Teaching 2 year olds how to ski?

[MacDaddy]

SP I took Mac Daddy junior up last year on his 23rd month.

He was jelly, but it wasn’t about skiing as much as it was getting him used to the idea of sliding on the white stuff.
He wore a helmet and his Obermeyer jacket and was the most styly 23 month old around.

We started off on a very minimal slope and I walked behind him as gravity took him down about 10 feet at a time.

He loved it but he wasn’t getting the hang of standing while compensating for the forward movement. So I had to hold him up most of the 10 feet.

We did it for about a half an hour and I called it quits when he was ready to eat snow and throw snowballs instead.

We rented at Gart Brothers for $6.00 a day. the smallest boot they had was a 9 or 10 which was a little big at the time but it really didn’t matter...we where just out there to get him to have fun and used to the awkward equipment

One last piece of advice buy one of those little wedgy clamps that WND called a "wormy" you need that to keep the tips from crossing
Very vital when you are dealing with 'jelly'

Also please go on a sunny and relatively warm day.

Have fun

[powpowpowderwheels]

Originally posted by watersnowdirt
If you want, I'll watch her while you ski some time

Whoa, internet people offering to take care of your children.

[Superstar Punani]

Thanks everyone! I'll keep you guys posted on her progress

[Showtime06]

Now i don't have any kids cause i'm only 17, but i remember my first time skiing my parents stuck me in a ski school at age 3 where they have you put your hands on your knees and just slide down the 20feet of bunny slope...unfortunately i had the flu at the time and i fell asleep on my skiis while i was coasting down the hill...i'm pretty sure the people in the ski school freaked out cause they'd never seen anyone fall asleep on skiis before...but anyways, good luck with your daughter, i hope she rips!

[BobMc]

Originally posted by MacDaddy
SP I took Mac Daddy junior up last year on his 23rd month.

He was jelly, but it wasn’t about skiing as much as it was getting him used to the idea of sliding on the white stuff.
He wore a helmet and his Obermeyer jacket and was the most styly 23 month old around.

We started off on a very minimal slope and I walked behind him as gravity took him down about 10 feet at a time.

He loved it but he wasn’t getting the hang of standing while compensating for the forward movement. So I had to hold him up most of the 10 feet.

We did it for about a half an hour and I called it quits when he was ready to eat snow and throw snowballs instead.

We rented at Gart Brothers for $6.00 a day. the smallest boot they had was a 9 or 10 which was a little big at the time but it really didn’t matter...we where just out there to get him to have fun and used to the awkward equipment

One last piece of advice buy one of those little wedgy clamps that WND called a "wormy" you need that to keep the tips from crossing
Very vital when you are dealing with 'jelly'

Also please go on a sunny and relatively warm day.

Have fun

And again this Sunday, right?

I took my boy out when he was three, he loved it. I took my boy out when he was four, he loved it. I took my boy out when he was five, he hated it.

The first time was at Powder Mountain, the next year was at the Canyons, the last year was at Alta. Hmmm....

I'm thinking he'll dig Solitude.

BobMc

[OffAxis]

Originally posted by BobMc
And again this Sunday, right?

I took my boy out when he was three, he loved it. I took my boy out when he was four, he loved it. I took my boy out when he was five, he hated it.

The first time was at Powder Mountain, the next year was at the Canyons, the last year was at Alta. Hmmm....

I'm thinking he'll dig Solitude.

BobMc

The way he was hucking off the couch that night I was there you just need to bring him out here to the Palisades and he'll love it.

[lph]

Judging by those pics and the way she is hamming it up for the camera she definitely takes after her dad.

Therefore, I bet she will like it alot more if you let me film little Superstarlet Punani.

BTW, I am not kidding, I will have a Superstarlet Punani segment in next years movie, just gotta teach her a couple simple phrases;

1) "1 2 3 DROPPING....."

2) "Hey, check me out, I'm gonna rip the poopoo out of this."

[Fall Line]

Started both my kids at 3 1/2. The key is to make sure they have good gear/clothing. make sure they don't get cold, if they do, it's all over. Once their hands or any other part of their body get's cold....they shut down and just want to get the hell out of there. I used the harness on both....harness goes around their waste and you hang out behind them about 8 feet or so holding on to the reins. Give them so rein.....tell them to constantly put their hands on their knees, promoting keeping their weight forward.....teach them the pizza/snowplow. When they get to the point where they can make snow plow turns and can stop, whenever you tell them, then the leash comes off.

Both my kids started on chair 9 during this phase, by the afternoon they were skiing chair 7, no problems....other than they needed help with getting on/off the lift.

In my opinion the leash kicks butt.

My 2 cents

[teledave]

Originally posted by MacDaddy
One last piece of advice buy one of those little wedgy clamps that WND called a "wormy" you need that to keep the tips from crossing
Very vital when you are dealing with 'jelly'

Do those things actually work? I have one but my son wouldn't use it, "because nobody had one on their skis" so I've never tried it. Looks like it could be worth trying with my daughter.

What really helped my son (and me) was some private lessons with an attractive 20 y/o instructor. He always wanted to ski with her instead of me, I don't think he quite had it figured out that I had to pay her. Anyway she was able to teach him a pretty good stem turn with about 4 lessons so it was well worth it. It probably would have taken all season, since obviously parents couldn't know anything about skiing and he would be better off to his own method.

My son at 5
http://tinyurl.com/vzkf

[watersnowdirt]

Originally posted by powpowpowderwheels
Whoa, internet people offering to take care of your children.

That way I can convert her to snowboarding - ha ha ha ha!! Just kidding! Don't kill me, please!!!

lph - that's hilarious: "1, 2, 3, I'm gonna rip the poopoo out of this!" I LOVE IT

[L7]

I taught both of my nephews when they were 2.5. Like said above patience is key and don't get any expectations, it's really an intro. I did ski both of them between my legs but they were real young and the sloped kind of dictated it. It seemed a waste of time but they liked it even though they were little more than puddles of jelly between my legs. Thing is by the next season they were burning around so clearly something went in and there was some muscle memory taking place. I think Tbars are great because it just gives that much more time to learn about sliding. Make it fun, they'll learn as much about it (aquire skills) by just walking on the flats on the skis and playing.

They moved east but came back for a visit when the older nephew was 4. I took him up the lower chair after we'd exhausted the bunny hill. He got to the top and just starting balling. Seeing the parking lot below freaked him out. I carried him down balling all the way and yelling at me to slow down. 4 days later he's skiing a steep black diamond waving his arm and yelling at his mom to watch him while he skied. Resillient little buggers at that age.

He's racing FIS now and did two training camps in Europe this summer/fall.

The younger one used to ski with his Mom and fall asleep on the chair, then she'd ski him down between her legs still asleep and looking dead to people watching. That would signal the end of the day. He's racing and doing camps in Europe too.

Just let the little one find her own pace and interest. She'll learn to love it that way.

Make sure the skis are base beveled lots and definitely not railed at all. It's all about rotary movements of the leg at that age so it has to be easy. My nephews both started on 80cm skis which I think was the smallest around.