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Dolomitiskier

Putting on skis
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Jan 6, 2020
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71
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Vicenza
My kids are 7 and 9 and have both been skiing since 3 with tons of ski school instruction and the school of Auntie who is an actual PSIA II children’s specialist. They can both competently ski the whole mountain.

Usually my husband leads the kids and I sweep the rear in case someone looses a pole or falls and to make sure no one skis too close to them. But sometimes we split up and that’s when I’m unsure. My 9 year old is ok to lead or follow. He makes predictable lines and is good at watching for other skiers. My 7 year old is a bit more squirrelly because he is young.

This weekend, we had to ski a steep black every afternoon to get back to our hotel and the last day I did it alone with the little. I let him lead this time and he was good..making very regular turns and I stayed right in his line. Then, a lady decided he wasn’t fast enough for her so she cut him off badly almost hitting him and then she completely and totally bit it hard core. He was able to ski around without hitting her but it freaked me out.

How do you handle your littles on the mountain If there aren’t two of you?
 

kimmyt

My Rack Is Bigger Than Yours
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Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
518
I've just started skiing the mountain with my 5yo, who is still fairly unpredictable and squirrely with his line choice. I tend to ski behind him in a kind of 'blocking' maneuver, not so close I will hit him if he stops but enough so that my bigger shape is hopefully more visible to those uphill. Still, we did encounter a few times last trip where someone cut in front of him too close for his liking (he indignantly yelled 'mommy that guy shouldn't have cut me off!!'). The exception to this is when we are on a trail where we have to go to another specific trail and I'm worried he will miss the turn. And then I ski in front of him and have my head on a swivel to check frequently to make sure he is doing ok behind me. He also only seems to wreck when he is behind me and uphill, so if I need to help him I have to sidestep back up to get him, sigh. But yeah, I much prefer to be behind than in front.
 
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Dolomitiskier

Dolomitiskier

Putting on skis
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Joined
Jan 6, 2020
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71
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Vicenza
My SIL who is an instructor said that her one hard and fast rule is that if you stop, the adult always needs to be uphill of the kids for visibility and blocking. she was teaching years ago in Garmisch and had a very bad incident where an out of control skier plowed into her sending her completely sailing through her whole class like a bowling ball. She really feels like if a kid had taken the impact it could have been much, much worse.
 

SpauldingSmails

Uh oh, somebody's wrong on the internet again!
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Jan 27, 2018
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67
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Utah
I ski with my five and seven year old girls. I keep my head on a swivel and we stay on the greens. I talk to them the whole time and direct them regarding traffic and obstacles. I ski in a pattern to block their lane and make sure they know to be predictable. I make them do lots of turns, continuously turning, no straight lining allowed. They can go faster but they need to keep turning. I don't want them to be one of those turds who bombs the hill but can't use their edges. They aren't allowed on any more advanced terrain until their control is good.

There was one time I brought the five year old down Calamity Jane at Big Sky, that's a blue (which is may as well be a black or double blue at other resorts). I'm not touting her as one of those kids who skis advanced terrain well. She did well traversing the steeps and keeping her nerve (that was the lesson) but I had to carry down once her legs got tired from the bumps. She made it halfway by herself. It's a wide trail. All of the other skiers avoided her. I traversed back and forth near her on the steep spots. I made a turn and when I faced her again POOF! A big snow explosion. Some kid I didn't even see wiped out right next to her, he didn't see her or thought she was a slalom gate. I lit him up, but politely. Her picked her up and gave her poles back. He was shaken. He knew he was wrong. Then I made sure he understood to give everyone clearance, politely but sternly. He didn't run into her. My daughter said he crashed right next to her and she didn't know which way to go so she fell. It was a scary lesson that even with constant uphill eyes I still missed one person. Imagine if this was a section of trail where people were coming out of the trees!

So I'm that annoying guy constantly on his kids - for those of you who don't like that I'm the reason they haven't run into you. I drill those ski etiquette rules into their heads and make sure they get the gravity of the situation. I want them to be great skiers but they can't do that if they're injured and neither ski patrol nor I will let them do it if they act like turds. That's how I ski with kids. I must not be too annoying because they keep asking to go!
 

