Beginner's ski at Innsbruck

Innsbruck has several resorts around. Right above the city is Nordkette. A small resort with a good park for freestylers. Not much runs but more than enough to learn skiing. Great views over the valley and very easy and fast to get there. Other bigger resorts nearby are Axamer Lizzum, Patscherkofel and Schlick. Once there you will sort out everything easily and get the latest updates about snowcinditions etc. Innsbruck is a kind of capital of wintersports and everything is easily avaible included free transport on public buses and special skibuses to the resorts.
http://www.innsbruck.info/xxl/_site/innsbruck/_lang/en/_area/478338/_subArea/600111/index.html

I would not recommend the Nordkette (name of the resort is Nordpark) for beginners. Most slopes are farely steep.
For beginners I would recommend a small resort, first of all because fees for day-passes and renting equipment are cheaper.
For a day pass you pay about 25 to 40 euros, depending on the resort.

I cannot predict the snow conditions in February. But they should also influent the choice of the resort. Skiing is a lot easier on soft natural snow. So if there is no fresh fallen snow in the lower areas chose a resort at a higher altitude (above 2000 m).

I would recommend: Muttereralm, Rangger Köpfl, Patscherkofl, Mieders, Schlick.

You can usually hire equipment and get an instructor in the village next to the resort.

Although you are really talented you won't make much progress in two days. An alternative would be to learn snowboarding, which is generally considered to be easier

Thanks for those tips. I see that Patscherkofl is very close to Innsbruck and I found this ski school:
http://schigls.at/en/skischool/about_us.html

Does this look good? A one day group course for 75,00 EUR, or a 1/2 day private lesson for 95,00 EUR. Given that I have just two days, would a group lesson be sufficient or should I go for a private lesson?

Also, it says you only need to reserve one day in advance. Is there anything I need to do before I fly over there or anything I need to take with me that wont be included in the hiring?

Thanks again,
Gary

Schigls is a quite well known school, but the quality usually depends on the individual instructor.

Renting equipment does usually not include the ski suit. You need warm water proof pants, warm waterproof jacket, comfortable warm clothes for underneath (don't forget warm socks) waterproof gloves, a cap and glasses.
yep, skiing needs a lot of equipment :(

Either way you won't be perfect after two days. But of course you learn much more in a private lesson. Depends on how much it's worth for you. Maybe try a group course on the first day and a private lesson on the second.

Try and borrow the stuff from someone before you leave, otherwise if you end up hating it (which I doubt :) you'll have spent quite a lot for nothing!

Re what the previous poster said about snowboarding, the impression I have is that it is easier to pick up the basics of skiing in the first few days whereas with a snowboard you will probably spend the first few days on your back side - which isn't a good idea if you're there for just a weekend!

snowboarding is great but in the beginning it is more difficult than skiing. I have learned skiing while young and 8 years ago, at 42, I changed for snowboarding. My wife never did skiing and started directly with snowboarding the same as my son. The first days on the snowboard can be pretty frustating, especially if the instructors insist in taking the lifts. Once you got the basics, it is much easier for example to do freeriding with a snowboard than with skis and also eaiser to get down steep runs. The first 3,4 days I spend more time on the ground with the snowboard than during years skiing and if the ground is icy and hard this is not much pleasure.

I don't snowboard myself, so I can't really judge.
But a friend of mine learned snowboarding in three or four days, despite being really unathletic.
While whenever I see the tourists skiing around here, even after two or three weeks, they can't ski. I mean, the are standing - most of the time - and moving down the slope, but it doesn't look fun at all!

Everyone I know who snowboards says it is harder to pick up than skiing - this might depend on whether you've had previous boarding experience (like skateboarding or wakeboarding). Personally I'm a skiier and have never set foot on a snowboard, but my husband, brother-in-law and a few other friends are snowboarders.

My understanding though is once you've mastered the basics, it's easier to get better on a snowboard than skis. Does that make sense? Nahuel is also very right in saying that it's easier for snowboarders to take on steep runs than skiiers. Skiiers have to be ready for the higher speeds the steep run will incur - snowboarders can take those runs much slower.

Chirimoya - the people you're seeing who can't ski after 3 weeks are probably too scared to pick up speed and learn! You have to be willing to fall over to get better.

I think that's a key thing to remember when learning either skiing or snowboarding: know how to fall over safely. Because to get better, you have to be willing to fall over. And get lessons, unless you discover a natural talent for it. Even just one beginners lesson will help enormously!

Well I had two lessons in the end. First on the nursery slopes of Igls, a 20min bus ride from Innsbruck. A nice place to learn the basics. But for my second lesson, I had a trip to Kitzbuhel. That turned out to be a fantastic place for beginners as I was high up near the top of Kitzbuhel Horn.