Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Hi all. We are a family of four who went skiing for first time this year to Borovets. Want to book again but next year my 12 year old wants to learn snowboarding. But his beginner snowboard lessons are only 2 hours for 3 days, compared to our ski lessons of 4 hours everyday. He is quite confident & independent but I am worried about what he will do on his own while we are still in ski lessons, and about lunch etc. Should we think about private lessons for him, how do we go about that & how much are they? Has anyone else been in this situation? I would really appreciate any advice please as want to book soon. Thanks. Alison.

Hi,

Hi Alison,

One of you could join his snowboard class so you can also board with him when it finishes or you could check out his class as I am sure there will be people of a similar age who he may want to spend time with perfecting his skills after class!

Private lessons are around 10 pounds per hour I think but it is a while since I had one...

Lunch is normally with the rest of the group but a 2hr lesson may not allow this.

I am sure you will all have fun whatever solution you arrive at.

Glenn

I ski and my (only just) 14yo boys snowboarded at New Year.

I had similar concerns to you, although with 2 boys it was probably slightly less. Your son will be 13 next winter.

I got their mobile phones unlocked here in the UK and bought Bulgarian sim cards (twin pack was 20 levs) and 10 lev credit for each plus a card for me so we could keep in touch cheaply. I made sure they had 20 lev each every day for lunch, drinks, etc. They also had the hotel number in their phone so had another contact number if needed. They knew the bus times and drop off points.

Their snowboard pack included lessons for 3 mornings only - they are both quite experienced and were put in the advanced group. At lunchtime the first day I called them and was told they were going off with the rest of the lads in their group. We met up at the end of the afternoon.

The next day we met up at lunchtime, I ducked out of my ski group and I skied with the boys until one fell and broke his wrist (DO GET WRIST GUARDS), so that was him out for the rest of the week! I'm very thankful I was there with him that afternoon, otherwise they'd have been on their own, which would have made everything more difficult.

The other boy had his third lesson, and that morning I arranged for him to have group lessons on the other 3 mornings, and paid 55 lev. There were 2 or 3 others doing this and I arranged it with the ski/snowboard school. He was under strict instructions not to go off anywhere alone, and in fact the others in his group (a 19yo and 2 guys in their 20s) took him along with them happily - they made him their pathfinder/trailblazer! I'm not too sure how safe that was really but at least he was accompanied and he had his phone and we did keep in touch. He had a wonderful time!!

Now your situation is different, but for the first 2/3 days or so your son won't be doing any real runs. He will probably just stay and practice on the nursery slopes, as will the others in his group. After that you could do greens/blues with him in an afternoon, unless he wants to go off with others he has met up with. Book him in lessons for the other 3 mornings.

I am told that snowboarding is harder to learn than skiing (by one son who does both) and you may find that after 3 days your son is a bit frustrated and wants to return to skiing so don't fix anything up too soon just in case you have to hire him skis (around 20 lev a day).

Good luck and have a great time. I'm sure he'll be fine.