What do you need to know before you chose the right ski school for your holiday?
Bansko is resort for all level’s skiers – beginners, intermediate and advance can enjoy their stay here. It is very important that each skier is feeling confident and safe on the slope and the best way to get it, is to have lessons with a good licensed ski/snowboard instructor.
For the beginners is important to learn proper the basic with an instructor to be safe and confident. The first steps are the key of the right movement. The slopes in Bansko are mostly very busy and the skiers/snowboarders have to be always very careful. We, from Sankiyski School recommend to choose private instructor, small private group or family lessons to have better results and to enjoy skiing better. We don’t like the open groups because they are huge – too many people, mostly also on different levels of skiing after the first lesson and the results are not what we want for our guests. In a big group you lose lots of time waiting for the others. And specially now with Covid-19 it is not recommended at all to be in an open group.
When you have private instructor just for you or your friends or family you learn much faster. That’s why mostly we provide 2 hours lesson per day. Our idea is after lesson to have time to rest and practice on your own what you have learned before that, so you are ready for new skills next lesson. It is good to have lessons each day of your holiday, but of course you can leave the last 1-2 days free and enjoy the mountain on your own or with friends/family – of course, depend of your level😊 Beginners need at least 3-4 days to start to ski confident on green and some blue slopes, but the best is to take a course of 6 days if possible. Adults ski beginners can be in a small group of 2 to 5 or 6 people, but not more. For kids is good the group to be max of 3-4 children, and the smallest once from 4 to 6 years old is best to be with a single instructor 1:1 or max 2 kids together. There are different methods of teaching for each group and through the years we found out that this is the best way of practice for each age. In the same time if you are snowboarding the beginner group shouldn’t be more than 3-4 people and kids max 2 people if you want to have the max experience in your holiday. In beginner snowboard lesson each student needs the individual attention of the instructor and the size of the group is important for the progress.
If you can ski or snowboard already, but you are feeling not very confident or you want to improve then you can take instructor to refresh or learn new skills as well. In that situation you can take only 1-2-3 lessons depend at what you need to work exactly. If you travel with friends the same level like you, then you can share a lesson together too. You will reduce the price per person and will have fun together – but also somebody will be next to you after the lessons to remember you at what you have to be careful when you are skiing on your own😊
Of course, if you take private 1:1 lesson /range from 130,- to 160,- BGN for 2 hours depend from the season/ is more expensive, than to be in a small group. The price for joining a group depend from the amount people /from 60,- to 105,- BGN for 2 hours/. The open group lessons are the cheapest way of learning, but like we wrote above – we don’t recommend them. One tip: NEVER book a cheap package from home with ski pass, ski equipment and ski school 4 hours – you can land in a group of more than 20 people😊
The most of the lessons in Bansko start at the top of the gondola - 30min up from town, but sometimes meeting can be arranged with the ski instructor on Shiligarnik or Chalin Valog. The snowboard lessons start only on top of gondola. The lessons can be at 9-11; 11:15-13:15 or 13:30-15:30/14:00-16:00. The best time for lessons is early in the morning – specially for good skiers who want to improve their carving Technik. For beginners actually too – quiet empty slopes make any lesson nice. You have to keep in your mind the queue by the gondola – in very busy time: lesson at 9 means 7:30-7:45 latest to leave the rental shop and go to the gondola. Lesson at 11:15 – latest 8:30 to go up because the queue starts to be huge and waiting is 2-3hours sometimes. Lesson at 13:30 – you can take it easy… This all should help you with choosing the right time for the lessons.
If you travel with small children and want to ski the all day, there is an option to use the Ski Kinder Garden /age 4 to 6/ on the top of the gondola. You can book private lesson in the morning for the smallest one and the rest of the day in the kinder garden. The children can learn and after that they can play with the other children. So, everybody can have fun and after couple of days, when the small one can go alone down the blue slope by snow plough you can even make a run all together😊.
It is very important to choose the right school where the instructors are proven, have experience and are real professionals. For us in Sankiyski School the experienced professional instructor is MUST. Nothing is more important than a good teacher – actually this is important in each part of our life, doesn’t matter if we speak about our first teacher in school, our trainer in any sport or any hobby😊 Quality, safety and propriety are priority for Sankiyski Team.
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