Ongoing Kid Stoke [2011 and on...]

[Norseman]

Sweet suit, bobby

[bigdude2468]

[bigdude2468]

Oops, fouled up the attachment, Her is the story, the photo is our 7 year old granddaughter, 7 last week at Alta, She was pic of the day last Saturday, rippin it in Catherine's with pow left from last weeks storm. Catherine's is a boot pack which she loves to do.

[oftpiste]

yup^^^^

[detrusor]

First time our the high traverse for the 5 and 6 year olds yesterday. Skied great down stonecrusher then on to high rustler. Despite the kind of heavy conditions for their little legs they did great!

[Ottime]

That is awesome. My almost 5 is ripping suddenly. He has had a few seasons and started to actually ski (as turn and in control and with a plan) last spring. Started this season on a bunny lift in December. I had to talk him into letting me remove the reigns. On Tuesday we were skiing off chair 6 at KW. The pitch from the top is most certainly black diamond. On his second run, he headed off piste into the spring powder crust and did great.

He did well in mid winter powder at lower angles earlier this winter. The spring pow we had on Tuesday was a bit tough. Although if I had him on the 118 Gots instead of 108 PEs, that might have made the difference. Seeing that he is about 103cm tall, even the PE seem big on the lot. Not so much on his feet.

Anyway, long ramble, but what a blast it is to see your kiddo advance so much.

For reference, we bought a ten pack of lessons. He gets schooled in school. He always gets reports like this : great skier, but takes too long on the shitter, and he does not like to wait for the group. Sounds like his dad. [emoji6]

Whe we ski together, I try to make it just about having fun. Hot cider ( mine gets a nip of whiskey) and jelly bellies. Hard skills, like how to build a bench out of your skis for snack time. And safety instruction, such as looking up hill before merging.

[~mikey b]

All good stuff there Chad.

Here is some more unsolicited advice from a ski patrol dad.

Safety instruction is really important. Talk to them about what to do if they or you get lost or hurt. Introduce them to ski patrol. Make sure they know where to go and what to do to get help. Make a plan in case you get split up. You wouldn't believe how many "lost" kids we deal with that simply got away from Mom and Dad.

And a lot of parents I see are not very involved with their kids' ski lessons. It's cool to just let them go and learn from the pros while you rip pow, but you should tag along now and then. Learn what they're being taught. Ask instructors for a couple of key things you should be working on so you are consistent. You don't want to be teaching them bad habits.

I do it with ski racing. I tag along and watch and listen to the coaches, and I ask them what I can help my son with. This season's message has been all about getting closer to the gates, skiing a tighter line and skiing a bit more aggressively. I leave to technical stuff to the coaches, but I'm sharing a consistent message to help him (and the coaches) out.

And most importantly, have fun. Skiing with your kids should be fun for everyone. I see a lot of learning kids and teaching parents battling it out on the slopes and that's no fun for anyone.

SKI THE BABIES!

[Ottime]

^^^great advice. My guy loves school, so tagging along would work. They discourage it a bit at KW, mostly because a lot of kids seem to want to leave with their parents. Would not be an issue for mine. Consistent messaging sounds like a good idea.

He likes to dance while he skis, so his instructor said that he needed to work on a quite upper body. He has the ski to stay quite, but he loves to clap, and literally swings his arms around as if dancing.

I gave him poles the next day. First run was crazy with poles everywhere. Not sure if it was his dance, or him trying to copy others pole plants. We talked about it. He wanted to keep the poles. I showed him how I wanted to hold them with the grip in front and the tips behind. He is not pole planting, and his hands are a little low, but now he has a nice tight stance (most of the time) and a quite upper body. His hands and poles only move when he has lost his balance, then they all come back right to the body.

I do get reports at pick up, but some instructors are better at this than others. During his last lesson he called a hello down from the lift. I decided to follow him up, to lurk, but I lost the group. A bit too far behind.

We've been talking about Patrol. What they do, and how they can help. Next time out, we will stop and say hello. We also discuss what lift we are going to next on every run. But I like the idea of an indoor meeting place if separated on a cold day. What is great is he really knows his way around the mountain. Has a great sense of direction. Better than many other adults who ski the hill on a regular bases. He is even starting to get a sense of aspect, which is awesome.

I started to realize this season there is a hell of a lot more to skiing than skills.

OTOH, I let him ski down the stairs at the end of a powder day. Perhaps not the safest thing to teach, but listened and performed well. The other day he asked if he was old enough for the boxes. So now I'm getting bit nervous. Hard man made things scare, but I guess I made this bed.

