I'd never skied until this winter. My husband had tried cross country skiing a few years ago. Our exchange student is an avid skier. We're talking trips to the Alps several times a year. While she wanted to teach us on her own we booked the "Learn To Ski" package and figured we'd trust the experts.
When arriving at Mt. Snow we had some trouble finding where to go. The signs were not clear enough and one would think that the assumption is going to made that the people going to ski school haven't visited before - why not make it clear where they should go? We found an attendant and he pointed us in the right direction. The tree attendants we passed each said, "Where to?" and waved us on until the third directed us into a spot. We told each one the same thing: we have an appointment for ski school including rentals (this will come in later).
We were quickly directed to the seating area upon arriving and because we were early had time to help N get set up with her lift ticket and figure out where she needed to be. K and I waited and were greeted by a man who was from NYC, super nice, and was in charge of getting us set up.
Set up took far longer than it should have. Perhaps take each group into the area rather than waste so much time? It was kind of silly when we think about just how long we sat there. Also, the paperwork? Have students fill it out while they're sitting there or ahead of time. And if they don't bring it, do it while they're waiting, not as part of the lesson. That ate a TON of time.
There were four people in our group, two women and two men. After getting geared up we headed to the instruction area which was, in a word, a nightmare. There are no rules and if there are, they are not enforced. There are snowboarders sitting on their boards talking on their cell phones (obnoxious!), skilled snowboarders showing off and spraying snow everywhere, random moms standing in the middle of lessons taking pictures of their kids (not in lessons). The instructor, Robert, grumbled a lot but didn't say anything to anyone. No one said anything to anyone. I was ready to say something to lots of someones.
Robert gave us the basics and then we started. The description is that this is a half day learn to ski lesson. We talked about starting and stopping, we talked about steering, we practiced. The problem? We had to walk up the hill each time. Talk about (another) time suck. Every time we went down we walked back up. One person in our group could not understand the physics of walking up and joked at one point, "isn't that why they have lifts?" Robert would wait each time for this guy to finally get to the top. Considering that I seemed to really be getting it, I could have advanced but instead I ended up standing around. A lot. And, I paid for a learn to ski lesson. Also a lot.
Between the massive amount of people hanging out and not paying attention making it hard to ski safely, the obnoxious show offs and cell phone talkers and the guy in my class who couldn't get back up the hills, I maybe got in five turns/critiques. Considering the cost of this type of lesson, I was disappointed. Here are some things that could help:
Rather than randomly assign four newbies to a single instructor, have times you put groups out and have the instructors watch, then split them up by ability. This lesson is supposed to end with you learning how to use the chair lift and go down the learning hill. I was ready for that but couldn't do it because others in my group weren't ready - how does that make sense. After assessing people if you split them up by instructor and ability group those who are advanced can advance (and end up liking your program, coming back and spending more money) and those who need more help can get that help.
It was not Robert's fault that the lesson was awful; it's Mt. Snow's for being really lazy about putting together a decent program.
Additionally, my husband, who will never ski again, was having a really rough time. At one point he had a nasty spill near the line for the lift and knocked over a small sign. Were things not so insanely crowded and were people asked not to just randomly ski through the learning area, this wouldn't have happened. Some complete jerk running the lift loudly addressed my husband, "You need to be more careful," but said nothing to the skiers who had gotten in his way. This same guy, later, offered no help when I fell near him (only fall of the day) and had difficulty getting up. I said, "Can you help me, I can't figure out how to get up?" (he was just standing there texting anyway) and he said, "Maybe you should learn," and turned his back on me.
Between entitled skiiers, rude employees and a terrible teaching method, we will not go back nor will we recommend Mt. Snow to anyone. Oh, and thanks for that ugly orange sticker announcing we shouldn't have parked where we were directed to. Definitely not worth the money. read more