Introducing the family ski holiday - 2.0

They're modern, inclusive and excitement filled. Rebecca Miles explains how to plan the perfect getaway for kids and parents

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TIME was when a ski holiday meant one thing for most kids: long days spent alongside 15 other children they'd never met before, snaking down the slope behind an instructor yelling "bend ze knees", before taking a lift and doing it all over again.

Not so in 2023, where small group lessons are now the norm - and there's a fun-first ethos that encompasses a host of other activities too, from leaping off a mock helicopter with the ski patrol to playing hide and seek in the snow for avalanche safety training. Welcome to family skiing 2.0.

"Family ski holidays have evolved," explains Tommy Hicks, childcare operations manager with Esprit, one of Britain's leading family ski holiday specialists. "A lot of our old childcare activities were geared around indoor activity, with a focus on toys and messy play, whereas now, with our Mountain Academy, we focus a lot more on physical activities that make the most of being outdoors in the mountains and in the snow, which help the kids learn but also have fun. Kids are just more modern now, and the feedback on these changes has been brilliant."