[TomCrac]

$$$

[Ottime]

^^^ love that one.

[bigdude2468]

We started Allison at 2 after doing the back pack thing when she was pre walking. Our son, wife and Allison live in WI, we live in SLC all winter so Allison gets multiple trips out her during the winter. Today is her last day, been on spring break since last Friday. Her mom and dad both raced in college so the "skiing life" has been a part of what she has experienced since birth. She seldom complains about being cold which I think is due to her being exposed to cold weather all winter living in WI. One tip, after the kids start to get the hang of it be sure you have them on good skis. Many kids skis are just plain crap, foam core made to sell cheap. We happen to love Moment skis and their kids skis are just shorter, narrower versions of their adult skis, full wood cores. Don't worry about how much you spend on kids skis, the resale value at ski swaps is at least 50% of what you paid even after two or three seasons. Kids learn and take instruction at different rates. You will figure out how to manage their fears and insecurities. We are lucky, she always wants to ski something she has not skied before and being at Alta she thinks hiking is a blast. Hiking into the Castle is great fun and the High T around into Greeley / Eagles Nest is just an adventure for her.

As Grandparents we cherish every minute we spend with her on the mountain, nothing else quite matches the experience. Yesterday we were riding the lift and out of nowhere she leaned over to my wife, (Mom Mom is what she calls her) and say "Mom Mom I love you", how great is that?

[Ottime]

The I love yous are the best. I got one half way down, the first time we skied off the top. Which is likely the opposite of what he was thinking as he peered in from the ridge.

[montanaskier]

http://youtu.be/tEuaMqum73E

http://youtu.be/t6Jk5dRpzio

A couple of recent ones of my lil dude. He loves it and never wants to stop! It's awesome!

[~mikey b]

New ski stoke!

He won the pond skim on them.

And he found the gnome.

[~mikey b]

Every time I think I'm moving him up to a ski that's too big he proves me wrong. Those are 147. Mama rolls 153.

I think we will be able to roll north to visit in May/June.

Summer Solstice Owen's birthday party here June 18. We got the Hardly Deadly band booked.

All are welcome .

[~mikey b]

https://youtu.be/dgmLr1HzFJk

[Danno]

http://youtu.be/tEuaMqum73E

http://youtu.be/t6Jk5dRpzio

A couple of recent ones of my lil dude. He loves it and never wants to stop! It's awesome!

I watched the park one on FB, Logan rips!

Maybe we can all go skiing together at Drinko this year.

[LegoSkier]

Awesome!
Would be down for a spring/summer PNW kids summit. I'm not sure at this point how my daughter is going to take the fact that snow melts and skiing stops.
This past weekend at Whistler we put the 3.5 year old mini-magette in ski school on Saturday. She was marked as a 1* level. When we picked her up she was now a 2* and had to transfer groups since her original one was not advanced enough. She even skied down to the village from the gondola mid-station (a green/easy blue run but is over a mile and drops almost 2000 vert). On Sunday we just skied with her on Olympic chair and then did the gondola run twice more. There were some slushy moguls at one section which scared her so I had to carry her over that section. At the end of the day I was like "damm!, I just skied like 5000 vert in a day with my 3.5 year old!" At one point on the gondola run I was skiing ahead of her so she could follow me and she was feeling the flow and started singing songs from her pre-school really loudly. I am making turns and behind me there is this little girl skiing and singing "SLIPPERY FISH, SLIPPERY FISH, SWIMMING THROUGH THE WATER..." at the top of her lungs.

[Ottime]

Mine loves to sing and ski as well. What is up with that? Too much fun.

We have two one window days left before KW closes which is a bummer as we both want to keep skiing together.

Our last day we fell 300' short of 10k. Has I known, we would have taken one more lift to hit that mile stone. Guess we have work to do next time out.

[bigdude2468]

This is probably my favorite picture of our seven year old Grandaughter, hiking into Catherines at Alta with her Bop Bop.

[Ottime]

Edit for the grand parents. My son was super stoked to try poles for the first time and ride chair 6 for the first time on the same day.

I'm super stoked he is so much fun to ski all over the mountain with.

[::: :::]

^^^so fun!

[~mikey b]

Vid doesn't work for me...

[AKbruin]

Good stuff, Ottime. I might get a KW pass next year just so I can take the kids there.

[NHguy]

love this thread