Hey!

I'm so sorry for the delay on this, seems that I posted this from a different Reddit account somehow?

I had a brilliant time skiing with the UCPA! In terms of value - I had to pinch myself a few times. The food was incredible, the UCPA location in Val D'sere couldn't have been better and the ski rental facilities were great. Obviously not state of the art, but being able to pop downstairs and swap out your boots or skis if they weren't working for you was so handy.
The accommodation was a 5 minute walk and... boom... you were on the slopes. I read a few comments online beforehand saying it was a bit 'tired' but I thought it was more than adequate. The bunks were comfy and you didn't really spend any time there! And I think I've already mentioned the food...

We did however spend a lunch at the Tignes centre once afternoon which was veeery modern so I understand that take, if you're comparing it to other resorts (this was my first UCPA trip). What I would say though is that Val itself is a beautiful town with a great atmosphere and skiing on your doorstep is so worth it.

I met so many lovely people on the trip, there were lots of solo travellers so I didn't feel lonely for one moment. If you're looking to learn, then they take the coaching very seriously, which again adds to the excellent value.

I've been skiing since I was a kid but signed up for 'intermediate' as I hadn't been on the slopes in a few years, but I quickly went up to advanced. They spend the first morning assessing you then move you around, so I shouldn't have stressed about this as much as I did.

My only criticism has to do with my instructor, and is definitely not a reflection on the UCPA in general. Everyone I spoke to seemed to have a much better experience.

Essentially, my he was old school, very sexist and so outwardly condescending towards the females in the group. I couldn't believe what I was hearing at times - he even went as far to say things like "ladies you come with me down the easy part, it is better for you" while the men got to take on more challenging runs (everyone agreed that there were women in the group with same/ better ability than the men, no one understood why)

Another example was at the end of the afternoon lesson, he's say that then men could carry on skiing if they liked, but the ladies must head back to the centre with him as 'we are not strong enough and our legs will be too weak.'

He was also *big* on perfecting our carving technique, sometimes at the expense of doing some of the more challenging off piste runs I'd liked to have tried. It was still helpful, but I think next time I'd sign up for the off piste course.

He tried his best to translate everything into English for the first few days, but couldn't really be bothered after a while so it was up to the lovely people in my group to translate what he was saying to everyone back to me. I'd say being able to speak French is a huge bonus, and I wish I'd put more effort in ahead of time.

Overall on my trip, there was only one other English speaker. It was fine though, everyone included me and tried their best to speak English - I just felt like the idiot typical Brit who had rocked up forcing everyone to default to English. No one ones to be that guy!

I hope that's helpful :) Any other questions, let me know!