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?