Ongoing Kid Stoke [2011 and on...]

[The SnowShow]

Not skiing but have my girl golfing at 5.

[montanaskier]

Heck yeah!

[I've seen black diamonds!]

I've been taking my 2.5 year old on ski on mellow ski tours in a backpack carrier. "Again!" he says every time we stop to let the dog catch up. Quesadilla breaks are important too:

[The SnowShow]

Heck yeah!

I can't believe she likes it!

Big props to the Common Ground GC little squirts program. Summer sessions are awesome for 4-6 year olds.

[Underoos]

Took a break from skiing this week.

[oftpiste]

^^^that cape is awesome! must attract the fishes too.

[wyeaster]

happy kid. love that first pic.

[lotsarocks]

That's epic underoos, your kid looks so stoked. Nice fish.

[Danno]

Seriously winning.

[Eastern Sierra Skier]

I really like this iphone pic of my 12 year old son carving some turns at Mt Rose. What jumps out is his stance and his body symmetry.
Stance- He shows a balanced and forward position on his skis. A very clean look, i.e. no excess body movements etc. Vision is projected downhill towards the new turn. A good look overall, as the stance is the foundation of good skiing.
Body symetry-From the ground up, note how feet, ankles, knees, hips, shoulders are all on the same plain and working in tandem. No A-frame or one knee tipped in more than the other. If right hand were just a bit higher it would be perfect.
Overall it's a very modern look with the feet a hips width apart, skis tipped up on edge early in the turn to let pressure build and take adadvantage of the built in turn that comes with todays current type of ski.

As a longtime ski instructor and former PSIA examiner, the vast majority of problems in peoples skiing are related to poor stance and position on their skis resulting in being out of balance to the rear and leaning to the inside. The end result-terminal intermediate skier for life. All to often PARENTS are part of the problem by "Over Terraining" their kids. That's taking them to terrain that is to steep for their skill set and the end result is kids that sit back. Keep them on flatter slopes longer, and build a bomber stance, then slowly work it in to steeper terrain where it will pay off. Your four year old isn't learning anything by dragging him down Cornice bowl or the West face of KT other than survival and a power wedge driven from the back seat.

Lastly, skiing with mom or dad should be fun. This isn't solving Obama care or peace in the Middle East. It's sliding down hill on a couple of planks. Keep it light hearted. Other than a few tips here and there, i.e. deep snow tactics and some simple things to focus on, I don't teach or critique my kids skiing. That's his ski team Coaches job. Your job is to keep it safe, and keep it fun. Thanks for your time and love all the stoke in this forum.

[The Tortoise]

Did I log into epic?

[JerseyDave]

My boy got deep during the recent snow cycle in Vermont. Ripping on his home made pow skis. By Saturday it was Blue B and out little ski hill over yonder spun the T bar. His first line up. Untracked all day. Fatties changed pow skiing for him. 93cm. 130-115-120, full rocker for the little rock star. He just turned 7.

[The Tortoise]

Let me know when the Fat Kids are in production.

[Danno]

My boy got deep during the recent snow cycle in Vermont. Ripping on his home made pow skis. By Saturday it was Blue B and out little ski hill over yonder spun the T bar. His first line up. Untracked all day. Fatties changed pow skiing for him. 93cm. 130-115-120, full rocker for the little rock star. He just turned 7.

Uh, you over-terrained him, he's gonna be an intermediate for life.

[~mikey b]

^^that ski sounds rad^^

[LegoSkier]

Just going to say that last weekend we did a family ski day and at the end of the day my 4 year old daughter had a full-on crying tantrum because she didn't want to stop skiing (it was 4pm and the lifts were closing) and that she didn't get enough air going down the last run (she is obsessed with going on those little bump tracks that kids always make on the sides of runs). My wife and I high-fived each other right there at the bottom of the mountain. Best reason to have a tantrum ever.

[The SnowShow]

Just going to say that last weekend we did a family ski day and at the end of the day my 4 year old daughter had a full-on crying tantrum because she didn't want to stop skiing (it was 4pm and the lifts were closing) and that she didn't get enough air going down the last run (she is obsessed with going on those little bump tracks that kids always make on the sides of runs). My wife and I high-fived each other right there at the bottom of the mountain. Best reason to have a tantrum ever.

Beautiful.

Are you The LegoSkierBro?

