Hey Ski Family, Every year we fly back to our Hometown of Maryland to visit with family and we take our kids skiing. In past years, Ski Liberty has offered a Kids All day ski program. It seems many resorts have been bought out and they no longer offer that as an option. Instead they offer 2 hour blocks that are WAY over priced and not convenient with 2.5. hour breaks in between each lesson. My son is 8 years old and is a semi advanced level...he still needs to work on parallel skiing and fine tuning maneuvers. Let's just say he is way past my ability and I don't want to hold him back but I am also not OK just letting him go alone. Do you know of any forum or service where you can hire an instructor or a buddy to ski that is not through the resort. Obviously willing to pay a fair hourly wage. We will be there December 28 - January 31st. Thanks!
-
For more information on how to avoid pop-up ads and still support SkiTalk click HERE.
Can anyone provide help with lessons at Ski Liberty?
- Thread starter msgoudeau22
- Start date
Since you'll be there over the holidays I would suggest contacting their snow sports school and ask if they will be having any kids ski camps this year. They may have discontinued their camps, but worth asking and telling them that there is still interest in such a thing. For an 8 year old I think being in a a group would be more fun anyways. If that's a bust, I say go with the morning group lessons, then lunch and free ski with you in the afternoon. He can show you what he is learning and get some good practice in at the same time. Providing time to practice will not be holding him back.
I don't even want to imagine the size of cow VR might have.
Eh, the price is not trivial. If you were thinking of multiple days, sure it adds up.
But it is also less than half the adult group lesson price. Also notice that there is only one nominal hour between lesson blocks. For Christmas-NYE week, that's effectively two lift rides. Maybe 3 depending on the number of runs open and whether it's actively raining
Anyway. Paging @Rudi Riet - he knows Liberty better than any of us.
And, if the weather is uncooperative...maybe we'll see you at ...Timberline
Last edited:
I'll just second this, as this question comes up not-too-infrequently on forums.
Unfortunately (depending on your point-of-view I guess) almost all ski resorts in the US legally require lessons at the resort to go through their ski school. And most of them enforce it enthusiastically. People being caught giving lessons outside of the resort ski school can be thrown out of the resort, and in some cases the police may be called. Here's an article from a few years ago:
Going Rogue
Pirate ski instructors selling under-the-table private lessons will save you money. But at what cost?
www.skimag.com
Rudi Riet
AKA songfta AKA randomduck - a USSS coach, as well
SkiTalk Tester
Contributor
SkiTalk Supporter
It would be massive if they sussed it out.
Anyway. Paging @Rudi Riet - he knows Liberty better than any of us.
And, if the weather is uncooperative...maybe we'll see you at ...Timberline
Basically: there is no good option outside of the Liberty Mountain Ski School. It's a small resort and most people know who's who on the hill. The GM and Director of Skiing know every LMSS instructor and every Liberty Mountain Race Team coach (and my team isn't part of the Vail Resorts matrix as we're an independent 501(c)(3) organization). To say the legal red tape is thick is, well, a perfect description.
The rates for lessons and for private lessons are par for the course in terms of price these days. Sadly the sport is more expensive, especially in parts of the country where there isn't as much competition, overall, for skier dollars.
I wish I had a better answer for you but that's how things are at McKee Hill (f.k.a. Charnita f.k.a. Ski Liberty a.k.a. Liberty Mountain Resort).
I'll just second this, as this question comes up not-too-infrequently on forums.
Unfortunately (depending on your point-of-view I guess) almost all ski resorts in the US legally require lessons at the resort to go through their ski school. And most of them enforce it enthusiastically. People being caught giving lessons outside of the resort ski school can be thrown out of the resort, and in some cases the police may be called. Here's an article from a few years ago:
Going Rogue
Pirate ski instructors selling under-the-table private lessons will save you money. But at what cost?
You mean if I want to show some moves to my kids/nephews I will be thrown out of the resort?
This is some next level of craziness.
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2015
- Posts
- 6,342
It seems that there are 2 issues:
1 Instruction which probably has clear legal boundaries and chances of being caught if for pay.
2 on hill childminding.
I don't see why 2 couldn't be done by a family friend and in reality who is going to go full CSI on the nature of the friendship.
It sucks if a resort can't offer a proper kids all day programme in holidays for kids in your situation ( outskiing parents) so I guess morally I wouldn't see much issue if you have to roll your own with more emphasis on accompanied skiing than instruction.
1 Instruction which probably has clear legal boundaries and chances of being caught if for pay.
2 on hill childminding.
I don't see why 2 couldn't be done by a family friend and in reality who is going to go full CSI on the nature of the friendship.
It sucks if a resort can't offer a proper kids all day programme in holidays for kids in your situation ( outskiing parents) so I guess morally I wouldn't see much issue if you have to roll your own with more emphasis on accompanied skiing than instruction.
No, not at all. Of course people can teach their friends and family for free. But if you were hired and paid to teach someone, then that would be a problem. And the hills are pretty good at figuring out who's doing what, from what I've heard.
Last edited:
I see. Still weird but I guess that’s because you have totally different business model of the resorts over there. Here we will have 5-6 if not more ski schools on the same slopes who have to compete for customers. Guess that’s why the instructors are so good and no average skiers can even dream of becoming one.
And usually comes with a nice reward for turning someone in.
Maybe a 501(c)(7) recreation club? That is a tax exempt non profit but not, "Organizations organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety, literary, educational, or other specified purposes and that meet certain other requirements are tax exempt under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3)." Donations to only (c)(3)s are tax deductible to the donor.
Some U.S. resorts had concession ski schools way back in the good old days. There might be a few, very few, remaining in the Seattle region. Real ski schools, organized with certified instructors, but not owned by the ski corp. I'm not away of any North American hill that permitted paid independent instructors.
Rudi Riet
AKA songfta AKA randomduck - a USSS coach, as well
SkiTalk Tester
Contributor
SkiTalk Supporter
Technically we are en educational body and not a recreation club: we teach young athletes the techniques and strategies of alpine ski racing. If we were just a recreational skiing club it would be far easier.
If you and your kid have Epic passes, there's a discount for Epic passholders for lessons.
Last edited:
Thank you for the helpful reply. I don't have any issues paying the rate, it is honestly just the waste and inconvenient divide in the middle part of the day. By the time they go through the ins and outs EVERY DAY for EVERY class...they only get a few runs down the mountain and the groups are so large. I don't leave the bunny slow and my husband is left to separate time and levels ...my son is the most advanced. We might try and change all of our housing and airfare over to Wisp. Liberty has definitely lost our business with this business model change. The ONLY reason we chose Liberty is because its the closest to our family who drive up and visit for the week (none of them ski) . So disappointing. Thanks again!
If you want to be an Uncle for a day or two let me know LOL
Yeah, Unfortunately, that is a bust...they are not offering camps. It just does not make much sense to me.
I respect that; still, your planned dates are early in the season and Liberty may not have coverage comparable to some of the other resorts.
The ones that are not affiliated with Vail Resorts might have lesson plans closer to what you are looking for.