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FAMILYSKIINGHOLIDAYS
 November/December 2009 TheTravel&LeisureMagazine
31
W
e were only a year into our child-rear-ing project when mywife Val and Irealised that wewere going to haveto start doing family skiing holidays, even before we had a family capable of skiing.We had left our precious one-year-old inthe care of his nanny, and taken off for aweek in Norway. By day three, we weredesperate to get back to him (and to a sup- ply of affordable wine, I confess). Nine months after, we spent a jollyChristmas in an Esprit Ski chalet inMontchavin. About nine years later, when both Alex and sister Laura could get around the mountain with us, we came to realisewhat an excellent family holiday skiingmakes. It has its drawbacks – notably thecost. But to be able to share an exciting,vaguely healthy outdoor activity with the
let’s TRY…
 ?
 
 ?
Slope off 
with the family 
Skiing offers a rare chancefor families to enjoy an activeholiday together. But wheredo you go? Ski expert
ChrisGill,
a long-time family skier,gives the low-down on the best peaks to choose
■
Toboganning atObertauern, near Salzburg
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whole family is arare thing.And itwhisks you fromthe depressing, greyBritish winter to afairytale setting of snow-clad forests and mountains,with a good chance of  blue skies; unbeat-able.
How to go
Most British skiers take package holidays,even though doing your own thing is prettysimple, thanks to an ever-wider range of  budget flights and internet booking of hotels and apartments.For families, packages have particular merits – especially families attracted to theuniquely British form of ski holiday, thecatered chalet. Strictly speaking, a chalet is asmall Alpine house, though for chalet-holi-day purposes it may be an apartment.Your tour operator staffs a chalet with youngBrits, and offers either the whole place or rooms within it, packaging half-board withflights or other transport. No-choice mealsare taken at a communal table, with (a keyfeature, this) wine included.Unless you take over avery small place, there will
Learning to ski
First, will your kids be up to it?They needa degree of determination and resilienceto overcome the inevitable setbacks – thefalling over, for a start. Our kids got to thispoint at about age six.At age four, it didn’twork.Then, how should they be taught? If you’re competent, you could do it yourself.Our kids got a mix of lessons and parentalcoaching at the start, then a year or twoof proper lessons – but once off thenursery slope there was no way topersuade either of them to take morelessons.A good compromise is classes in themorning, and skiing together in theafternoon. In many resorts school classesare mornings only – but your touroperator may offer afternoonsupervision/amusement if you want tocarry on skiing without hindrance.Of course, you’ll want to identify a goodschool.
Where to Ski and Snowboard 
canhelp you there (see facts panel).
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Ski kindergarten in Avoriaz
■
Break time at a Mark Warner ski school
■
Family fun inAdelboden, Switzerland
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Young skiersin St Anton
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Morning lessons leave timefree for family skiing
32
TheTravel&LeisureMagazine November/December 2009
Photopress
 
 be other families to provide distractions for yours; in a chalet-hotel (a larger variant, runalong similar lines) you are almost sure of finding compatible playmates. But the killer feature is that most chalet operators organisechildcare in some chalets, and some opera-tors do it in all their chalets.Practically every resort has one or more public nurseries/ski kindergartens, and somehotels have their own private nurseries. Likemany British parents, we always opted for the more predictable tour operator childcare.Most people take flights to the moun-tains, followed by a coach transfer takingone to three hours, occasionally more. It can be less hassle to drive, especially if you havea lot of baby kit to handle, and a capaciousmotor. Rail travel is enjoying a revival of interest. There are weekly direct servicesfrom London to stations close to severalmajor French resorts, and services to Parisopen up many other indirect possibilities allover the Alps. Quite a few resorts are on therail network.
The ideal family resort
There is no such thing, of course: what suitsone parent and his four-year-old will notsuit another parent and her 10-year-old. Buthere is a list of desirable ingredients:
●
Easy access, without excessively longtransfers from airports, or excessivelywinding access roads.
●
Compact, convenient, safe layout (car-free ideally), so that getting the kidsfromA to B is hassle-free.
●
One or more jolly, safe, dedicated kids’nursery slopes (or “snow gardens”).
●
Gentle main nursery slopes, free of through-traffic.
●
Longer, gentle runs (classified green inFrance) to progress to.
●
A combination of sun and good snow onall these runs (beware resorts that get nosun in midwinter, and resorts wheresnow at village level routinely turns toice).
●
Opportunities to have fun on the snowwithout skiing – tobogganing and/or tubing, in particular.
●
Things to do in the evening or on stormydays when skiing is limited – swimming, bowling and skating.
●
A well-run ski school.
Top resorts – country by country
Below are resorts to consider in the four mainAlpine skiing countries. There are alterna-tives, but I don’t recommend them. If moneyis no object and you think the kids can dealwith the jet lag, consider North America: thetuition and the childcare doesn’t get much better – but it is seriously expensive. Bear inmind that the highest resorts present a risk of altitude sickness.
Austria
For many years the favourite destination of British beginners, and still very appealing.
+
lively, beer-fuelled apres-ski starting mid-afternoon; appreciably cheaper than France; plenty of small, cute, family-friendlyresorts.
 –
few of its big resorts are natural family places; many of the most appealing resortsare at low altitudes where snow conditionsare unreliable.
Big-name favourites:
Lech (
www.lech-zuers.at
)– near-perfectseclusion up the hill at Oberlech.St Anton (
www.stantonamarlberg.com
) – excellent nursery slope at quiet Nasserein.
Smaller favourites:
Alpbach(
www.alpbach.at
) – cute, quietvillage with central nursery slope.Ellmau (
www.wilderkaiser.info
) – acres of gentle nursery slopes.
France
 Now the dominant destination for Brits, par-ticularly for chalet and apartment holidays.
+
lots of huge, high, snow-sure ski areas;many family-oriented resorts with a lot of very convenient accommodation right onthe slopes; huge choice of catered chaletholidays.
 –
high prices, especially in the top resorts;huge influx of French families during the
 November/December 2009 TheTravel&LeisureMagazine
33
“For families, packages have particular merits”
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