Should I take a lesson?

I would recommend joining a ski school.
I went sking last year having only skied once before, 15 years ago. Decided to have a lesson at the snowdome before going on holiday and within 30 mins i was parrallel sking with out any problems. I had already booked a learn to ski package but on arrival i was put into an intermediate ski school group. The first few days were a gentle reintroduction with the rest of the week mainly on red runs.
Had a brilliant time, many laughs and learnt more than i would ever have done by myself as the rest of the family were begineers. Also the whole group hit the apres ski bars for a couple of drinks at the end of most days. If you find yourself better or not as good as your fellow group, then the instructor will move you up or down a group. Also if your girlfriend joins ski school they will let you stay together ,in the same group as the least able skier.
Joined ski school again this January in Soll, Austria and will do the same next year.

Hope you have a great time what ever you decided to do.

Hiya SamIrvs - sorry to be a bit blunt here but I'm going to have to say what most people are probably thinking. I'm afraid I'll be amazed if you were "carving" down red runs after one week skiing (unless you are a natural ski genius and if so I apologise) . I have been skiing for the last 4 years now Obergurgl/Flaine/La Plagne etc and also regularly use my local dry slope as well as the Tamowrth Snow Dome on occasions. I reckon that whilst I'm now a "parallel skier" I am only just about starting to get my edges to grip/transfer my weight properly and allow a proper carved turn and that is on an even gradient. (Big difference betwen a parallel turn and a true carved turn but I'll let the experts explain that one for you) Even on a red run I can still spot myself (from video taken by my wife this year) using a slight wedge to initiate the turn on steeper terrain and my outside leg still skids out at the end of the turn on a steep so I just can't see how you were carving reds after one week skiing.
Blunt but honest answer to the question - you DEFINATELY need lessons after only one week's experience and a 6 year lay off. Sorry if this is a bit blunt mate but I'm sure most in the know on here will agree with me here.
After having a year off lessons this year in La Plagne I will be going back into them again next year because you simply never stop learning. As soon as you think you have something cracked there is something else to learn. This year I thought I was carving well on some nice steady gradients but one day skiing down to the vanoise express through the trees above Montchavin (beautiful by the way) I hit some really icy snow and my technique went out the window. My point is even when you are just about getting a technique right and you are happy, you can hit some different snow conditions which change the game again so not only do you have to learn the various techniques such as carving and dealing with steeps but you have to learn to apply them in different conditions.
There is a balance here though becasue I did get fed up of lessons one year in Flaine and pulled out and just spent the time on my own skiing the blues all week and enjoying myself. I think it is fine to do this when you are competant enough and sensibly stay within your limits but to move to the next level you simply must take lessons. My friends used to tell me about the intermediate plateau and I believe I have hit that now and felt frustrated in La Plagne this year because I took on some moguls on a red run down under the inversens chair. The better skiers will know what I mean here but I felt as if I just "got down" the slope rather than skied the slope if that makes sense. That said to me that I need more lessons.
Never stop learning I say!

Yeah I think Max already covered that, in his first reply, you're both right I wasn't carving, I was parellel turning. I got my terminology a bit mixed up! :)

To be honest I knew that the answer would be a resounding 'yes' as to whether I should take lessons, and I agree. I just needed a second opinion to put to my other half as she is the more experienced skier and believed that lessons were unneccessary. Thankfully I have convinced her that lessons are a good idea thanks to this thread, and we are signing up for one lesson at least, and budget dictating, maybe even a course of lessons.

Thanks to everyone for their input. :)

just a quickie - my Oh and I both had 3 hrs of private lessons this yr and boy were they worth their weight in gold - our instructor tailored our training/instruction particularly to each of us each indibidual has different learning strategies and strengths/weaknesses etc by having a lesson just the two if us with one instructor we really came on - I even learned the basics of carving - look for your tracks in the snow they will t ell you how you ski and what youve been doing /where your weight is etc...... Anyway - look up on the net where you are going and then find ski schools and then look at the different schools/costs etc... We were lucky in Les Gets and booked a lesson with Joe of alpine learning curves and he was really good - what he said made a lot of sense . Anyway enjoy the hols and dont get injured !

Hi Sam Irvs - just to give you my take on it, my OH and I had one week's skiing last year as complete beginners. In between we went to Xscape in Glasgow. We went skiing again this year and as we'd only had one ski holiday there was no question that we'd have lessons again. We were both amazed how much we had forgotten and how many bad habits can creep in. It wasn't just us either - there were 10 in our class and our instructor was able to pick up faults in technique with everyone. Not only that, she pointed out some weren't even holding their ski poles correctly! We've had three ski instructors over the two holidays each of which had a different teaching method but we really learnt from each one. Personally we both really enjoy having lessons - we've met some great people in our classes that we've kept in touch with.

Just to let you all know, I took your advice and had a 2 hour private lesson on our first day. It cost us 75 Euros for the both of us and really improved my skiing, perhaps not straight away but gave me techniques to practise throughout the week. I even managed a black run on my final day down which I only half fell over once! :lol: