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Teaching the family to ski in Chamonix, France

It’s that point in the year again. The winter is coming and it’s time to start planning the annual jaunt to the mountains with your friends, to dust down the gear that’s tucked away in the corner of the garage and to pick that resort of choice. Only this season, not only have your children surpassed the age where it’s possible to learn to ski, they’re actively asking to come.

I found myself in this position last year when my children Seb, 10 and Bella, 7 expressed a desire to hit the slopes for the first time. What’s more, so did my  significant other, Laura. Was this complete madness? Taking the family away for a week and teaching them all to ski. There was only one way to find out.

We arrived in Chamonix at lunchtime on the Saturday after a 2am start from the UK. Ten hours of travelling with little sleep had taken its toll on the team and as I worked out itineraries, gear, lift passes and logistics for the week there was little interest in the white stuff from my bunch of budding Graham Bells. The children were to have 6 half-day lessons and Laura was to have 4 four hour sessions with the Ecole Ski Francais or ESF.

We woke to blue skies on Sunday morning and with Mont Blanc looming large from the view out of our apartment window I was optimistic to say the least. The children’s lessons started at 8.45am at Les Planards slope which is over a railway bridge, across a road and up a hill. Not that far when walking alone but when encumbered with two sets of skis, poles, goggles, helmets, gloves, packed lunches and Hoppity, Bella’s school toy frog, that had been brought for endless photo opportunities, it became slightly more arduous.

We were greeted  by Britt Monnier, the children’s instructor who instantly took charge and said to me in a thick French accent, “You can go Monsieur King because sometimes it is better if the parents are not here.” Sage advice that was also warmly welcomed as I had to get Laura to the ESF office on the other side of town for her lesson.

When I got back to the ski locker she was having trouble mastering the art of walking in a pair of ski boots. She’d tried them on in the hire shop the previous day but the enforced goose step that is first experienced by the uninitiated had taken her by surprise.

“How am I meant to walk in these? I can barely stand up.” The ESF are very efficient and Laura was allocated a group made up of other novices. Leaving her looking slightly anxious I sped across the centre of Chamonix and made it back to Les Planards with some time to spare.

Much to my surprise both children were skiing gently down the nursery slope in a little convoy with their fellow students. This was the first time I’d ever seen them properly sliding on snow and a proud paternal lump rose in my throat.

“For the children it is much easier for them to learn,” explained Monnier back in the school after the lesson, “they copy the moves without thinking about it. For the adults it is far more psychological. They are worried about falling over, hurting themselves or looking silly.”

As we lugged all of the kit back to the apartment I felt rather pleased with the progress made so far even though I’d traipsed about 5 miles in the last 4 hours. We sat in the Alpine sunshine lapping on an ice cream waiting for Laura to come back from her lesson.

“Everything aches,” she said, “I need wine.”

The next two days followed a similar pattern. Laura’s lessons switched to a morning start and I concentrated on getting everyone to the right place at the right time. As the children advanced their teacher let me stay and watch the lessons. She was extremely patient and took them through a steady set of instructions which are basically all about maintaining control.

The nursery slopes at Les Planards in Chamonix are ideally set up for children. There’s a slow moving carpet in a fun park and two button lifts. One much slower than the other. One of the runs is about three hundred yards long and by day five Bella was blasting from top to bottom at such a rate that we nicknamed her ‘The Ice Bullet’. Seb was slightly more restrained partly because he managed to fall off one of the button lifts and became entangled in the orange netting that borders its side. Testament to his fortitude that he brushed himself off and carried on.

In Laura’s four days of lessons she grasped the basics of skiing and embraced the joy of après ski and made some friends along the way; such is the camaraderie of group lessons. The daily mantra of ‘Everything aches, I need wine’ seemed to get muttered earlier on as the week passed by.

By the time it was time to go home everybody in Team King was proficient on snow. Some more than others but that was never the point. There had been tears, there had been laughter. Fortunately no blood, only a slightly twisted knee initiated by my enthusiasm to take ‘The Ice Bullet’ down a slope that was probably a little steep.

Other than that. We’d had a cracking time and answered the original question. It is possible to teach a family of novices to ski in a week. Just don’t expect much piste-time yourself; that’ll come later when the kids can carry your skis.

Gary King and family stayed in La Ginabelle apartments in Chamonix with Crystal Holidays. For more information visit www.crystalfinest.co.uk  or call 0871 971 0364. Visit www.chamonix.com for a comprehensive guide to what to do and see in the town and mountains.

 

This article was orginially published in The Daily Telegraph's Winter Sport Supplement 2009

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