In this part of our learn to ski guide we look at professional instruction.

Taking lessons at a ski school from a professional instructor will allow you to correctly ski within one week.  Once you have learned the basics, you will have the skills and confidence necessary to safely avail yourself of the runs available at the resort where you have opted to stay.  There are a number of things you need to consider before signing up at a ski school though, as they can vary significantly in terms of purpose, quality and cost.  You should enquire about at least the following…

Ask them if they offer private lessons and group lessons, or just one or the other.  Private lessons are much more expensive than group ones but all of the ski instructors attention is concentrated on you and you‘ll make quicker progress.  Many people find being in a class can be more fun though, since you can meet a lot of new people and learn from the experiences of others.  For first timers especially, class instruction seems to be the preferred choice.

If opting for group lessons, it’s advisable to first find out the number of students in a class.  An ideal class size will have no more than seven or eight students, but this can vary depending on how the school manages its classes.  For quality ski instruction, shy away from schools that have larger class sizes, as this is a red flag that profit is the school’s primary motive.

Important, too, is what level of skier the school caters to – find out if they teach primarily beginners or intermediate level skiers, or if they focus just on experts, and if they offer lessons in all proficiency categories.  It is important that you are assigned to the same class as others with your same skill level.  Some ski schools will simply ask you what you feel your ability level is and others will ask that you participate in a ‘test’ in which you ski down a couple of slopes whilst supervised by an instructor and show the best turns that you can do.  If you don’t know exactly where you are skill-wise, underestimate a little; if you find the class is too easy for you, you can always asked to be bumped up to the next level.

Also, do they divide classes by age or sex?  Some schools will narrow the focus of the classes to one or more specific groups, and others will welcome whoever signs up.  You will find that the more specific a school is in its instruction criteria, the higher the quality of your learning experience, as you will benefit from learning in an appropriate age setting (whether adult or child), and in a gender-specific group.