First Time Family Week in Vail

[SkiSchoolPros]

What advice would you give to the following family:

My family are all first timers.... we are staying in Vail from Jan 5th through jan 12.... So I tought it would be good for us to have instruction from a profesional... maybe all together or not... I need some gidance.

We want to experience skiing and have fun in the process of begining to learn how to do it.

I'm 47 years old, my wife is 44... My kids are 12 10 and 9 years old. We haven't purchased anything yet.

Can you add anything to the advice I gave?

Other than Vail's beginner lift ticket which they haven't been offering online and some ski school products where you can add a pass, it is less expensive to buy a 1 or more day Epic Pass in advance.
https://www.epicpass.com/
The Epic pass also gives a 20% discount on group, (but not private) lessons, on mountain food, rentals and some other benefits https://www.epicpass.com/benefits/epic-mountain-rewards.aspx

Window prices will likely be north of $250/day for adults, so expensive to add days once you're in resort.

For lessons book at vail.com. Unless you feel strongly about keeping the family together, you could start separately and do adult and kids group lessons. One option I'd consider is buying everyone a 1 (or more) day epic pass first. Then, using your 20% discount to book 1 to 3 days of group lessons/lift/rental for each person. Do the group lessons first and use the Epic Pass to ski on your own or in an individual or family private lesson.

Keep in mind, it's hard to know how much you'll ski, and they change these products/pricing from time to time.

More advice at

https://www.skischoolpros.com/how-to-maximize-your-ski-snowboard-lessons/

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[Pat AKA mustski]

Take a lesson together as a family! What a wonderful opportunity to learn this together. You should be able to book a private and have it be a family lesson. Give them a call and find out. Most of all, prepare to laugh at your mistakes and just have fun. If you have a particularly competitive child (I had one) prepare them to fail at first. I taught middle school theater and our mantra was. "Do not fear failure. Expect to fail. Failure isn't final."

 

[pchewn]

I suggest that if possible the husband and wife take lessons separately. It seems to work out better that way. So for this family there would be 3 separate groups: Husband group lesson, Wife group lesson, children group lesson. That's my suggestion.

 

[Prosper]

Go to Beaver Creek. While the 1st time skier terrain is probably similar, the green terrain at BC, IMHO, is vastly superior at BC compared to Vail. If the family is athletic and likely to progress from the magic carpet quickly, they'll have many more green terrain options at BC than Vail.

 

[Prosper]

I'd recommend that they get Epic Day passes for however many days they're going to be skiing. Adults can book the Adult 3D Series beginner lessons. Three consecutive days of lessons for $556 is as good a deal as one can find in Vail. If booking with EpicPass rewards, 3 day kids beginner lessons are $801, which admittedly seem pretty expensive. Take lessons the 1st 3 days, take a day off and then family skis together for 2-3 days.

 

[Henry]

Go to Beaver Creek. While the 1st time skier terrain is probably similar, the green terrain at BC, IMHO, is vastly superior at BC compared to Vail. If the family is athletic and likely to progress from the magic carpet quickly, they'll have many more green terrain options at BC than Vail.

Yes. Easy ride on public transit from the transit center or Lionshead at Vail to the lifts at BC. Beaver Creek has acres and acres of lush ballroom quality green runs. And free warm chocolate chip cookies at (3:30?). Rent your equipment at Vail and carry your boots to BC...or get the sudden experience of riding an escalator in ski boots. You'll want to ski some at Vail as well. The same Epic passes work at BC as at Vail. Youth & senior fares $2; $1 if you buy in advance from the machine. (Why does anyone need a discount fare to ride between Vail and Beaver Creek, of all places? And, I take advantage of it.)

 

[Chris V.]

Build skills at the Kids Adventure Zones at Vail and Beaver Creek

Skiing and snowboarding offer an adventure for kids, but take note of some of the Kids Adventure Zones on Beaver Creek and Vail Mountain to not only entertain the little ones, but also challenge their…

www.vaildaily.com