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Dolomitiskier

Dolomitiskier

Putting on skis
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Jan 6, 2020
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Vicenza
I wonder about this question too. By 11 I was definitely skiing on my own with friends. My husband was too. Maybe even earlier for him since he was a race kid. We don’t really have a home mountain so I think that also changes the equation. I grew up on Pico and my husband grew up on Stowe...we knew every nuance and trail. That’s different than skiing these huge mountains in the Alps where we are now and where you could end up in a town an hour away from where you started. I would imagine it would be the same out West.

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?
 

Jerez

Skiing the powder
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Such a good time introducing our just-turned-four year old grandson to skiing. I was a bit nervous since no lessons were available. The kid lives in AZ and has never seen snow.

Andy at Alpime Sun was amazing at making getting boots and gear seem like fun.

But when we got to Winter Park he announced he wanted to play in the playground and not ski. We prevailed but were disappointed to find out that the beginner area is off limits to non ski school people.

We had him do a couple of straight-line runs of about 15 feet at the bottom behind a Slow sign. Dad shlepped him uphill and I "caught" him. It was all smiles from there. "I want ro go higher; I want to go faster!" So after less than 10 minutes he was on the chairlift to the larger green run area at mid mountain. (Which is a terrific learning area with multiple runs and lifts.)

He got on and off the chair with no falls or fuss. And we skied five big boy runs and then he skied all the way to the bottom. The whole time he only fell once. What super fun!

20221125_114021.jpg
 

HDSkiing

You’re Sliding On-Snow; Don’t Over-Think it!
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Oct 4, 2017
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319
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The Rocky Mountains
Maybe things are different today. Neither of my parents skied, I just happened to grow up near a ski area and went with my friends from quite a young age where we skied with little supervision except from the race coaches who never free skied with us, no one seemed to care and few adults could keep up anyway lol.

My children grew up in the mountains and even though their dad was a ski school manager I didn’t put them on skis till they were maybe 5 or 6, ( don’t really believe in starting them younger, but that’s me) and when I did they skied in our back yard (National Forrest) which sloped down to our home, then eventually I’d take them to the beginner area and didn’t allow them to up the mountain till they had the skills to do so as “surviving” black terrain is not the same as skiing it.

Later when they were 9 or 10 they skied on their own all over. Patrol the lifties and my staff all knew who they were and kept an eye on them. I never felt like I had to go out there and perform a blocking maneuver to keep them safe. The oldest, now 20 is a L-2 and soon will prob reach L-3 before graduating college.

Reading through these posts makes me wonder if I was a clueless parent letting my kids go have fun on the mountain!
 

Teumie

Putting on skis
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Sep 29, 2022
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129
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Belgium
I ski Europe and when out with the family we specifically go to smaller / quieter regions.
I'm not fussed about not having 300km of slopes, I do mind not to have to queue at lifts, having a smaller area where the kids are less likely to get lost but mostly a quieter family oriented region with less traffic.

I always have them wear fluo helmets for visibility and stay behind them.
With the oldest (8 now) I let him go and stay behind him just in case he falls or something and needs a hand (he does speak some english and French but no German).
I have accepted that accidents can and will happen, same as when he is riding his bike or something.
I try to teach him to look around, be careful, etc. but when he gets going he just goes and only stops at the bottom.

The youngest (5 now) is different, she isn't confident yet so either me or the misses stays really close to her. With her I'm mostly worried about her sitting down and just going straight with no possiblities to turn or brake.

I find that the areas I went to (or maybe Europe in general) is pretty decent when it comes to children on slopes.
Of course I have had somencounters with faster people but then again, thats part of it and so far no incidents with people crashing into them.
 

Doddsie

In the parking lot (formerly "At the base lodge")
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UK
Regarding the question of when they can ski on their own, my then 11 year old son skied to and from his lessons last season, my wife just drove him to the lift station. This involves 7 lifts and 9 runs to get to his lessons, including a ridge between resorts that often gets closed in bad weather. We're still waiting for the day he gets stuck across the valley, which will involve either an hour walk up the slope or my wife driving a couple of hours to go and collect him. He is a competent skier though and fairly mature and sensible on the mountain, although a clown off it.
 

Seldomski

All words are made up
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'mericuh
Reading through these posts makes me wonder if I was a clueless parent letting my kids go have fun on the mountain!
IMO depends a lot on the specific kid and how often they are on the mountain. Big difference between kid who can go up and ski many days and is a "local" vs family that gets in a plane or drives 10+ hrs to ski somewhere a week or two per year.

And then there are some people/kids who just have poor situational awareness in general and are unaware of themselves and others but ski anyway... Get enough of them on the same run, and bad things will happen.
 

Viking9

Out on the slopes
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Sep 9, 2016
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SO CAL
Jerez did you use / try a rope around the grandsons waist ??
We used a 3/8 rope with our kids nothing fancy , we’re 60 and no grandkids.
I showed my beautiful bride that picture, his hands , fantastic !!
 

Jerez

Skiing the powder
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Jerez did you use / try a rope around the grandsons waist ??
We used a 3/8 rope with our kids nothing fancy , we’re 60 and no grandkids.
I showed my beautiful bride that picture, his hands , fantastic !!
No but I have sent seen it used successfully. There is a harness with reins and a handle for a quick pick up that my cousin used to tteach one of his kids. He got kind of dependent on it and it was a bit of a struggle to ween him as it were.

I taught adaptive skiing for many years and am used to using implements and I found a large hula hoop works great. As do reins attached to the tips of skis with an edgie wedgie. The goal of course is to get independent as quickly as possible. Both a rope around the waist or a harness with reins can tend to pull a kid backwards, which is already a tendency for little kids whose head to body ratio is much larger then an adult.

Our goal was for the little guy to have fun and want more. We only had one day. So after the straight lining from Dad to me - to be sure he could balance on his skis - we went up the chairlift and Dad held his hand until he stopped. Then we took Dad's long pole between us, kiddo holding pole om front of him so he wouldn't turn into a child rocket, and we skied together, three across. That way he could feel some speed. We had him follow Grandad who made big arcs in front of us,, so the kiddo could begin to feel steering and going where you want to go.

He had a blast and so next year, he is excited to take lessons. They live in a suburb of Phoenix, so he isn't going to be a ski kid per se. A once a year holiday. But if he gets the bug the hope is as he gets older he will come visit more often!
 

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