to tighten. Repeat for other foot.

🙂 , csb.  “can you hold my boot open so I can get my foot in”

“can you hold my boot open so I can get my foot in”

Which is why we leave them on boot warmers. 😉

Reet, lessons booked.

We have a three hour, level 1-2 at the end of Feb then a three hour, level 3-4 mid-March.  If we need to squeeze another in before we go it’s possible but I hope this intro will give us a bit of a feel for the boots and skis, and a bit of mobility and we aren’t flailing around on day one of the hols.  Not too bad, £55 for a three hour lesson.

You wouldn’t necessarily need another lesson, but a practice session wouldn’t go amiss.

If you have a few lessons before hand you can progress quicker so you can ski an easy run from the top of the mountain rather than be stuck on the lower slopes.

If tired stop and take a rest that’s the safer option.

Shorts under salopettes unless it’s proper cold then Lj’s / tights will work.

Put your ski socks on nice and straight and pull them up straight.

A palm just returned from a lads snowboarding week in Austria.

Week £1400
Drink £800
New board as he lost one drunk £860

The absolute earbashing he got when he got home (and that prob continues now) priceless.

I was instructed bottom up when putting on boots.
Plus , the two buckles across the top of your foot should be clipped over with your little finger. No more force than that required. Then crank on the leg straps.
If purchasing jackets always check the amount of pockets available.
Before carrying a pack with Ava kit I used to pocket.-
Sunglasses for the terrace
Scooby snax
Lippy/ top up sun tan cream
Piste map
Water bottle
Wallet
Phone
Tissues/ wipes
Spare goggles lenses
Gum

23rd of march you say…. It’ll be sunny and warm

A great time to go on a first trip, you don’t actually want it to snow when learning, its cold, damp and flat light makes it much harder.

So that being the case, bet you only use all your gear on the first day realise you’re double hot and then ditch it for the rest of your trip ….. hopefully 🙂

You’re skier so sunglasses will be fine don’t forget good sun screen, keep a little lip balm type one on your person.

Whether you do your boots up top to bottom or bottom to top, put them on before your coat or you’ll be a hot mess before you’ve even stepped out the door.

Have fun.

@singletrackmind

Plus , the two buckles across the top of your foot should be clipped over with your little finger. No more force than that required. Then crank on the leg straps.

It’s pretty much the same outcome. The point is to get your heel as deep into the boot as possible and keep it there as comfortably as possible.

Normal routine is plonk yourself onto a seat, wincing at the knee pain. Bend at the waist, fighting the resistance of 10 layers of clothing. Grab boot and stab foot into it, fighting the dizziness of blood rushing to head. Attempt to close a boot clip, again grunting. Gradually fight clips to tighten. Repeat for other foot.

Don’t forget that you will also be dripping sweat as you are layered up to the max but in a shop / ski locker with a big roaring fire. And if you have kids with you, the stress and effort is multiplied many times more than the number of children.

 And if you have kids with you, the stress and effort is multiplied many times more than the number of children.

If t = the amount of time to put on your own ski boots, n = the number of children that need their ski boots putting on and T = the total amount of time to get the family’s ski boots on then T = t raised to the power of n + 1.

This implies that if you have more than 3 children then it’s not worth going skiing.

Do loads of stretching before you go. 

Most outdoor type jackets will be fine.

Don’t be tempted by “one last run”. 

Go for a nice meal at night. 

There’s no need for a helmet at all. 

Expect to ache all over, but in a good way. 

Sunglasses are often better than goggles. 

Have a brilliant time. 

Don’t be tempted by “one last run”. 

Excellent advice …. and also never EVER call … “Last run !”

There’s no need for a helmet at all. 

Terrible advice…. If you wear one riding a bike in the woods, wear one on the hill.

There’s no need for a helmet at all.

“Kids” are 21 and nearly 18.

Since 2022, it’s been a legal requirement in Italy for all under 18s to wear a helmet on ski and toboggan runs. (But pretty much *everyone* wears a helmet at PT anyway – you could probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of people you see without. Just do it.)

I’ll be wearing a helmet. I think they might be mandatory where we are going anyway but I’m not risking a bump to the bonce.

Need to get insurance sorted next.  I use Snocard for alps riding, assuming, given the company name, they’ll be ok for snow holidays?