Ski bum to ski dad transition

[detrusor]

We just used the backpack Portion and threw the leashes away. The handle is great for picking them up, chairlift loading and snack carrying. .

[ZomblibulaX]

I needed this thread; nice to have some perspective after I bitched to my wife about not skiing enough anymore this weekend. She's earned a very nice V-Day gift. I'm just starting down this road; been a ski bum since high school, now with the kiddo I'm not working full time at the mountain and logging 120 days a year. Last year she was new and I still pulled off 80, so I have nothing to complain about.

Sunday is Family Fun Day, and Mrs. Z and I are still working out our routine. Right now, we all go up in the morning, Mrs. Z goes skiing, and me and Lil Z hit the bunny hill in the pack. When mom is done, dad gets a turn, but the little one is usually pretty tuckered out by then, so my time is limited. I found myself pissing and moaning about it to my wife the other day, how I never get to ski anymore, and she politely reminded me that I still ski four days a week, even if it is only three or four runs at a time. I'm staring down the barrel of 40 and coming to terms with the fact that I'm not as rad as I once was, and had no idea I was being such a little bitch with my wife till later.

This weekend Lil Z and I took half a dozen laps before she got bored, a milestone, and then hung out on the edge of the run eating snacks, listening to squirrels chittering, and banging on an old lift tower because it sounded funny. That time was so much better than the four runs I took after my wife got back, just mediocre hardpack cruising in marginal light. I can't believe I was whining when my Sundays look like this:

[detrusor]

^^^^^ this

[DJSapp]

The big little one just turned 7 yesterday. All she wanted for a birthday party was to go skiing with a friend, as long as she was "SKIING ON MY BIRTHDAY." With the storms lining up, we had to scrub the party side of it in advance as I didn't want to get trapped in chain control hell for 8 hours to ski one run on funny bunny before they are cold and want to go in (and miss the super bowl for that). She took it well and understood she doesn't like storm skiing at all. Then there was a break in it yesterday so her and I broke away from my mother in law and got our ski day on. No friends, just dad and daughter.



And definitely send them to ski school until they can snake under control down a bunny run, and load and unload the chair. Kids listen to teachers better than parents, and I don't need the stress of teaching a chairlift with a hyper kid. It's also way easier to reinforce what the teachers say when all they need is slope time and practice.

On the harness, we started with it and it's some piece of mind on the chairlift, but didn't use it yesterday. We focused on walking on 'gorilla knuckles' to get herself back upright on her own, complete with me making loud gorilla noises and jumping around more and more as she got up. Silly shit to keep them entertained and knowing that they're doing good.

Biggest part is understanding you'll do 3 runs in a row before needing a break. Keep it fun and understand they're only really good for 4-5 hours tops. End while it is still fun. Then they beg to come back.

[54-46]

After she had to go through some pretty serious physical issues, I can't tell you how happy I am to see my kid enjoying skiing...

[Ottime]

We were at TC on Sunday as well for a few runs. Best day of the season as my son wanted to hit Chair 6 before lunch. He mapped his way, 7 to 11, for a practice strep on the side of the nose, then up 6 to ski all the way down to 7. After lunch he wanted to hit chair 6 twice in a row. He even ventured out to rabbit runs for his final run. He may be a touch slow, and not likely to link turns, but he keeps on moving and finding good spots to place a turn and sing in good songs on the way down.

Feels like the years of hard work skiing just a rumor two at a time, on low angled terrain and packing a ton of hot beverage has finally paid off. Now we just go out to ski and have to pull him off the lifts when it is time to go.

[Not Neil_Armstrong]

Right there with ya man. It's pretty rad. I have noticed that one sick run I get in while a buddy takes a lap with my son is so much more enjoyable and stands out in my memory vs 30 laps of the same chute.

Okay, so in all honesty I wasn't really much of a ski bum. I spent a few years in Vail and logged a couple of 100-day seasons before I joined the semi-corporate machine, and then later the corporate machine. However, after Vail, I moved to LA so my time in the corporate machine was at least interrupted by every-weekend trips up to Mammoth to feed my fire. I've been an official member of this derelict community since 2005, though I was lurking for several years before that.

Times have changed. Now I spend my days on the green and blue runs with my two mini-groms who are 4 and 6. And tonight I was in the garage, stoked out of my mind as I re-mounted a new-to-him pair of Craigslist skis for the older boy. Not that I don't get stoked for a powder day (and I'd honestly give my left nut for one, as it's been a longer than I care to admit), but I was just thinking about how much mounting bindings to get my kids skiing makes my stoke factor go to 11. Puts a hell of a smile on my face.

How times change.

/end sweet blog

[Ottime]

The big little one just turned 7 yesterday. All she wanted for a birthday party was to go skiing with a friend, as long as she was "SKIING ON MY BIRTHDAY." With the storms lining up, we had to scrub the party side of it in advance as I didn't want to get trapped in chain control hell for 8 hours to ski one run on funny bunny before they are cold and want to go in (and miss the super bowl for that). She took it well and understood she doesn't like storm skiing at all. Then there was a break in it yesterday so her and I broke away from my mother in law and got our ski day on. No friends, just dad and daughter.



And definitely send them to ski school until they can snake under control down a bunny run, and load and unload the chair. Kids listen to teachers better than parents, and I don't need the stress of teaching a chairlift with a hyper kid. It's also way easier to reinforce what the teachers say when all they need is slope time and practice.

On the harness, we started with it and it's some piece of mind on the chairlift, but didn't use it yesterday. We focused on walking on 'gorilla knuckles' to get herself back upright on her own, complete with me making loud gorilla noises and jumping around more and more as she got up. Silly shit to keep them entertained and knowing that they're doing good.

