Oh no! That really seemed out of order to me. Some instructors are great, some not so. I feel you are possibly skiing better you think, judging by the fact the lesson was taken up a notch.

you’ve been unlucky with hire boots being dire and not fitted properly for you in the shop. Also complete change of conditions all in the space of a few days. Maybe you’re also a bit tired. I would say to the instructor tomorrow that you aren’t happy (after all you’ve paid for ski school) and you need a bit more fun.

please don’t give up.

Reckon you have been a bit unlucky. As mentioned above, instructors can be a bit hit or miss. We’ve generally had much better luck with small independent instructor companies than the generic ESF / Italian equivalent.  They seem to care more that you have a good experience (& their reputation and livelihood depends on it)
Bass or ultimate ski are generally great in France for example.

also booking private lessons, although more costly, definitely helps tailor the experience to what you need. A couple of those shared between your family ( you don’t all need to be the same level of gung ho for it to work) can be much better than a week of generic ski school lessons that crystal have sourced.

Also weather has been crap for beginners this week. Generally later season is sunnier and more pleasant than you have experienced!

Ask for a change of instructor, schools have lots of them and it’s just a radio or telephone call to make a swap.

Skiing in a blizzard is disorientating, I’ve sometimes stopped and then toppled over because without the feedback of skiing I lose the sense of which way is up. Goggles mist up and glasses get plastered in snow/ice so I wear a cap with a very long peak when it’s snowing and take the goggles/glasses off if they’re doing more harm than good. Don’t wear anythng on your face that could direct your breath up onto the goggles/glasses and have something handy for cleaning them. If you wear a helmet make sure there’s a gap between helmet and the top of the goggles so the vents are clear.

Not seeing the terrain as well makes it harder to read, take your time to memorise a section and just ski that far before having another good look.

Appreciate the comments, sort of makes me think I’m now wrong to be brassed off. Along with half of the group sharing the same thoughts.  We aren’t going to request a new instructor, it’s a bit late in the day. Last day will be the son out with his group having a blast and me tracking him on “find my son” and the daughter and I will just keep it simple, without any instruction or stupid pistes.  We may even try to hire a sledge or a snow bike to try and end the week with some daft fun as, at the moment, my flirtation with skiing has been only a week long relationship with no intention to revisit.

Final day done.  Most importantly, we are all uninjured so Mrs Rock back home is resting easy after a week on edge.

Today was a steady day for myself and the daughter and we just tottered around blues. The lad was off again, all over the pistes and has had a blast. He seems to have really taken to it but I’m just glad that last run down I was tracking him doing was uneventful.  The tutor thing still grates, we didn’t do the school today.

At risk of over thinking things, it now feels like I’ve ticked off the ski holiday dream (had only the one blue sky day but that’s better than none).  Would I book again?  I enjoyed it but I had a bit of a medical issue a few years ago that was potentially caused through exertion, and that has made me a bit more risk averse and I think this hols, I potentially reached the level of risk I’m happy with so cannot imagine that I’d ever be comfortable or competent doing reds and blacks.  The potential for injury seems real and I’m just not as bendy as I was.

I can see why people love it, defo it’s a great holiday and good fun.  But maybe that’s it.  I’ll dwell some more  over the next months.

Finally, thanks all for the hints tips and support. It’s been a great resource for me.

Turns out a chap in our beginners group snapped his leg in two places today…”one last run”.

It’s been an interesting thread following your progress, I’m pleased it all ended well. Holidays are rarely perfect in the same way as life is rarely perfect. When I worked for a holiday company I soon realized that the gap between the reality and people’s expectations was the main cause of discontent. For a first time skiing I reckon things went pretty well for you and you made the most of it despite non-brochure weather, crap boots and being pushed beyond your ability by an instructor.

If there is a next time you’ll be more knowledgeable about the boots, probably book fewer more personalised classes and be less bothered by snowy days.

If you do go again have a look at resorts like Sainte Foy where it’s totally geared up to a UK clientelle.

I’ve been here all week, and to be fair, the weather has been grim – by far the worst in the 5 times I’ve been to PT. Really only Monday could be classed as ‘pleasant’, but the lower slopes got slushy by early afternoon in the sunshine. The rest of the week has been distinctly unpleasant, despite some really nice snow on the ground, the visibility has been very poor, with flat light and falling snow – full whiteout on occasions.

The Bleiss run had fantastic snow, but wouldn’t be any fun if you couldn’t see the ground.

The week redeemed itself a little this afternoon when the higher runs cleared up, but not a good week to learn overall.

