Advice From the Purple Chair: Semi-Private Lessons

Beginner skiers and small children should always have private lessons. I talk about this in another post here. Does that mean kids shouldn't ever have a lesson with another student? No. It can be a lot of fun to have a lesson with a friend or relative, and it can be a big motivator to take a lesson. Yesterday I had a very successful semi-private lesson with two six year old friends that are in school together. What made this lesson work was both boys skied at about the same level and both were able to successfully load a slowed chair without any help. At least one student in a semi-private lesson should be able to load the big chairlifts without assistance. We practiced a few things on some greens, challenged them with a couple blues, and had fun in the half pipe. After that we took a few runs on the bumps and the boys practiced riding the purple chair all by themselves. If you do sign your child up for a semi-private, remember that the lesson will end up geared toward the weaker skier.