SKI EVERY DAY. LEARN A LANGUAGE. SEE WHY OUR SWISS BOARDING SCHOOL IS DIFFERENT.
Two weeks of Ecole life. Real classes. New friends. A real experience on a real mountain.
The Ecole Wintercamp on the Hasliberg
31 January to 13 February 2027
Ages 13 to 16 · German, English or French · 12 places
TRY THE ECOLE BEFORE YOU CHOOSE IT
Two weeks of real boarding school life at the Ecole d'Humanité. The actual thing: our teachers, our students, our mountain, our rhythm, in the middle of a school year.
Wintercamp works two ways. For some families it's a winter in the Alps and nothing more. For others it's the test drive before a decision to enrol. Both are welcome. If your teen comes home wanting to stay, the full CHF 5,000 fee comes off their first year's tuition. If they come home with new friends and a tan line from the goggles, that's a good two weeks too.
They arrive ready to learn German, English or French. That's all we ask. Every participant gets an Ecole Wintercamp ski parka on day one.
ARE YOU READY FOR SOMETHING REAL?
We've built a program that lets you experience the Ecole in a whole new way — language lessons, workshops, professional ski and snowboard instruction, and excursions across Switzerland that will inspire you.
Mornings
Project-based language classes in German, English or French. Small groups with Ecole teachers
Afternoons
Skiing or snowboarding on the Hasliberg every day with professional instructors. Lift passes, equipment and lessons included. Beginners and advanced riders are grouped separately.
Evenings & Weekends
Meals with the whole school, the way boarding works here. Weekend excursions within Switzerland. And the parts of Ecole life nobody else has:
Andacht. A tradition as old as the school. A guest speaker, a student or a teacher prepares a talk on a philosophical question and the whole school gathers to hear it.
Singgemeinde. Saturday morning, the whole school sings together. Old folk songs, the Beatles, whatever's on the sheet. Loud, unrehearsed, and everyone's in. It's not a choir.
Tanzabend. School disco.
Note:
Phones go away for meals, classes and overnight. There are set hours for them, and they're permitted while on the mountain and on the road. By day three, most Basecamp participants have stopped asking when the hours are.
What The Two Weeks Look Like
The Investment
CHF 5,000 covers everything:full board, project-based language instruction, daily snowsports with equipment and lift passes, the Wintercamp kit, and all guided excursions.
And once more, because it matters: if your teen decides the Ecole is where they want to be, the entire CHF 5,000 is credited against their first year's tuition. Wintercamp becomes the deposit.
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FAQs
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Campus tour
Airport pick-up and drop-off from Zürich airport (extra fee)
Accommodation in a Swiss Chalet campus
Food
Weekdays 3 meals (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)
Weekends 2 meals (Brunch & Dinner)
Language lessons 3x per day (Mon-Fri)
Language test TELC assessment with certificate
Snow sport lessons 5 afternoons (Mon-Fri)
Skies or snowboard and sports gear
Gondola pass / ski lift pass
Evening activities as per the Ecole schedule
Weekend activities
Saturdays - cultural excursion day (Verkehrshaus and ChocoWelt**)
Sundays - full day of supervised skiing
Certificate of participation
Admissions assessment and interview if requested
Program fee (if your teen decides the Ecole is where they want to be, the entire CHF 5,000 is credited against their first year's tuition. Wintercamp becomes the deposit.)
*the winter camp will run with a minimum of four participants
**the schedule is subject to change due to weather conditions or other unforeseen circumstances
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Appropriate winter clothes
Pocket money
Health/Accident insurance
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Not at all. We offer ski and snowboard instruction for every level, from complete beginners to experienced riders — everyone is placed in a class that matches their ability.
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This depends entirely on your child's nationality. Switzerland is part of the Schengen Area, so citizens of EU/EFTA countries and a number of other nations (including the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and Japan, among others) can enter visa-free for stays of up to 90 days. Citizens of many other countries do need to apply for a Schengen visa in advance, and processing can take several weeks to months, so we recommend checking early. You can look up the exact requirement for your child's country of citizenship on the official page of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs: Visa requirements for entry into Switzerland (eda.admin.ch).
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As a sport-oriented boarding school, we've worked for many years exclusively with snow-sport instructors who hold a state-recognized certification and/or a mountain guide license. Every student also completes a short skill check before their first class, so they're placed in the group that matches their ability and can progress safely. Our winter sport program runs in partnership with the Skischule Meiringen-Hasliberg — Skischool Meiringen Hasliberg.
REQUEST A BROCHURE
Our new brochure will be ready soon, and we’ll share it here as soon as it’s available.
Stay tuned!
A WELCOME MESSAGE FROM THE PROGRAM LEADER
I’m thrilled to invite you to the Ecole d’Humanité’s Wintercamp - two weeks of skiing, snowboarding, and language learning in the heart of the Swiss Alps. Alongside daily winter sports, students will build their confidence in English or German through immersive lessons and real-life conversation, all within a warm, international community. It’s a unique mix of adventure, culture, and connection, and we can’t wait to welcome you.
Warmly,
Tom Sampson & Julius Lutz
Program Leaders
