Lessons (2008/09 prices)

All of the area’s resorts have good instructors and offer skiing, cross-country and snowboarding lessons. There are 120 English-speaking instructors in the Les Menuires ESF ski school (04 79 00 61 43).

Private lessons are €41 per hour for one to two persons; €60 per hour for three to five skiers.

For skiers looking for a guide, the ski school forms groups of a maximum of six people that ski all day Monday through Friday. This is highly recommended. You will be put into a group with similar skiers. Half day morning or afternoon (except 12/21/08 to 01/03/09 and 02/08/09 to 03/07/09) €155. Half day morning or afternoon (from 12/21/08 to 01/03/09 and 02/08/09 to 03/07/09) €180. Full Day (except 12/21/08 to 01/03/09 and 02/08/09 to 03/07/09) €279. Full Day (from 12/21/08 to 01/03/09 and 02/08/09 to 03/07/09) €340

Group lessons are held from Sunday through Friday. Morning lessons last for nearly three hours and afternoon lessons last for two-and-a-half hours. They cost €30 per adult and €28 per child for a morning lesson; and €25 per adult and €23 per child for an afternoon lesson. (02/08/09 to 03/07/09 excluded)

Beginner skiers can purchase a special ski pass that includes six half-day lessons and access to 16 ski lifts starting at €165 for adults and €156 for children.

Special lessons for powder skiing, snowboarding, mono-skiing, ski ballet and freestyle skiing are available. There are also racing clinics and a ski kindergarten. A special accompanied ski adventure through Les Trois Vallées and another tour through the 12 valleys of the Tarentaise—including the resorts of Val Thorens, La Plagne, Les Arcs, Val d’Isère and Tignes—are also offered.

A snowboard school has morning lessons for experienced boarders. It costs €140 for six a.m. lessons for intermediates and six p.m. lessons for beginners cost €102-€115.

A cross-country lesson costs €140 for six consecutive morning lessons.