Good age for down hill skiing?

[daisy1234]

What is a good age to take kids sking for the first time???? REalistically!~

[bubbaray]

DD#1 started at age 2.5 last year. She LOVED it.

DH was a ski instructor for over 10 years, though, so I was completely comfortable that he could teach her, be safe, and not teach her any "bad" habits. For example, he doesn't use a harness (where the parent skis behind the child, holding the leashes that are attached to the child's harness) because they teach the child to balance on their heels -- proper ski stance is more on the balls of your feet. He started with her between his legs on the most gentle slope (not even the bunny hill) and would walk/herringbone her back up the hill. Then, they graduated to the bunny hill and ropetow (a bit tricky holding her on that -- I wouldn't do it). By the end of her first season, she was going down green runs and riding on the chair lift (much to my horror!).

This year, she skis beside him, he holds a pole out horizontally about knee level and she holds onto that. She's doing basic turns, but much prefers just to shoot straight down the hill! :)

One thing to keep in mind about lessons is that your local hills might not start until age 4. All the hills here start at age 4 (Whistler and area). The only one we could find on the Westcoast that was younger was a hill in Utah that started at age 3 (sorry, can't remember which one).

If my DH wasn't an instructor and hadn't previously taught many children to ski, I probably would have insisted we wait until age 4 and put her in proper lessons, rather than have one of us teach her bad habits, KWIM?

BTW, its not cheap. We tried going the ski swap route and got completely burned and ended up with junky old rental equipment that couldn't be tuned by a ski shop for liability reasons. So, we ended up purchasing brand new skis, bindings, boots for her (FREAKIN' cute Rossignol ones in pink!). The ski shop has a buy-back policy, but we won't need it b/c DD#2 will use the equipment after DD#2.

DD#1 is using all the same equipment this year as last.

We also got her a K2 kids helmet that is adjustable, so she'll get a couple years out of that at least. We get her ski pants (bibs) at Target for super cheap (its not very cold here normally) and are using an LL Bean Katahdin Parka, which seems to work well. We get her proper ski socks from a local outdoor equipment store similar to REI (www.mec.ca -- got her helmet there too, they do ship to the US). I have quite a few pairs of waterproof mitts for her.

Because DD#2 is a January baby, we're not sure if she'll start skiing next year (just age 2) or the following year (age 3). I'll probably push for waiting, but it might be hard if she wants to join in the fun. Plus, it would be nice if we could all go as a family.

HTH

[daisy1234]

Wow....thanks for the post. Sounds like sooo much fun! I am not sure if I want to spend a lot...I know it can get expensive! :(

[StantonHyde]

DS started at 3.5. DD will start this year at 2.5 but she is very athletic. The only way to get them into lessons though is if they are 4 (at least). Deer Valley has a T/Th class for preschoolers and parents but I work so I can't do that. Park City and the other resorts do all day programs but that is more babysitting while mom/dad vacation ski. You can do private lessons but those are expensive. Right now, we just have DS skiing with DH and he wears a harness. He has no interest in lessons--loves to ski with Daddy. Actually, he really loves the lift and basically wants to ski down to get to the lift!! He is good for 1-2 hours. He has done it two years now and this will be the third.

At Park City, you can ski the beginner lift only for free (or the adult pays and the kid is free, I forget) so that is ok. At Alta, they ski free after 3 pm.

I buy Lands End ski suits from Ebay or on clearance--we use them for sledding and everything else and I buy an extra one for daycare so I don't have to cart it back and forth. The kids thrift store here is a great place to buy outerwear.

There is a ski shop in town that does a 10 year trade in deal. It costs$300-400 up front, but then you trade in the skis and boots every year for new ones. They are used rental skis but they are fine and safe etc. I got helmets from REI.

So you can do it cheap--I guess it depends on how much you ski as a family. Skiing is one of the reasons we live where we do. So if my kids want to see me on the weekends, they need to ski :-) Plus, all of the kids ski--it is a social thing. So it is worth it for us.

[tylersmama]

You should check at your local ski shops. I know that at least a couple of the shops around here have season rentals for kids for fairly reasonable prices so you don't have to worry about spending a boatload of money for equipment that they grow out of within a season.

DS will be 2.5 next ski season, and we'll probably start him out at least a little. AFAIK most of the resorts around here will take kids for lessons when they're 3 AND potty-trained. We've used daycare on the mountain a couple of times and for a little extra $, they have a program where they just take the kids outside (18m+) and get them used to standing on skis and stuff.

I know one of my friends took her daughter this year right before she turned 2. That's a little young in my opinion, but it seems to be working ok for them.

Oh, forgot to add that at at least one of the resorts we go to (Keystone...I assume the other Vail Resorts would be the same--Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge), kids ski free until they're 4.

[AngelaS]

We took A the year she turned 4 and enrolled her in morning ski school and then she spent the afternoon skiing w/us. She did great.

My second child is 5.5 and hasn't been skiing yet. She's not the same personality as the first one and I think this winter she'd finally ready. So is her 3 yo sister. :P I'd love to get both of them on skis this year. :)

[ChunkyNicksChunkyMom]

skiier and we were totally into the idea. THEN we noticed that in the wavier you have to sign to enroll it states that the child may need to ride a lift with other children, and not with an instructor along side him. Even DH who is usually very casual about child safety issues ( :( )was very concerned about this. Anyone else have to sign such a thing and wouldn't you be terrified if they but your three yo on a ski lift? Yikes!

[StantonHyde]

Yes, I would be terrified of a 3 yo on a lift by themselves. I do admit, that I have never heard of a kid falling off and the kids seem to LOVE the lifts--my DS does. But I couldn't handle it :-) I would pay for a private lesson or just teach the kid to ski by myself--which is what DH is doing. At some point, DS will want group lessons (probably by the time he is 6 or 7) because his classmates will be taking lessons. As far as them learning bad habits--they can. Heck, I didn't ski till I was 12, then didn't ski from 16-31, took a bunch of lessons 2 years in a row and I can ski intermediates comfortably. And I have tons of bad habits :-) At some point, I will have to take lessons to get better so I can keep up with my kids!! God forbid they decide to snowboard and I have to do that at age 50!!!

[daniele_ut]

At some point, I will have to take lessons to get better so I can keep up with my kids!! God forbid they decide to snowboard and I have to do that at age 50!!!

Dh is a snowboarder and I was never much of a skiier, so I started snowboarding when we got married. I'm terrible, but it's lots of fun! For me, after the initial 2 awful times where I fell non-stop, it was actually easier than skiing. I haven't been at all this year, obviously, but I'll start back up again next season. We may even get in one late spring run.

We may start DS on skis, however, since they don't start snowboarding lessons at most of the resorts here until 6 or 7. I'm guessing we'll try to start him next year when he's 4. If I hadn't been pregnant this year, we'd probably have started him this year.