[wyeaster]

Just going to say that last weekend we did a family ski day and at the end of the day my 4 year old daughter had a full-on crying tantrum because she didn't want to stop skiing (it was 4pm and the lifts were closing) and that she didn't get enough air going down the last run (she is obsessed with going on those little bump tracks that kids always make on the sides of runs). My wife and I high-fived each other right there at the bottom of the mountain. Best reason to have a tantrum ever.

woohoo!

[Danno]

A guy I met on the lift once gave me some sage advice: always leave the slopes before your kid wants to leave, because it's way better to have them complain about leaving than staying.

[uglymoney]

My boy got deep during the recent snow cycle in Vermont. Ripping on his home made pow skis. By Saturday it was Blue B and out little ski hill over yonder spun the T bar. His first line up. Untracked all day. Fatties changed pow skiing for him. 93cm. 130-115-120, full rocker for the little rock star. He just turned 7.

If Powder had a grom edition that would be the cover.

[uglymoney]

A guy I met on the lift once gave me some sage advice: always leave the slopes before your kid wants to leave, because it's way better to have them complain about leaving than staying.

My Dad always used that as an excuse to quit skiing. It worked. Hooked me for life.

[uglymoney]

I really like this iphone pic of my 12 year old son carving some turns at Mt Rose. What jumps out is his stance and his body symmetry.
Stance- He shows a balanced and forward position on his skis. A very clean look, i.e. no excess body movements etc. Vision is projected downhill towards the new turn. A good look overall, as the stance is the foundation of good skiing.
Body symetry-From the ground up, note how feet, ankles, knees, hips, shoulders are all on the same plain and working in tandem. No A-frame or one knee tipped in more than the other. If right hand were just a bit higher it would be perfect.
Overall it's a very modern look with the feet a hips width apart, skis tipped up on edge early in the turn to let pressure build and take adadvantage of the built in turn that comes with todays current type of ski.

As a longtime ski instructor and former PSIA examiner, the vast majority of problems in peoples skiing are related to poor stance and position on their skis resulting in being out of balance to the rear and leaning to the inside. The end result-terminal intermediate skier for life. All to often PARENTS are part of the problem by "Over Terraining" their kids. That's taking them to terrain that is to steep for their skill set and the end result is kids that sit back. Keep them on flatter slopes longer, and build a bomber stance, then slowly work it in to steeper terrain where it will pay off. Your four year old isn't learning anything by dragging him down Cornice bowl or the West face of KT other than survival and a power wedge driven from the back seat.

Lastly, skiing with mom or dad should be fun. This isn't solving Obama care or peace in the Middle East. It's sliding down hill on a couple of planks. Keep it light hearted. Other than a few tips here and there, i.e. deep snow tactics and some simple things to focus on, I don't teach or critique my kids skiing. That's his ski team Coaches job. Your job is to keep it safe, and keep it fun. Thanks for your time and love all the stoke in this forum.

Uhhhhhh, ok.

Did I log into epic?

Hehe. I thought the same thing but I really believe he makes a solid point about not taking young guns on too steep of slope too soon. We followed that advice with our daughter who is now 6 and she has pretty good form to most non psia trained eyes...never taught her the wedge.

My stepson has totally different form than my daughter. I taught them both. Go figure. Maybe I knew more, I took him down steeper runs earlier, maybe genetics. I stopped trying to get my stepson to ski like me since he is faster than me now (acl recovery slowed me down bigly this year) and he has his own style. I dig that. Daughter has form just like mine and even strangers have told us that. Not sure it is PSIA approved but we don't care!

Gromette stoke. The last time we were at Jackson she was 3 and not ready for the bowl. This year she was ready. Conditions were challenging with the record warm temps and rain/sleet at times but it kept the crowds down and we had a great time all skiing together.

[JerseyDave]

Let me know when the Fat Kids are in production.

Vin at WhiteRoom Skis is gonna lay up his next pair. 115cm. With enough interest maybe he'll go shorter. No one makes 'em for little ones. A 95cm fattie with rocker a big radius should be in production. I made his out of some Old Axoimes I had already modified for myself years ago by delaming the fiberglass and shortening them 15 cm. I cut them down to his length, baked them over the wood stove, set in the rocker with a ghetto jig. Good prototype. His WhiteRooms are gonna be sick. Might need another year to grow into them at 115cm. He's 48" tall, 50 lbs.

[wickstad]

^^that ski sounds rad^^

This is the third time in two days that I have seen the term "rad" on the internets. I assume it is short for "radical?"? Certainly not "radian", "radiant", or maybe..."radioactive"?.?

[uglymoney]

Dave, that is just awesome on all counts.

keep em skiing lots and don't worry if they ski like Tomba.

+ 1

That kicks ass.