If you’re travelling to Verbier with the whole family, you’ll probably want to keep everything as simple as possible, after all, it’s a holiday! The last thing you want is lots of hassle getting to lessons, hiring ski equipment and organising childcare. That’s where ES, Mountain Air and Petit Verbier come in; to make sure your family holiday goes as smoothly as possible. We’re a ski school, ski rental shop and a nanny service all working together under one roof, right next to the Medran gondola in the centre of Verbier.

John Falkiner moved here from Australia following the call of the mountains. He, like almost everybody else at the time, was in the most traditional and unadulterated sense a ski bum. Working as a pot washer in various bars and restaurants, until one day John was out skiing bumps in the fog on his own, apart from one other person. It was another young gun just like himself, keen to make the most of every hour spent on the hill. They eventually got chatting on a T bar lift and spent the rest of the day skiing the bumps together. It was the beginning of something truly remarkable and a friendship that would cement Verbier as one of the Alps premier extreme skiing destination and begin a revolution in the way skiing was viewed for ever more.

Mountain Air Verbier, has the equipment you need for your next mountain adventure, but also the staff to ensure that you are teamed with the right skis, boots clothing and accessories. We are passionate about the mountains and it shows in our team.

Find out why royal families flock to Verbier for ski season Although countless people plan their holidays around ski trips every year, I have never been one of them. I always thought skiing looked like a lot of fun and yet the idea of taking a ski trip and finding it not quite to my taste gave me pause. So when HELLO! Online was invited to head to not just any slopes, but to one of the most exclusive ski resorts in the world, Verbier, Switzerland, I jumped at the chance. So from having absolutely no idea how to ski, googling the word 'Salopettes' and thinking that Raclette was a type of old fashioned tennis, here's what happened on the trip…

When hiring ski equipment, price is not and should not be the be-all-and-end-all. Ski hire is not a commodity like a bag of coffee… It’s what you’re getting for your money that counts. Here’s what nearly 40 years of experience renting ski equipment has taught us about making it hassle-free:

Things have moved on drastically in the last few years in the world of transceivers. Increased range, longer battery life and much more intuitive visual and audio signals. As I have mentioned before, every second counts when it comes to avalanche rescue, so it follows that the easier a transceiver is to use then the better the chances are of a positive outcome. I have selected the market leaders and broken them down into a simple chart so you can easily compare the most relevant features.

Having your ski equipment delivered to your door must cost a small fortune, right? Surely it`s the preserve of Verbier`s long list of celebrities and super rich? Well this might come as a surprise but actually you can have this amazing service for the usual price of renting equipment in the shop. Instead of standing in line with the others, you can have us do the hard work for you! Then when you are ready we will come around to your chalet and kit you out with all the best gear, while you have a cup of tea or maybe even a glass of champagne.

Verbier is known as an off-piste mecca, but we are also the largest ski area in Switzerland with 412km of beautifully groomed pistes. We also have thirteen itinerary runs that are just the right amount of wilderness and nature (being ungroomed) but without needing a map or a guide! Skiing starts at 821m of elevation and climbs all the way to the lofty Mont Fort at a breath-taking 3330m – with a 360 degree view from the Matterhorn right round to Mont Blanc and countless famous peaks in between. It can take you a day just to navigate from Bruson’s tree lined runs over to the world cup run down in Mayens-de-l’ours and that’s without deviating from the most direct route or stopping in one of the areas famous mountain restaurants.