Ongoing Kid Stoke [2011 and on...]

[~mikey b]

So my son spent the evening playing music and shooting pool at a beer joint with his friends.

On a school night.





That cowboy is a hell of a skier and can really play the guitar. He's helping young Owen down the path.

[deiberson]

Pointers for a 4 year old?
He's cruising around the mountain pretty much wherever he wants to go (no bumps) . But...he's using a wedgie and turning/stopping by wedging.

My plan for this year was to let him do whatever he wants. No rules or instruction. Just ski around and laugh. But...now I'm starting to second guess that. I don't want to be developing bad habits that I have to correct later. But.....I sense that next year I'll be starting over with him anyway and can correct that stuff then.

He's probably not even strong enough to ski without the wedge.......

Thoughts?

[flyman683]

Pointers for a 4 year old?
He's cruising around the mountain pretty much wherever he wants to go (no bumps) . But...he's using a wedgie and turning/stopping by wedging.

My plan for this year was to let him do whatever he wants. No rules or instruction. Just ski around and laugh. But...now I'm starting to second guess that. I don't want to be developing bad habits that I have to correct later. But.....I sense that next year I'll be starting over with him anyway and can correct that stuff then.

He's probably not even strong enough to ski without the wedge.......

Thoughts?

I'd say totally depends on your kid, but I hear you on the second guessing thing since I (and I'm sure others) have been there.

The strength part is big, and if he's not strong enough yet you kind of end up having to choose either confining to the really easy stuff so he can parallel and "practice", or if like my kids, they whine and beg to go up the real mountain... Which probably reinforced some bad habits, but made them stoked to get up higher...

In other words, for us, I figured getting out on more of the mountain was more important to happiness than maybe being "the best skier he can be" at that age.

[Chugachjed]

My girls have moved up to the blue squares tonite! Great night skiing was had.

[TomCrac]

I would not mess with those two.

This thread delivers.

[~mikey b]

Awesomeness right there.

Go Dad Go!

[Chugachjed]

How old should kids be to take a lap on their own?

[::: :::]

How old should kids be to take a lap on their own?

I didn't do it with my kid until age 9 and with a buddy of similar ability at the home hill

[flyman683]

If it's bear cub quad style at Alyeska, I'd let my 7.5 do it occasionally when I'm right there at base... Anything further than that I wouldn't go for yet. Mainly cuz of potential goofing off on lift.

[Chugachjed]

My oldest is 8 and I trust her to be safe on the lift. My 6 though is a little too fearless. They were killing the blue squares at Alpy today. Their progress is astounding. I'm seriously blown away.

[flyman683]

Bad quality photo, but I rarely grab any so it's going up anyway:

7 yo dropping into "horror hill" gully at end of day, after full day kiddo program and not wanting to quit with the snow coming down.

At the end "dad we ski blacks all the time now, it's fun."

[Chugachjed]

FKNA!!

[Gcooker]

Took my 4 year to the local hill today for her 1st one hour lesson. Didn't go well. She was happy to ski around on flat ground but really struggled once the lesson started. Lots of tears but we kept it positive. The last attempt at a slight pitch she seemed to start getting the pizza move down. Any suggestions on how I can work with her to get a better feel for her skis? Or do you guys think it may be best to leave that to instructors? I'm leaving the wife at home next time, she has a hard time not getting mad when the little one is freaking out.

[From_the_NEK]

I'm leaving the wife at home next time, she has a hard time not getting mad when the little one is freaking out.

Protective mamma bears ehh? This weekend marked the first time my wife rode a chairlift with me and one of the kids. She was so nervous about the kid falling out she whacked me in the head with the bar before I could even sit down. Anyway, my 6yo daughter made huge strides this weekend. Turning like a champ!
Mine is the one in the pink coat:


The 3 year old is loving it too. He just wants to go straight.

[Canada1]

. Any suggestions on how I can work with her to get a better feel for her skis? Or do you guys think it may be best to leave that to instructors? I'm leaving the wife at home next time, she has a hard time not getting mad when the little one is freaking out.

1. Have her race around in her skis on carpet in the house. Then go to the snow in your front or back yard. If they can run around in their stuff, snow is less scary. Mom wasn't allowed for one of our kids. He was a whiny bitch when she was there, and it made it miserable for all of us. With the other two, she was there. Every kid is different. A lesson may work some peer pressure magic.

[flyman683]

Took my 4 year to the local hill today for her 1st one hour lesson. Didn't go well. She was happy to ski around on flat ground but really struggled once the lesson started. Lots of tears but we kept it positive. The last attempt at a slight pitch she seemed to start getting the pizza move down. Any suggestions on how I can work with her to get a better feel for her skis? Or do you guys think it may be best to leave that to instructors? I'm leaving the wife at home next time, she has a hard time not getting mad when the little one is freaking out.

Red light, green light on almost flat terrain is fun.

A new one that one of my kids loves was actually one footed skiing, also on almost flat terrain . They get used to slidey feel, but other foot is free to wiggle like crazy, push, etc... and introduces a bit of feel for how the ski turns.

Don't worry too much about turning yet, as that'll almost just happen.

[oftpiste]

here's why you put them in a racing program at some point..... thing #3 making the best of dust on crust....

[Timberridge]

or a freestyle program?

[TomCrac]

I wish my part of the east was that dusty.

[oftpiste]

In our experience the freestyle program had some technique but it wasn't a focus. Racing programs drill that shit (upper body separation, hand position among other things) in so it sticks.

or a freestyle program?

[Chugachjed]

As soon as she can snowplow to arrest her speed, teach the parallel turn. Snow plowing on the steeper trails means that one ski is almost always heading downhill! That's a lot of gravity to counter with the other leg. Just have her turn both skis at once. I took this advice from a friend with massive amounts of skiing experience (guiding in Europe, etc)who was texting his kids to ski as I was teaching mine. It is a total game changer and different paradigm for teaching kids to ski, but the positive results were immediate for my son and daughter. I mean like parallel turns by the end of the first day immediate.

Here's my question. What is the method to teach the parallel turn? I've been skiing with my girls 6 and 8 a bunch in the last couple weeks and they're doing great, confidently cruising the blues and the little one really wants to get on some black runs. They're both very coordinated and athletic and most of all they really want to learn.

[2ski2fish4ever]

on a gentle slope have your kids get their skis parallel and across the hill.then have them move across the hill more than down the hill their skis should still be paralell or as i tell them keep your skis freindly.as they get across the slope a wedge turn to get them going back across the hill in the other direction.as they progress just start heading a little more down the hill.turning across the hill will keep the speed down rather than slowing down by wedging.

[2ski2fish4ever]

even though i coach an all mountain program,i have to agree that kids that come from a racing backround are usually techiquely better skiers.unfortunatley the fun factor is often lost in racing programs.

[Gcooker]

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I'm going to take her up to Baker this weekend and give it another try. Let her motor around on the flats then take a break and toboggan and shit like that. Make it more of just playing in the snow with skis instead of "skiing".

[Buster Highmen]

here's why you put them in a racing program at some point..... thing #3 making the best of dust on crust....

Looks like Stein.