Teaching little kids to ski

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the responses so far. I will add, our youngest is a toddler and not ready to be on skis this winter, so we wouldn't do a trip out west until she's big enough for lessons. Otherwise, having one kid in a lesson would leave my husband and I having to split up with one squeezing in some runs while the other hangs with the youngest.

DH and I love to ski, and want it to be a big part of our family vacations. An annual trip out west to ski is the goal, with local skiing when weather permits. So for now, I want to focus on getting the kids on skis and comfortable for when they're a bit older.

To the Park City/Deer Valley posters, I do love PC, and it's definitely the easiest western resort to get to from here.

PP here who shared about DS starting at 4 and now races - we did exactly this. You can learn the same thing locally as you do in PC. It is all about mechanics and muscles memory, literally doesn't matter how "big" the mountain is. Save your money when they are young and learning. DS probably has better mechanics for this reason.

[Anonymous]

We had great luck with Liberty.

[Anonymous]

We took our 4 year old 5-6 times to Whitetail and once our west last year and he is amazing. We have Epic Pass and the lessons are expensive but worthwhile. It's particularly great if you can go on a weekday morning once or twice when there are no crowds. Tricky to make it happen with both of us working but we managed to each take a morning off at different points in the winter. You can easily be home by mid-afternoon. In our experience, these two things helped:

1)your kids needs to want to learn--make it fun, no pressure and definitely get 1:1 lessons at first if you can (some resorts will only do private under age 5). After they get the basics, they can move to group and they benefit from watching other kids.
2) you need to go with some consistency for a couple seasons to solidify the skills. They will be much safer, more in control skiers and you will be able to relax more when they're on the slopes.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

We did lessons at both massanutten and timberline for our kids at 5 and they were both excellent. The instructors were great and the kids picked it up super quick. Best money spent!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had great luck with Liberty.

Seconded. They have a multi week program that I've heard is good. It does fill up, and it does have weeks cancelled for lack of snow. But the instructors are good and it forces you to get up and go each week, which gets results for DC.

[Anonymous]

Season long lessons are best. We did them at Canaan Valley and Timberline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the responses so far. I will add, our youngest is a toddler and not ready to be on skis this winter, so we wouldn't do a trip out west until she's big enough for lessons. Otherwise, having one kid in a lesson would leave my husband and I having to split up with one squeezing in some runs while the other hangs with the youngest.

DH and I love to ski, and want it to be a big part of our family vacations. An annual trip out west to ski is the goal, with local skiing when weather permits. So for now, I want to focus on getting the kids on skis and comfortable for when they're a bit older.

To the Park City/Deer Valley posters, I do love PC, and it's definitely the easiest western resort to get to from here.

Depending on the age of your toddler, snowshoe does have a “pre-ski school” for ages 2-4. Mostly just daycare/snow play but I think you can also sign them up for a mini lesson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you planning on skiing a lot? My 13 year old had never skied and I sent him with his uncle (my brother) and his older cousins to Deer Valley. He learned to ski in a day with his cousins just by being taken up and down the bunny slope twice then to the greens and the blues. The second day he could solidly ski blues and tried a black run. The third day he could ski black runs in powder with moguls.

So glad I didn't pay for ski lessons when he was younger. We were thinking of going skiing one year but the pandemic ruined our plans. I just mention it because doing other sports (he skateboard, surfs, plays soccer, etc) makes it really easy to learn how to ski. My sister spent thousands on private ski lessons when her kids were young. They would only ski once a year so I am not sure it was really worth the cost.

Your son may have been able to get down those blue and black runs but there’s no way he did it with appropriate control.

He did. It’s not that hard to learn to ski if you are a coordinated 13 year old who likes some adventure.

[Anonymous]

Some lessons at Liberty and a long weekend in the kids camp at 7springs worked great for ours. Also gave us a chance to ski on our own.

[Anonymous]

Bryce Resort in VA is the best ski resort for teaching a young kid to ski.

[Anonymous]

If you are a good skier you can get the harness and leash. My youngest started skiing at age 4 on the leash and she got pretty good! By age 5 she did it on her own. Age 6 she was pretty decent and now at age 8 she’s pretty amazing.

All of my kids hate group lessons. There’s a lot of waiting for your turn. Private lessons are awesome but obviously a lot more expensive.

[Anonymous]

I have not seen this in the replies yet, but if at all possible, start them on a good weather day. If it’s important to you that they enjoy it, do not make their formative experiences during harsh, cold, or wet weather.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are a good skier you can get the harness and leash. My youngest started skiing at age 4 on the leash and she got pretty good! By age 5 she did it on her own. Age 6 she was pretty decent and now at age 8 she’s pretty amazing.

All of my kids hate group lessons. There’s a lot of waiting for your turn. Private lessons are awesome but obviously a lot more expensive.

I wouldn’t use the harness and leash. I did with my oldest and it took years to get him to stop sitting in the back seat. The best thing is season long small group lessons plus skiing with parents on terrain they can handle without the use of props. If you’re so inclined, ice skating is the most complimentary sport. My kids were rolling their edges on skis at 5, which we attribute entirely to their skating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thought if you're willing to make it a longer trip, and admittedly a far greater time and financial commitment: go to Park City, UT. It's a nonstop flight from DCA/BWI, very easy access from the SLC airport and the ski school infrastructure is exceptional (kids and adults alike), the conditions usually very good for kids (softer powder vs. ice and manmade snow). It's where our kids started at a very young age and are now all black diamond skiers. Again, I recognize it's a far greater commitment but if it's in the cards you won't regret it.

CO is also wonderful, and equally accessible from DCA/BWI to Denver but the trip from Denver Airport to the various resorts can take hours (vs. ~45 mins from SLC to the Park City base) and the road conditions more challenging, from my experience, if you're renting. But the resorts in that area are also wonderful.

Either way, it's a life sport they'll never regret!

We did this but in Colorado. The kids were 4 when they started and are black diamond skiers by age 12

[Anonymous]

Snowshoe taught all my kids to ski. It's a little village so you park your car and only drive when you leave. You book the kids into all day or half day snow school and they feed them and teach them and hand them back to you tired at the end of the day. It's a small resort so you will see them in their classes as you ski past. You stay in a hotel or apartment and ski in/ski out. They have a magic carpet for the really little ones and then they teach them to ride the ski lift. For me with multiple kids learning to ski at once, it was the best way.