Kids Ski Lessons

Wallabies

A longer version of our beginners’ whippersnapper group, to help older children learn to ski. It could be their first time, or they may have had an intro session and still be learning to snowplough turn.

Enjoyment and your children’s safety are still our top priorities, but the older ages allow us to focus a little more on development too.

We also try to introduce a feeling of self-responsibility, so they feel they have more autonomy from the word go. It may seem small, but teaching children to properly carry their own skis, reset the bindings and get up on their own after a crash makes them feel much more adult. Your back will also thank us for it.

Arrows

In our Arrows group lessons, we children will escape the nursery slopes and start to explore more of the ski resort. Your child will need a lift pass from day one.

We will focus on starting to ski parallel in the 2nd half of the turn. Then begin exploring rollers, bumps and Jumps.

As the week goes on, the group will start to tackle blue runs with more confidence. Learn a few basic tricks, like box slides and how to ski backwards, as well as linking jumps and features together.

Our team will also start to cover essential safety information, such as where it is safe to stop on the mountain and what to check before setting off.

Bombers

Perfect for those at an intermediate level, in Bombers, we gradually start to introduce skills that let us increase the speed.

From day one, the group will start exploring the snow parks, challenging their balance and coordination and learning tricks like a 180 flat spin on a green run. Building the foundational movement patterns for essential skills like side slipping, hockey stops, absorbing bumps and skating on skis.

As the foundations start to come together, kids will automatically begin to ski more dynamically, developing the skills to deal with steeper, more challenging terrain.

Our instructors also build on the knowledge children need to ski safely when not in ski lessons. Explaining what piste markers mean and how they can stop you from getting lost, covering the rules of Snowparks, how and when to overtake other skiers and who has the right of way.
Essential skills for when you ski as a family or with friends.

Rockets

Our rockets group builds on the parallel skiing skills developed in bombers. It’s entirely normal for children to spend a couple of seasons in the Rockets group before joining our FreeRide Team.

We will practise adjusting turn shape and size, making long parallel turns and linking short turns. Then introducing pole plants and edge rolls to work towards higher performance skiing.

In the snowparks, we will move on to bigger jumps, learn how to land safely and well balanced, and practise tricks like a 5050 box slide and 360 flat spins on green runs.

At the end of their time in rockets, students will be confident on black runs, making basic carved turns and have started exploring the variable snow.
Around this point, lots of parents also start joining us for lessons so they can keep up.

As your child’s confidence and independence increase, it is essential that their mountain awareness does too. Our instructors will teach them how to safely lead a group down the mountain, think about safe places to stop and start, and ensure they are aware of other skiers. We also cover accident procedures, including how to contact the Piste Patrol, what to tell them and how to share your location.

Freeride

Our Freeride members are focused on improving piste performance and gradually expanding their skills into all-mountain skiing. Most children will spend at least two seasons in our FreeRide programme. It is a great place to make new friends.

On Piste, the team will be working on how to confidently ski black runs, maintaining control at all times, and looking to build edge grip earlier and earlier in the turn. On gentler terrain, we will focus on higher-performance carved turns and start to explore how we can use turn shape to control speed.

In the park, we will work on consistently clearing the flats on jumps and starting to link switch (backwards) parallel turns.
The team will also work on techniques for skiing in variable terrain off the sides of the Piste. We will teach them how to judge which drops, jumps, and lines are safe to ski. As well as practising small natural drops, learning to spot the landing and ski out.

Navigation skills also play a crucial part in their development, and our instructors will work to ensure each student knows how to navigate around the resort with a piste map. Something we encourage you to ask them to do when skiing as a family too.

Proride

The final rung on the ladder of our Ski School progression. Delivered by a dedicated team of coaches. Successfully completing your Gold Star and earning a New Generation Team Trucker will take almost all students at least two seasons. These students are then comfortably at the level to start their Ski Instructor Exams.

On Piste, the team will work on skiing blacks in all conditions, with a range of turn shapes to control speed. Building towards skiing a fall-line descent of a mogul field, with a pole plant at a controlled rate.

To prepare them to ski off-piste, we will also work on techniques to ski Ice, Powder, Variable snow, Sun Crust and Narrow Gullies/Couloirs.
We cover the use of Transceivers, Shovels and Probes in rescue simulations, with students needing to find and rescue one hypothetical victim in 6 minutes.

With the basics mastered, we will head off-piste, working on technique, looking at bigger drops and learning how to safely lead groups.

Please Note – Our ProRide Team ski off-piste when conditions allow. We will provide full avalanche safety kit for these days and cover the use of this equipment as standard in all ProRide sessions.