A private ski instructor in Courchevel: why and how much

If I had to recommend one single addition to a ski stay in Courchevel, it would be this: a private instructor. And not only to ski better, that’s rarely even the main reason, and I’ll explain why.

Indicative rates, which rise over school-holiday weeks and at Christmas. The important point: it’s a rate per instructor, not per participant. With a family of four, the cost per person becomes very reasonable, and that’s what most people don’t realise until they do the maths.

You’re alone or with your group, and you learn at your own pace, not that of a class of twelve, half of whom are waiting at the bottom of the run. The instructor adapts the terrain, the duration and the content to your real level, not your stated one. That alone changes the experience entirely.

That said, I don’t recommend private lessons in every case. For a child starting out, group lessons have an advantage private ones never will: the other children. A child laughing with three classmates progresses faster than a child alone with an adult. My formula, the one I suggest to families nine times out of ten: group lessons every morning of the week, plus one or two private sessions placed mid-stay, once you can see precisely what isn’t working.

This is the point nobody anticipates, and yet it justifies the cost on its own. The instructor knows the resort by heart: he knows which routes to take to get you to lunch given your level. As a beginner, you won’t find yourself stuck at the top of an unavoidable black run at half past twelve, having to choose between skiing it and riding the gondola down in front of everyone.

And at the end of the day he brings you back to your chalet, your hotel, or as close as possible, on skis. On an area as vast as the 3 Vallées, where you can end up an hour from home without realising it, that service alone is worth half the fee.

• The choice of sector by weather and hour. A slope that’s superb at ten can be hard and windswept by three. An instructor moves the group accordingly, without you having to think about it.
• Queues avoided. During holiday weeks, knowing which lifts don’t jam saves an hour a day.
• Sensible access to off-piste, when level and conditions allow, and a refusal when they don’t. That’s the skill that matters, not the other one.
• Mountain restaurants. An instructor knows where you eat well and where you wait forty minutes for a table you didn’t book.
• And, for parents, two or three hours of genuine freedom while the children are with someone competent.

Early, and far earlier than people imagine. Over the Christmas, New Year and February weeks, the best instructors are booked from the previous spring, by the same families, year after year. No budget conjures up an instructor who doesn’t exist, and it’s the one item of a stay where I can promise nothing at the last minute.

In January or March, by contrast, a few days is often enough. It’s one more argument for those weeks, which are also the cheapest and least crowded of the winter.

• Everyone’s real level, not their hoped-for level. An instructor much prefers an honest family to one that overestimates itself, the day is organised differently.
• The language. Most Courchevel instructors speak English, but if you need another language, ask when booking, not the day before.
• The aim: to progress, to discover the area, or to have the children looked after while the parents ski. These aren’t the same instructors.
• Preferred hours. Mornings from nine to noon are the strongest demand; afternoons free up more easily.
• If there are wide gaps in level within the group, say so. Two instructors for two groups always beats one instructor for an impossible group.