Hello everyone,

as the title says I’ve decided to finally start with skiing this season. Considering my last time on the skies was 20 years ago, when I was 7, I’d be starting as a complete beginner. Since it is always more fun to do it in a group I was wandering if there are others that share the same ambition this winter?

I live in Zürich and I am currently looking at resorts not so far away (2.5 h travel time?). Also, ideally, I plan to spend quite a few weekends (let’s say 3 out of 4 weekends per month) skiing starting from January, after the holiday season.

I did some searching on these forums to find out what would be the best option for beginners, ranging from resorts to the actual lessons for adults. So far thanks to the link by Kinhorngreen I am very close to signing up for 4 Sundays course in January organized by the International Ski Club of Zürich. As Flumserberg is quite close to ZH I think this would be an excellent option. If needed one could also use some of the free Saturdays for a bit of a practice. Now the next step would be to take, preferably, a group course to improve on what was learned by SCZ ski school. Since the learning curve is very subjective I don’t know at which level I can expect to be at that point. Also the question for the more experienced is would that be a good option to start with or would one get more benefit from a 3 to 5 days consecutive course? If someone would like to join me and knows better options for beginners I’d appreciate very much any inputs.

I am (almost) fully equipped for this season, so there is no turning back for me, but I would like to share the fun with more people

As you said yourself, it can be quite hard to predict where you stand after a few lessons. I've taught a few people how to ski (mostly kids, but also some adults) and it seems that most "click" after a few hours of initial help. It is hard to predict when that is but fun to observe. After nothing seems to work at the start and all you said confuses them more, all of a sudden things start to work and people start to turn and off they go. This seems to be very strongly correlated with their motivation too.

Point is that once you've reached that point, all you really need is more practice. Not necessarily more lessons but simply time practising the things you've learnt and moving on to harder, steeper and longer slopes and before you know you're at the Olympics...

Thanks tomberli for the encouraging words.

Unfortunately when I contacted ISCZ I found out that January course was full. I had my hopes up since the status at the registration page stated available for both slots.

Nonetheless I am still searching for people who would be interested in joining a potential beginner's group course. If there is some interest we can look up dates and resorts that would suit us all in January.

I have one person who is total beginner looking to start skiing 8th January for 3 days with private lessons, they they may be happy to share. At the moment details are not fully worked out but this could be a good start then would perhaps give you someone to ski with ongoing as you develop. I can contact them if you are interested. I teach via Prime ski-school in Engelberg. Prime also do Saturday or Sunday classes for groups (4 days in one course) for improving.

Hey,

I just moved to Zurich from Montreal 3 weeks ago. I would love to join people (english speakers) for some winter sports. This past Sunday, I went to Flumserberg on my own and had a pretty amazing time.

-Alex

Only, I snowboard, if thats a problem

Thank you for the offer skichick. A PM has been sent your way. Lets see if something can be worked out.

Masaraksh, I hope to be able to join such day trips in the future, but let's not get to much ahead...

I am very excited about this season and hopefully this thread can convince more people to try out skiing this Winter. In the mean time I wish all of you a lovely holiday season.