My gf is learning to ski this winter. She's the only beginner in the group. I've looked into one on one tuition for her but it's extremely expensive. Are there any other options – namely, can she just join a larger group of strangers, and pay the lower group price? Alternatively, can I share a lesson with her? I'm an intermediate, so I don't know if it would be appropriate for me to share a lesson with a complete beginner. Also, how many hours' tuition do you think she will need in a week? More/less than 8?

If you're near a snowdome, get some lessons for her before you go. If you she can manage an hour lesson every 2-3 weeks between now and then you'll be surprised how much of a head start it'll give her. And will almost certainly cost less than private lessons.

She can just join a group and my wife likes to ski in a formal group as she is a bit nervous particulaly if its a resort we havent visited before.
She often joins me in the afternoon and we ski together then. I like skiing alone in the mornings.
It may be Austria where the lessons are all day, in France they are just in the morning typically.

Just join in a beginner group – you can sort it out at the ski centre when you get there 🙂

IME the 1-2-1 stuff is well worth the money – I've only been on planks twice – 2 long weekends.
Both times I was the newbie, traveling with experienced skiers.
In the morning i did 1-2-1 sessions (2hrs a session) meeting up with the experienced folks in the afternoon.

The experienced folk could not believe how well i'd taken too it and so quickly (don't get me wrong, i'm no expert – still only just sorting out linking parallel turns)
In the space of 3 days though (first trip) they could take me farther up the hill so I could blob down whilst they got a good run… they'd all learned through years of 'pain' at big group ski school stuff'

If you're going for a week maybe's book 2-3 sessions for her, see how she goes. Book more if needed?
Costly yep – worth it? I'd say so…
HTH
Chris

Join in the beginner group on her own. I advise going for the morning 2 1/2 hour lesson then spending the afternoon with you. That way if you are drastically different abilities, she will be taught the skills to ski properly (so you 2 don't fall out!) and you get to enjoy a bit of you faster time. In the afternoon you can play together and she can learn a bit more from you. I found that was really useful as Mr MC had lots of speed through the tree time whilst I was beginning! Go for it!!

lol, been looking into this for me & the Mrs at Snowdome in Brum.

They seem to offer a range of lessons, rangeing from £55 for a 2hr lesson, to an all day 8hr session starting from £99.

Does anyone know if you would be better off having 2-3x 2hr lessons or just go for the full day session?

Both seem to cover the same things and would reach the recreation standard.

When I first learned I found I did better with short lessons and having time in between lessons to to absorb/practice what I'd been taught. This may just be personal preference. I've got a lot of experience now and I can handle an all day lesson, but I found longer lessons a bit overwhelming when I was a beginner.

If you're heading to France ecole du ski francais will have her up and running in a couple of mornings If she books for a week of morning sessions by the end of the week she should be good to do easy reds with you.

Thanks bluebird, I did wonder if an all day session might not be the best option.

My (now) wife and I decided that we'd go skiing for our honeymoon – only thing was I hadn't skied before…

I learnt on the local (Bristol) dry slope – 7 lessons of around and hour each with one instructor and 5 pupils and that was definitely a good thing to do – arrived in the US, went on the first blue run (starting easy!) and realised that snow is much easier than dryslope. Rest of the honeymoon was great and I was skiing black slopes by the end and able to keep up reasonably well with my wife (who's a pretty decent skier) by the end – certainly enough that she wasn't waiting for me all the time.

Based on the way that we (humans!) pick up skills, I'd say that multiple sessions is better than one long one.

So my summary for you/her – learn in the UK so that you can ski together on holiday rather than 'wasting time' learning out there.

My first time skiing was in a group, it was okay to get me going but there was a few people with the coordination of a drunk, high and blind elephant on skis. I skipped the last 3 days of lessons as the instructor was having to spend alot of time nursing them down.

1-2-1 tutition = highly expensive but a million times better as you're not stuck at the level of the worst person, which even in a 4 person group makes progression difficult.

+1 on going for lessons at a dry-slope/fridge before you go.

I'd also get multiple short lessons, if she's not very fit then 5-6 hours as a noob on ski's can be very tiring.

Thanks.

Can anyone recommend a good ski school in Avoriaz that allows you to join in this way? Nb she speaks near native French.

Also – what's a reasonable ballpark price for a week of morning lessons, if she joins a group? I've had a look online but prices vary a lot and I'm not sure if I'm looking on the sites of schools which allow you just to join a group.

Ecole du Ski Francais – Avoriaz 2011 prices;

http://www.avoriaz.com/station-alpes-france/documents/829-tarifs-esf.pdf

http://www.avoriaz.com/ski-holidays/snowsports-schools.php

Just take her up on the lifts, show her the basics and the piss of and leave her to work the rest out, thats how I learned to ski, never did me any harm 😕 wibble 😯

Book with the Ecole du Ski Francais before you go – they divide students into groups according to ability before they take them out and will swap people over if they are in the wrong group. Most French instructors are ok, some are a bit impatient – all speak English (although they will like your wife if she speaks French).

Join in the beginner group and she wont be on her own and will make new friends. Just go along with her to the try-out until she gets put into a class.

Although I'm sure there are some good ESF instructors, they have a reputation for inconsistency, there are often very large groups, and while they can speak English some seem disinclined to and concentrate on their French clients. If you can find an independent then I would take that, although they can be hard to find because ESF and very militant about competition, and you can see why.