For me, at least, it’s not about bombing down the scariest run as fast as you can, but the feeling of scything through a series of turns in perfect control (it doesn’t happen often!) whilst surrounded by beautiful scenery.

I’m sorry that you didn’t have a more positive experience, but the weather was against all of us.

Typical conditions:

Accidents are still rare though.
It’s tricky when most British skiers are recreational skiers/snowboarders, managing only one or two weeks of Alpine holidays per year. What I mean is, we have to ski regardless of the weather and conditions under foot, due to time restrictions.
I’m at home having had a ‘bad’ skiing accident back in January. My accident was caused by an unseen obstacle on a red piste (I wasn’t the only one to hit it and crash). However this has not put me off as it’s still a rare occurrence.
The OP has given it his best shot in difficult conditions with an instructor who possibly (at a guess) is wishing the season is almost over.
His son has taken to it like a duck to water and maybe, just maybe the OP could pick a small resort (like Saint Foy Tarentaise, mentioned by edukator above) to give it another go. I’ve had different instructors in St Foy and they’ve all been good, friendly and very patient.

It may well be stating the obvious, but skiing is incredibly dependent on weather conditions, and this year has been poor at best.

It’s one of the reasons that I prefer mountain biking in the Alps to skiing, it’s just more reliably good.

When skiing conditions are good (not too busy, fluffy snow, good visibility) then skiing can be brilliant. It’s also easier to make the best of sub-optimal conditions as you become more experienced, ie knowing which slopes to ski in which conditions and at what times of day. However the sad fact is that in the past couple of years, good conditions are becoming rarer and rarer.

Yes, it’s still been good higher up this year, but resort runs and links have been dreadful. It’s been harder going in the afternoons, which coupled with poor visibility have made it really hard work.

I used to be a really keen skier, these days I’m just an occasional skier. I have to say if I was just getting into it at the moment, I’m not sure I’d find it worth the bother.

I’d tend to concur @Kramer, I’ve booked for Solden Bike Republic for the end of June and I think the chances of getting decent and appropriate weather are greater.  This will be around my eighth alps biking trip and aside from an odd day of biblical rain (Morzine), it’s always been a blast. And I absolutely love seeing the mountains and valleys in all their green splendidry.  Ideally, if I can muster up some company, I’ll do White Room next year.

I haven’t ruled out going skiing again but the weather/conditions thing makes it feel more of a gamble, as I feel like I’d still be a newbie with the little progress I made last week.  I may book some indoor lessons in the spring/summer and just see if I can refine things, and if I get some confidence, that may spur me to go again.

Albeit, I am nursing a really sore right knee after having the most innocuous of falls on the next to last day.  Sort of happened in slow motion and was sure either my ankle or knee was busted, but it’s likely just a tweak.

Dunno about bike weather. We had 39C in at the top of the Pleney (think it was Pleney – somewhere in LG/M/A area of PdS) in August last year.

That’s just too hot. Even the trails were crumbling from the heat.

I’m sure you probably made more progress than you realise, it may be that you’re measuring it against that of your teenaged son, which is always a recipe for disaster?

Skiing does become a lot more fun once you can start travelling relatively freely around the mountain.

This will be around my eighth alps biking trip

It’s difficult to compare biking & skiing trips because, presumably(!?), you could already ride a bike before you went to the Alps and it’s something you practice throughout the rest of the year.

It’s shit being a beginner at anything and unless you’re naturally gifted the first couple of weeks you won’t be very good at it and it is difficult to learn. If you persevere you will get to the stage that it all comes together and you start to enjoy it, if you want to. It’s not for everyone and like others have said this season has been “varied” at best.

OP – we were in the 3V (mottaret) this last week, so a fair bit higher then you I think. Snow quality was very altitude-dependent and I wonder if that’s partly why yr instructor took you “up”. Our lower snow was heavy, which needs speed (therefore confidence) to ski nicely. Don’t write yourself off just yet; it was a tricky week

Our vis was shit almost all week (and my vision suffered more than our younger group members). I consider myself a pretty good skier for an englishman and I had some awful runs this week, where I might as well have had my eyes closed.

Did you get the wind, too – ours closed multiple lifts esp on Friday (there’s some terrifying video on the BBC of an Italian chairlift 😮 )

Oakley persimmon lenses make the pistes come alive when it’s flat light.
Too many people struggle with too dark a lens that mists up because they have tucked a scarf under the goggles.

@singletrackmind Prizm?

I use Melon Sonar, which are similar.