Skiing with the family

If you are thinking of a skiing holiday with the children for the first time, there are plenty of things to consider before you kit the little darlings up in their thermal underwear.

Questions like does the resort have English speaking instructors? Will the accommodation be close to the nursery slopes? Will someone give them their lunch or do I have to leave my ‘chocolat chaud’ to go cold whilst I pick them up from their lessons? Will we be sat on a coach for hours to get up the mountain? The list goes on.

Most children grasp and enjoy skiing from an early age, if their introduction to the sport has been an enjoyable experience. There are ski specialists out there who can make the experience a pleasant one – slick running operations like Ski Esprit, Mark Warner, Crystal Finest to name a few. Small ski classes are a vital factor for children’s safety, enjoyment and speed of learning. Clubs run from early morning allowing you to hit the first ski lift and run until late afternoon. Some operators offer room listening services as well as babysitting to enable you to have a relaxing evening also. Structured childcare differs across the board but generally consists of nursery care for baby and toddler groups aged 4 months to 2 years, mini clubs for 3 to 5 years and kids clubs from 6 to 12 years. All groups usually run 6 days a week from 9.00am to 5.30pm. It is important to check with each operator what the ratio of nannies to children is as it does differ between crèche providers. Getting to the resort has its variables too. The overnight ski train from London on a Friday night is a firm favourite with families with older children. Arriving in the Alps on the Saturday morning gives you up to 8 days in resort and avoids the coaches snaking up the mountain from the airport. There are at least 16 resorts which the snow train services with easy accessibility from Les Deux Alpes, Val d’Isere, Val Thorens and Courchevel to name a few. Couchette accommodation is normally in 6 person compartments however private compartments are available too. You can take the eurostar direct on the Saturday morning or the Friday night from Waterloo or Ashford and arrive in the Alps early Saturday evening or first thing on the Saturday morning. With other regional airports being served, transfer times are being reduced up the mountain also. With that in mind, Crystal holidays have a unique children’s playroom at Chambery airport in France which is open from 09.00am and contains games, toys and videos. The last option is to drive your own car with channel crossings, snow chains and green cards to consider. There are several early booking offers out there for this coming season. For example, Club Med has a reduction of £100 per adult and £50 per child on selective ski villages for bookings made before 31 October through selective travel agents. So with all of this in mind, it’s never too early to start your ski exercises to ensure that you keep up with the little ones who’ll race you directly down the mogul field without hesitation or fear. Until next time, Karen

For all your family ski enquries - Family skiing holidays