Vail

The Vail Ski & Snowboard School enjoys an excellent reputation and offers instruction in every kind of skiing—bumps, carving, powder, extreme skiing, teenager programs, beginners—plus special snowboarding classes for those who want to try it.

The Vail school is distinctly cool—it’s consistently rated one of the top 10 ski schools in North America and one thing about Vail instructors is that they understand that it’s not just about learning, it’s also about having fun. And Vail isn’t short on instructors —at the last count there were 1000 knowledgeable and certified alpine, snowboard, and telemark instructors giving the lowdown in 30 languages including Spanish, German, Italian, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and even Croatian. In fact a number of top instructors here train other instructors for different ski resorts in North America and throughout the world.

Class sizes are small and another benefit of joining a class is the quick access to the slopes via exclusive ski school lift lines. The Vail Ski & Snowboard school operates out of all three base areas (Golden Peak, Vail Village, and Lionshead) as well as at Mid-Vail for a total of four locations where visitors can sign up for lessons. Prices vary and some packages may include lift tickets and rentals.

Group lesson and lift packages are available for select ski and snowboard school programs that will save you money against purchasing elements separately. All adult group lessons are for guests aged 15 and older. You could start with the First Time Series: participants get three adult ski or snowboard lessons for the price of one, but days must be used consecutively. In addition, graduates will be given a coupon good for an additional three consecutive days of class lessons for the price of one. The package includes three days of lessons, beginner lift tickets, and rentals.

At the other end of the spectrum you could hire a private guide to tour the mountain and uncover the secret stashes only the locals know. This can be a full day or half-day (morning or afternoon), with private lessons. Two-hour and one-hour private lessons are offered depending upon availability. In between are all the variable ski school group lessons you would expect from a premier resort operating a full-day session from 9:45 am to 3:30 pm.

Telemark skiing has gained great popularity at Vail and The Nordic Center offers world-class instruction with top of the range equipment for every type of telemark skier, from the beginner to the expert. Cross-country skiing is available at The Nordic Center and at the base of Golden Peak.