Miller

Putting on skis
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Feb 3, 2016
Posts
145
I have found that I ski differently at different mountains. At my local Mid Atlantic mountains, I am like a lifeguard with my head on a swivel. When we go up north or out west, I feel like the overall level of skiers and snowboarders are better and I can let my guard down some. Plus there is more room. We have a couple families that ski together and at least one of the adults will hang in the back no matter where we go. Even doing all of that, we have had a couple of small hits and near misses. The good news is that the kids have become decent skiers and I don't have to ski slowly. A lot of my time is spent continuing to re-enforce not cutting other people off, looking uphill, etc.....
 

Wilhelmson

Making fresh tracks
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May 2, 2017
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4,328
The best you can do is teach them the right way to ski and to be cautious of others. Remember that by the time we were 7 or 8 may of us were off riding our bikes around town without supervision.
 

Johnny V.

Half Fast Hobby Racer
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Nov 12, 2015
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1,427
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Finger Lakes/Rochester NY
A lot of my time is spent continuing to re-enforce not cutting other people off, looking uphill, etc.....

Yes, I'm sometimes the grumpy Grandpa with our 9 year old granddaughter who has made amazing progress this year and can move right along with good control, but she likes to zip in and out of features along the trail and is often neglectful of looking before she re-enters. I guard her 7 year old sister who is much slower and little for her age more carefully. The 5 year old is still on the Magic Carpet, so other than eating snow, she's not a problem!
 

HBrosenius

In the parking lot (formerly "At the base lodge")
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With race kids 8 and 11 years old, it's not that much of a problem. Few keeping up with them. But some general guidance on where to stop, don't ski too close to others, be respectful and help those that needs it seems to help.
 

IceChick

Booting up
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Jun 27, 2019
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17
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Colorado/Maine
- stay uphill of the kids (this way you can watch them ski too!)
- make a clear plan and communicate that with the kids (i.e. what trail you're skiing, where you'll stop, meeting place at the bottom, don't be out of sight or sound of a parent)
- keep your head on a swivel for potential hazards like other skiers
- put the stronger skier first to pick the line
- stay within earshot and sightline of both kids
- stop in a safe place halfway down the run to regroup (or more often if necessary
- if you're trying to work on a skill or drill with them, demo a few turns, have them ski behind you for a few turns, and if you don't trust the safety of the trail/conditions/other people, have the kids practice in front of you and watch them, stopping often to fix, critique, etc.
- understand that you can't control every risk on the mountain. I struggle with this one, but kids learn fast when they make mistakes or find themselves in unsafe situations. If you do encounter an unsafe situation, it's an awesome learning experience to debrief with the kids, reflecting on what went wrong and if we could have done anything to prevent or lessen the severity of the situation.
 

James

Out There
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Dec 2, 2015
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24,449
Teach them to side step decently.
The number of black diamond group kids who lack this skill is depressing. It can be important when they need to go up a little drop to change course. If they can’t, it can became a situation, esp when they fall and slide down into something worse.

There’s a lot of stuff to play around and challenge them with by sidestepping up piles etc.
 

SargeSki

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Jan 13, 2020
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Northern Virginia
I'm a Mid-Atlantic skier and we go out every weekend from resorts open to close. I've got a 7 year old, who's been skiing 3 years now and who very confidently can handle the entire mountain. I echo what most of the other parents said in terms of staying behind and ALWAYS reinforcing the rules of the mountain. I stay about 15 yards behind and plane above him so someone will have to get through me to get to him (it has done wonders for my short radius turns!).
I don't really want to follow that closely, but have had 2 REALLY close calls this season that left me shaken (watching from behind) more than him. I'm a pretty easy going guy, but I unclicked from the bindings on one of them ready to fight, because a dad dive bombing the hill decided to cut around me and was right on top of my son before I could do anything -- the dad wrecked and narrowly avoided my kid about 2 feet in front of him. Funny enough, I saw my kid with his hand raised in the air at the guy after I finished "talking" with him and I asked him why he was waving. He said he wasn't, he was flipping him off, he just couldn't get his fingers to curl down with the glove on.
We skied with him at Okemo early season and I didn't feel like I needed to be that protective at all -- completely different type of skier up north. Lots of the Mid-Atlantic skiers are once a year skiers, that feel entitled to the mountain because they paid $80 for a lift ticket and expect every run to be Epic (no pun with the Pass).
 
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Dolomitiskier

Dolomitiskier

Putting on skis
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Jan 6, 2020
Posts
71
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Vicenza
@SargeSki we normally ski in Northern Italy and I’m less vigilant there because the atmosphere is always more relaxed for some reason. In Austria, it was a whole different story and there were a lot of scary skiers. People power wedging down crazy stuff, out of control etc. I grew up skiing in Vermont and was on my own at our home mountain (Pico) a lot but wasn’t allowed that freedom at Killington at all.
 

