kids ski lesson times and family skiiing

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Permalink Reply by Barry Goldkind(TeachToSki) on October 9, 2009 at 10:40pm

Below is the link for the kids lessons and the schedule. It is an all day class that starts at 9:30am and ends at 3pm.
http://steamboat.com/plan-vacation/ski-school/results/clinic-detail...

The link below is for the Adult clinics that starts a half hour after the kids, 10am to 3pm.
http://steamboat.com/plan-vacation/ski-school/results/clinic-detail...

Another option is for a family private which can be shared as you desire during the day and can include up to 5 people for the same price.
http://steamboat.com/plan-vacation/ski-school/results/clinic-detail...

Feel free to ask if you have any other questions.

Barry

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Permalink Reply by farmfresh on October 9, 2009 at 10:55pm

Okay - so there are really only all day options, for all types of lessons? Can private lessons be booked for shorter periods? Or can we steal the kids early some days?

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Permalink Reply by trudeska on October 10, 2009 at 9:59am

In past years there was an afternoon 1/2 day class 12:30-3pm but it appears they did away with this. The website lists the "family private" as 7 hours but that's just marketing. Look under regular private clinics and there is are 5 and 3 hour options as well.

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Permalink Reply by trudeska on October 10, 2009 at 4:16pm

You can always collect the kids from their lunchroom which is in the same building as Hazies and the adult food court, but you will still pay the full price of the full day lesson. They finish lunch at 12:15 or so. My kids ski in the all day program and I check in with them each day at lunch. But be prepared for potentially sad faces when you come to collect them early. Mine have always wanted to continue the day with their group of new age-appropriate friends and way-fun teacher. That's Steamboat for you... it's too much fun.

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Permalink Reply by Barry Goldkind(TeachToSki) on October 11, 2009 at 10:01am

You can book 3 hour private lessons for morning or afternoon and 5 hour private lessons from 10am to 3pm.
The adult 1/2 day group lesson as Trudeska said is available as she described.
For further details or any updated changes during your dates you can contact the school directly@
School Office Phone: 800-299-5017 [toll-free]
School Email: skischool@steamboat.com
Steamboat Central Reservations®: 877-237-2628 [toll-free]

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Dean on October 12, 2009 at 9:21am

Hi - Group lessons are by far the best value and social children will usually enjoy them more than a private lesson. If you plan on visiting during one of the peak periods however, it is important to remember that group sizes will increase resulting in a decrease in individual feedback.

Private lessons can be booked for 3hr blocks morning or afternoon so this product would allow both you and the girls to have lessons and still have time to enjoy the mountain together. Taking private lessons ensure that the lesson content is geared specifically to your wants and needs and will maximize your improvement over a short period. I usually encourage family groups not to take lessons together unless they are of a very similar ability as the lesson will always be geared to the less experienced participants. It is also always fun to have time to improve independently and then show off your new skills to the group.

I would encourage you to consider all day group lessons for both you and the girls for the first couple of days to help get you off to a god start and familiarise yourselves with the mountain. You could then perhaps put the girls into all day group lessons and pull them out at lunch time or better yet try them in a 3hr morning private. Regardless of what you choose have a great holiday,

Cheers
Andy

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Permalink Reply by helen layzell on October 25, 2009 at 3:32pm

Hi! I'm in agreement with you on this one as I am in exactly the same quandry! I too had expected to find a 3hr group lesson for our boys for the mornings so that we could have lunch together and then ski together in the afternoons...I think that we're going to have to go with 3 days of all day group lessons for the boys and then 3 days of skiing together, not ideal but seems the best solution. Seems a shame not to be able to spend a more balanced amount of time together though, after all if we wanted to ski alone then we'd go on holiday without the kids! Whilst the private lessons would work - as someone posted earlier..maybe the kids would find the group ones more fun and also lets face it, the private lessons would soon add up $$ !!
Can't wait to get there though!

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Permalink Reply by farmfresh on October 25, 2009 at 5:22pm

Yes- it's tricky! You are quite right, it's nice to spend time with the kids doing something together, as we are past that 'young kid' stage. None of us will make the olympic ski team, but we can all cruise the blue runs together.
Other ski areas seem to have a different approach, with more flexibility in group session times. And you are right about the cost of private lessons, especially when we factor in our exchange rate difference. (kind of cancels out the other kid friendly cost benefits too)
To be honest, I found out about this limitation after I booked, so we'll go with the flow and see how it works out, but it actually would have been a knock out factor in choosing the resort otherwise.
And like you, still really looking forward to being there!

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Permalink Reply by helen layzell on October 27, 2009 at 3:12pm

An idea for you or anyone else out there as yes we too have the exchange rate to deal with which also makes multiple private lessons rather steep but don't want to farm kids out for whole day if possible!! We are out there and able to ski from tues 22 Dec onwards - I'm sure this is later than you say you're going, but it might be an idea to share a private lesson for the kids in the mornings?? Our boys will be 9 + 11 and I'd say level 3-4. Is this something that the ski-school offers, I mean the potential to spilt a private lesson...or say a series of 3 of them on consecutive days if they can match up kids of a similar level?

This way they get a low ratio lesson and the fun of having other kids there and we get to ski with them in the afternoons!

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Permalink Reply by farmfresh on October 27, 2009 at 3:40pm

sadly we are going earlier than that - but thank you for thinking of us!

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Permalink Reply by trudeska on October 28, 2009 at 7:20am

I know you seem to have locked into the morning lesson/afternoon with parents, but the afternoon 1/2 day privates (2.5 or 3 hours) are a bit cheaper since the resort has them at a discount right now (25% off).

I won't be there until mid January and besides, my kids love the all day Desperado Week with kids their own age and an instructor that makes learning more fun than having your parents tell you what to do. They would see it as punishment if I showed up to take them out of that early.

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Permalink Reply by Fran Coopersmith on October 30, 2009 at 11:20am

I agree wholeheartedly with farmfresh, our original poster asking for family friendly ski program options for younger kids!!!! We like to have our grand kids in ski-school, but also ski as a family for part of each day and let them proudly show us what they can do now. One hour at the end of the day when they are tired is not enough. My oldest grand learned to ski at Steamboat, they have a good mix of "encouraging " kids to push harder and still have fun. We love the program BUT I strongly believe the ski school offerings are out of sync with current economic reality---no discounts for multiple days in the program; no discount for multiple kids; no half day programs. Recommending the use of private lessons is $$$. The vacation weeks are fine, but they are offered only at limited times, not when we go for great powder and uncrowded slopes. At $120 a day and up (grands are 3,5,6) you can see it costs a LOT for 6 days of programs for three kids. Management, if you are reading these forums please provide some feedback on the mountains' ski school stimulus package.

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