⛷️Start to Ski in "der Schweiz"

While these are names that often come up with ISB families, there are multitude of other equally great places like St. Moritz, Davos/Klosters, Laax, Adelboden, Andermatt , Saas Fee and many more that you can consider for your first family ski holiday. The factors to research are - presence of beginner/ blue slopes, ski schools (especially English speaking ones in case language is an important consideration), hotel accessibility to ski lift and other non-skiing entertainment that you may be looking for like sledging, restaurants, children activities, childcare services, spas etc.

Skiing, you will soon discover, is very addictive! You will look at your weekends and any midweek holiday as an opportunity to hit the slopes. Here is a list along with how long it takes to drive to get there, that many ISB families use to make most of a day!

1. Grindelwald - 2 hours

2. Melchsee Frutt - 1.30 hours

3. Engelberg -1.30 hours

4. Meiringen - Hasliberg - 2 hours

5. Andermatt - 2 hours

6. Klewenalp - 2 hours

7. Lauterbrunnen Valley (Wengen/Murren) - 2 hours

8. Sorenberg - 1.30 hours

9. Zweisimmen (Gstaad) - 2 hours

10. Feldberg (Germany) - 1.15 hours

THE LAYERS

It does take some amount of planning before you head out to the slopes. It's all about layering right when it comes to getting clothed for the ski slopes.

1. Base layer : Thermals - top and leggings

2. 2nd layer : A fleece jacket that is easy to move around in with no hood as you would wear a ski jacket on top.

3. Outer layer : Ski jacket and ski pants

4. Ski socks - They are thicker and longer to keep your toes nice and warm on the slopes, and should fit snuggly

5. Gloves - Good gloves are important and worth spending on. To have a good ski experience you need to make sure your fingers stay properly warm and dry

6. Neck warmers- Please have something around your neck. A tube scarf or Buff works better when skiing than a regular scarf as it stays in place and has no loose ends to catch on the lift

7. Ski helmets and Ski goggles are a must. You can buy 'all weather' goggles which will work in most conditions. If you wear glasses, you may want to buy a helmet with a built in visor or wear contact lenses.

8. And of course in our Covid times, 'masks'

THE STORES

The next obvious question is where to shop for all of these? Here is a list of stores you can go to:

1. Decathlon is a great place to start out. It has everything you need from the list above and offers good value for money and is located near Tram 11 in Dreispitz

2. Inter Sport in Lörrach (Germany)

3. SportsXX in MParc

4. SportLager Pratteln

You'll get a range of brands in the other outlets and you could also get some on a good discount.

5. Last but not the least, the ISB Classifieds and the CA Annual Sports Buy and Sell at ISB are great hunting grounds for some great deals!

After getting outfitted, now where can you go for your ski equipment- the skis, the ski poles and the ski boots? There are several places you can rent them out for a weekend or a season. Renting them for the season makes more economical sense. Many ISB families rent from the following stores

1. Karrer Sport in Laufen

2. Look Perfect Sport in Reinach

3. Scheiwi Sport in Arlesheim

4. Sport Stocklin in Ettingen

Each year, if you re-rent the rental fee also decreases. If you child grows during the season you can also exchange your rentals for the new size.

It would be useful to know that when you are traveling to a ski resort you can choose to get your ski equipment transferred directly to your location and save yourself the inconvenience of carting it with you. Read about it here www.sbb.ch/en/station-services/before-your-journey/luggage/luggage/special.html

The ski pass is your admission ticket to use the ski resort. It is worthwhile to check the pricing options before arriving at a resort as it may take some time to understand what will be the best choice for your family. Often children under 6 will ski for free but you may need to show an identity document that proves the age. Usually the ticket is similar to a plastic credit card which operates the turnstile to let you in the ski lift area. At the end of your stay, you can return the ticket and receive a 5chf deposit for each one. Some resorts let you use your SBB Swiss Pass as your ticket but you must present it at the Kasse/cashier or ticket machine to activate it, then there is no deposit to worry about.

If you have someone in your group who will not ski, often you can get a reduced price ticket for he or she to take the ski lift with you to a middle lodge where they can watch the rest of the family's progress and have a warm drink. Again, look at the resort in advance to ensure that you are choosing a place with this option.

Even though Switzerland is a ski haven, sometimes it can be nice to explore ski resorts outside the borders. Some of the places popular among the ISB community are :

1. Germany - Feldberg especially for day trips as it is a little over one hour away and has a nice beginner area.

2. Austria - The kinderhotels in various ski locations like St. Anton, Ischgl, Montafon, Lech and Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis are an attractive option for families because of the various chid-care and child-friendly facilities available in these places.

3. France - Chamonix, Tignes and Val-d'Isere are some good options.