SargeSki

Booting up
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Northern Virginia
@Dolomitiskier I skied solo at Killington the trip we went up to Okemo, I definitely would have been a bit more protective then we were at Okemo. Still dig the vibe with kids better up North than here down South.
 

vindibona1

Getting on the lift
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Jan 22, 2020
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174
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Northern Illinoi
If the kids are competent skiers I'm not sure that there's much more that two can do vs one. If you're not worried about the child's skiing, about the only thing you can do is protect them from the rear. And as you know that doesn't always work out. When my oldest was probably 5 she was completely bowled over by and out of control boarder. The kid had her pins taken out from under her and literally flipped over 360°. I was right behind, but absolutely nothing I could have done. Someone in the lead couldn't have prevented/protected her. I suppose I skied even closer behind after that.
 

SargeSki

Booting up
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Jan 13, 2020
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16
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Northern Virginia
We skied Blues all day on Sunday and finished out our last 2 runs on the Greens, trying to dial my son's balance/stance a little more at speed. He got upset with me because I wasn't as close to him as I normally am. I had to remind him that he was the fastest person on the slope by a mile.
 

crgildart

Gravity Slave
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Nov 12, 2015
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16,327
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The Bull City
Enjoy ever second while you can. Just enrolled the oldest kid in college and little sister age 16 hasn't opted in on a ski trip in over 2 years now. They both know how to get down easy to moderate terrain and oldest can slowly manage easy black trails. My work is done, and I hope to get them back out again in a few years after they settle down... and GRANDKIDS! But, for now I'm a solo skier again I guess.
 

Wilhelmson

Making fresh tracks
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Joined
May 2, 2017
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4,328
We stayed close when our kids were just starting out but after that never really stayed right behind to protect them. Maybe we should have.

At what kid age do people plan on not skiing behind their kids?
 

Arcane

Booting up
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Joined
Feb 15, 2018
Posts
18
At what kid age do people plan on not skiing behind their kids?

Depends on the kid! Mine are both in college--my son keeps up with me at this point but my daughter hasn't progressed very well as she had a concussion a few years in which makes her a very nervous skier (concussion was unrelated to skiing, but was a long recovery). She can't stand people approaching from the rear as she always worries she's going to get hit. I still find myself skiing behind her to protect her from the idiots above as she tends to ski greens and easier blues, which as everyone knows is where the majority of poor, out of control skiers are.

A couple of weekends ago we were out and I found myself skiing pretty closely behind her without her knowing it was me. Finally called out to her to let her know it was just me behind her and she was like "ok good, didn't know why someone was following me". :) I still expect to be skiing behind her probably more out of instinct than need at this point.
 
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Dolomitiskier

Dolomitiskier

Putting on skis
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Joined
Jan 6, 2020
Posts
71
Location
Vicenza
@James i have taught both kids to side step and side slip. I feel like those two skills can get you out of all kinds of situations.
 

djetok

Low Lander
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Joined
Oct 1, 2017
Posts
526
Location
Edmond, OK
My kids are 7 and 9 and have both been skiing since 3 with tons of ski school instruction and the school of Auntie who is an actual PSIA II children’s specialist. They can both competently ski the whole mountain.

Usually my husband leads the kids and I sweep the rear in case someone looses a pole or falls and to make sure no one skis too close to them. But sometimes we split up and that’s when I’m unsure. My 9 year old is ok to lead or follow. He makes predictable lines and is good at watching for other skiers. My 7 year old is a bit more squirrelly because he is young.

This weekend, we had to ski a steep black every afternoon to get back to our hotel and the last day I did it alone with the little. I let him lead this time and he was good..making very regular turns and I stayed right in his line. Then, a lady decided he wasn’t fast enough for her so she cut him off badly almost hitting him and then she completely and totally bit it hard core. He was able to ski around without hitting her but it freaked me out.

How do you handle your littles on the mountain If there aren’t two of you?
You tell at the lady and then laugh because she bit it after cutting him off. I do it just like you did. I had 2 of them by myself most of the time. Had one I had to dig out after he went off a small ledge by the west wall lift at cb. He went rogue just that one time. Me being behind him and be not following his sister
 

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