1. Choose a resort that is suitable for a school ski trips group
There are numerous ski resorts throughout Europe and the USA so it is important to remember that the key focus for school ski trips is whether a resort actually suits the standard of skier in your party. Some schools have pupils who have been skiing for years but the majority of school ski trips are made up of beginners and lower intermediates. So that would seem like a good place to start.
A good piece of advice is to look at the resort ski map and consider what type of slopes you require, will your party be looking for reds and blacks or do they require more green and blue runs. Think realistically about how much of the terrain your group will be actually able to use and what equates to value for money for the skiers and boarders in your party. Just because a resort has hundreds of kilometres of skiing it doesn’t necessarily mean that it offers your group that amount of skiing. Ideally you need enough space for beginners to learn safely and enough room for intermediates to develop confidence and start to challenge themselves.
2. Another consideration is what sort of lift system is in operation?
Many school ski trips are made up of novice skiers and button lifts, for instance, can be difficult for beginners to master. Many resorts these days have a ‘magic carpet’ on the nursery slopes to speed up the process of getting up the slope and these are even better if they are covered. Gone are the days of spending your day marching sideways up a hill! A final thought would be, does the lift system bring the ski school back to a central position where you will find it easier to meet up with everyone at the end of the session?
3. The time of year that you take school ski trips will also have bearing on the resorts that are suitable.
February half term is right in the middle of the season so all ski resorts would be confident of the quality of their snow conditions during that period. If you are choosing to travel either early or late in the season, such as at Easter time, you need to recognise that many of the lower lying resorts may not have enough snow. Look at resorts that are above 1600m, although most resorts have modern snow making facilities these are regulated by the temperature and below this level in late season it can fluctuate.
