This year for Christmas, we decided to go skiing in Avoriaz, France. My husband is a skier, and I've been skiing, but would not call myself a skier. Our son has had skis strapped to his feet for about 2 hours at an inside ski place in Holland. We were needing some mountains to try out, but with a good place for our son and I to get some lessons.
I started the search for a place in Germany, I looked all over the internet, but couldn't find a site that was giving me what a wanted, a good Family Friendly resort. Same thing with Switzerland, plus, Switzerland doesn't use the Euro and the dollar to their currency is really poor. It would cost us the price of a car to ski there. (ok, maybe not quite) Next, was France. France is closer to us than Austria, and we've had good experiences in France.
My first search was something like this: "Family friendly ski resorts in France," and the first thing that popped up was Top Ten Ski Family Ski Resorts in France, written by a British news site. Little did I know that the Brits love skiing. It was a great site, and with a minimal amount of searching on my part, I sent the website to my husband. After all, this was his idea, he might as well plan the vacation.
In no time, he had the resorts whittled down to two and we chose from there. Avoriaz for Christmas was our destination. Next, I had to find the ski schools for our son and myself. Village Des Enfants has lessons for children in half and whole day increments. We went with whole day lessons, they provide lunch and snacks, and after lessons are over at 4:00, they have a nursery (= playtime in my child's mind) and will keep the kids supervised and entertained until 5:30. When it is not a holiday break, they also have parent lessons that begin and end 15 minutes after or before the children so you can drop them off and pick them up without being late. Perfect. However, since we were there over a holiday, I had to find another place for lessons. I went for Evolution 2, which was conveniently located across the road from Village Des Enfants.
Our son loved his lessons and his instructor, Paul, for the first 4 days. For whatever reason, he decided to have a little fit on the last day, and didn't go until after lunch. He went without complaints at lunchtime and completed what he could of the final day's "tests." Paul was great with him and said that he was great at skiing, but "active" during the down times. Yep, that sounds about right. The school sold medals for the kids for 15 Euros, but our friend found a little shop that sold little items that you could personalize for 6. Much more affordable, especially considering that our active child would probably lose it before we left the resort.
I went with half day lessons, and mine started 30 minutes before the Wildman's. My instructor, Sylvain, at Evolution 2 was quite patient, and did a pretty good job with his English. Much better than my French. Good thing, too, because on Monday he had 2 Americans, 1 Brit and 3 Japanese ski students. Our lessons for the week were a lot of fun, but challenging, for him and us. (our group varied from day to day) There were some skills that I picked up on right away, and others that I still couldn't get right on Friday. Why do I need to turn and pick up my skis and walk in a semi-circle? I don't know. I didn't witness anyone else use this particular skill on the mountain, but hey, he's the teacher. Lessons were great and I'm so glad that I paid the money for them. They have me the confidence that I was looking for.
Most afternoons, the hubs and I went out skiing together or with a friend. We went on some crazy blue routes and some blue routes that were almost as gentle as the training hill. I still don't know how they are marked, but some were absolutely frightening for me. I made it down all of them, unhurt and proud of myself.
One morning the men went out and found their way down to the bottom of a Swiss ski lift. Both were very excited to ski in the Swiss Alps, a bucket list item for each of them. Compared to the routes that they were use to taking, they found the Swiss routes (in this area, anyway) to be crowded and very narrow. One thing that they both mentioned is how they compared to Colorado's ski slopes. Very minimal grooming goes on in France compared to the US, and that's all I'm going to say about that. I was so horrible in Colorado, it can't compare for me.
Skiing over Christmas, or anytime really, has been a major agenda item for my husband for years. He loves the sport, the snow, the mountains, the cold and wanted to share that love with me and now, our son. I am not particularly sporty, don't care for snow or cold but love the mountains. I have to say, the lessons have changed my mind about skiing. I loved it! Really, truly, loved it. My knees hurt, I was scared most of the time, fell every day and loved it.
Now, we're trying to figure out when and where we can go again. With both of us working, and my husband volunteering as a wrestling coach, I'm not sure when it will happen. At least not on the scale of this trip, but I can't wait. We NEED to find a way to get back on the slopes. (yeah, Mom, I loved it that much)
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