Skiing!

Antilles

Heyos,

me and the girlfriend have been going out for six years and had lots of holidays in the past few yeas, but they have usually been to big cities where its easy to figure out how to get there and what to do. We were talking last night about going skiing for our next trip.

We are both absolutely newbies to skiing (never even seen a pair of skis before), but we want to do it and don't know anybody in real life to ask about this so I thought I'd ask here

So, has anybody any experience in a similar situation? We want to find a place we can go that is newbie friendly (ie, offers instruction classes or somthing), where we can rent gear (is that even done, or do we need to bring our own?), and that doesn't break the bank. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

uberwolf

there is a winter sports forum, may be more expertise there

In brief, the likes of directski.com (a dublin based company), you can book your flights, accomodation, transfer, lift pass, lessons, and ski gear through them.

Imposter

As mentioned get a beginners package through directski or any of the operators in Ireland. Everything is then organised for you.

As regards equipment you will be hiring boots, skis and poles when in the resort but you would need clothes yourself. A good idea is to try and borrow these from friends that have been.
You'll need:
Ski jacket
Ski trousers
Thick socks/ski socks
Ski gloves
Hat
Sunglasses and/or ski goggles
then under the jacket and trousers a lot wear thermal underwear, tshirt(s) and a fleece or heavy jumper.

pnjones

For my first ski trip in a small party i would suggest Austria where you all day ski schools. But if you are on a tight budget i would recommend going to livigno , we organised our ski trip last year for about €500 per head booking direct but we had 8 in the party.

Where ever you go for your first trip it will be a blast - enjoy!