Biggest part is understanding you'll do 3 runs in a row before needing a break. Keep it fun and understand they're only really good for 4-5 hours tops. End while it is still fun. Then they beg to come back.

Get her poles. I imagine she is ready if she is riding TC easily and is 7. They are helpful in the corral and loading, as well as getting back up off the ground.

We still tend to use the harness, but sometimes forget it. I've learned that in the past I've helped him a bit too much with getting up and cruising the flats. He attended All Stars, which is a 3 hour all skiing, no break class in steeper terrain. He was fine with his skiing, but I was told he needs to work on his skating and poling across the flats.

It is fun watching their endurance progress. We had four days in a row recently. We skied 10k, 12k, 15k and 8k in vert each day. At the beginning of this season, 7k was his single biggest day. It helps that there are no lift lines at KW most days.

[DJSapp]

There wasn't anything easy about that TC run, but she decided she wanted a change of pace from chair 9, and I thought there was a green run down it (oops). She's close to being ready for poles, maybe another day or two on the hill.

[comish]

All good stuff here. My $.02 with an 8 yr old and 6yr old twin girls.

We didn't do any ski school because it was too bloody expensive. So it was moma and dadda school. I basically picked a could items ala hands in front to focus on and let them figure out most of the rest. Now at 6 they joined Mighty Mites and ski with friends over most of the mountain.

We did the use the harness and leashes. Harness was amazing for lifts, picking them up, etc. Leashes were super slack, unless running into the woods. Honestly wouldn't stress that hard about this one.

When they were "done" we were done. We just listened to them and made sure they were having fun. We did a lot of tag teaming with Comish Jr, but the Comish twins this was harder...

8yr old skis the full mountain. This past weekend we went to rip KT after the disappointment of blowing out of the slalom race! Love that ripping the steeps was his idea on how to get over it.

[Steven S. Dallas]

We didn't do any ski school because it was too bloody expensive.

The Mammoth ski school is stupid expensive, but it does seem like they actually give a shit about instruction and are out on the hill most of the day. Kirkwood is a lot cheaper (for us, anyway, since the kid has a pass there) but they spend more time inside drinking hot chocolate than they do skiing.

[::: :::]

I had a great couple days during spring break with the boy (now 12) skiing whatever was in the right conditions.

It is worth the work early on! You'll get to ski at your speed again. They catch up fast!

[LightRanger]

One of the few benefits of being in the Outer Rim Territories (e.g. Tri-Valley) is easy freeway access to points east. I concur.

Teaching kids to ski is fucking awesome.

Here's one of my twins (age 2.5) about to crush a green run at Sugar Bowl.

[Lloyd Braun]

there is nothing better than skiing with your kids. here is my son
they closed school for a powday...couple weeks ago 8 years old


white room when he was 5



park at 8



7 years old


6 years old.

[Lostmyboards]

Sweet. Wow.

[LightRanger]

Pretty legit hangtime for an 8YO. Damn dude.

[Ottime]

The Mammoth ski school is stupid expensive, but it does seem like they actually give a shit about instruction and are out on the hill most of the day. Kirkwood is a lot cheaper (for us, anyway, since the kid has a pass there) but they spend more time inside drinking hot chocolate than they do skiing.

What age group?

3-4 yrs they are inside most of the day.

5-12 they *should* be outside. We only paid for two lessons this year and we're super disappointed. Last season we had a much better experience.

Once they are 6, and can ski off 11 and a bit off 6 (Zachary, Sentinel, rabbits) they can do All Stars which is 3 hours on the snow for $85.

I suggest writing Vail and let them know your disappointment. I can get you the email of an actual person in marketing. Or customerservice@vailresorts.

Like I said, we had a mostly positive experience in 15/16, but after two lessons this season we were done. Not worth the money if they are not going to ski and be challenged.

[Eastern Sierra Skier]

The Mammoth ski school is stupid expensive, but it does seem like they actually give a shit about instruction and are out on the hill most of the day. Kirkwood is a lot cheaper (for us, anyway, since the kid has a pass there) but they spend more time inside drinking hot chocolate than they do skiing.

Hey Steve S. If your in Mammoth next season P.M. before you go and I can probabley help you out with a comp lesson or two for the kids if your interested. Without a doubt the best benny, and the one I'm most gratefull for that I got from my years at Mammoth was the free lesson for my kids, not the seasons passes. In reality, I could have afforded to buy the family ski passes, but couldn't have come close to being able to afford the cost of lessons. My youngest, who's twelve now has taken about 10-15 lessons a year since he was three. That's close to $20k if I was paying. It's definitely shows in his skiing as he skis way better than I did at that age.

That's him making some turns at Rose last month. I'm stoked on his progress and how much he loves it.

[Eastern Sierra Skier]

The Mammoth ski school is stupid expensive, but it does seem like they actually give a shit about instruction and are out on the hill most of the day. Kirkwood is a lot cheaper (for us, anyway, since the kid has a pass there) but they spend more time inside drinking hot chocolate than they do skiing.

Hey Steve,
Sent you a PM but it's not showing in sent email file. Just wanted to see if you got anything form me? If not, PM me a personal email address and I'll re send it.

[ncskier]

Attachment 195846

that was my world for about 7 years.
Had both on skis starting at 3. Ski school was a life saver for our family. By far the best bang for our buck was $300 for 3 days at a clip at Solitude. Since raised to 3 for 365 I think. Now the oldest is 13 and youngest is 11. No more ski school but taking trip number 5 behind the zion curtain for spring break this week. Honestly, I'm scared to close my eyes because I can see the finish line quickly approaching. I'm sure a college kid won't turn down a "free" trip to ski with the old man, but I feel like I have a few more seasons at most where they will want to hang with me. They are already going off on their own and to be honest I'm proud but sad at the same time. Enjoy it.