development of a little ripper

[Ottime]

Just posting here to say how stoked I've been with the last few days watching my boy just rip around the mountain. Watching him, he knows his way around, always looks up the hill before merging, drops his tips into the fall line and has a really good sense on how to move around on snow. Proud papa. And we are having a blast just following him around the mountain.

It has been cold out the past few days. This afternoon especially. About half way down a windy cold backside run he cried out that his fingers were too cold. Made a quick pit stop out of the wind and sucked down a cup of hot cocoa from my pack and continued on. Hot sugar liquid for the win.

[TurxSki]

...Made a quick pit stop out of the wind and sucked down a cup of hot cocoa from my pack and continued on. Hot sugar liquid for the win.

Safety meeting - Poppa style

[kootenayskier]

For several years now my wife and I have been skiing once a week with our nephews, now 10 and 11. It's definitely the best way I've found to establish a meaningful connection with these boys, a better gift than Lego, and as they're becoming accomplished all mountain skiers it's a pretty satisfying day of skiing. I'm always providing an element of instruction (being an instructor and a coach in a past life) but keep it pretty informal to maintain the stoke.

[pointemstraight]

This stuff is so awesome. I had my boys out for the first time this season last week (Thanks, Mike!). I was really pumped as the older one (he's 6, and he is the more timid one in general, and was on longer skis for the first time) picked up like he had just skied last week. Jumped on the lift, jumped off, and was just ready to rip. Proud Dad. The younger one at 4 is rocking the mega-plow and slaying it as well.

[~mikey b]

I’ve neglected this thread

pond skim winner 2 years ago

[~mikey b]

[weibo]

Forgot about this one too. Looking for advice on return from injury for a elementary age kid. My youngest broke his femur skiing in January. He has been looking forward to skiing and started from opening weekend. He is skiing cautiously and actually rode the bull wheel for the first time because he got scared coming off a lift he has ridden around 100 times. Really looking for a way for him to regain confidence to where he was last year.

[snorkelinthepow1]

Forgot about this one too. Looking for advice on return from injury for a elementary age kid. My youngest broke his femur skiing in January. He has been looking forward to skiing and started from opening weekend. He is skiing cautiously and actually rode the bull wheel for the first time because he got scared coming off a lift he has ridden around 100 times. Really looking for a way for him to regain confidence to where he was last year.

My experience with kids is that when they are afraid to do something, you need something else to take their mind off of it while they do it. Then they don't worry about what they are afraid of.
I was teaching some kids that were afraid to go down a blue square, but then we found one that had some small whale backs in it, and they that that was the coolest thing to ride over those, the completely forgot they were going down a blue square. After a few trips, it was nothing at all.
So if your kid is afraid of getting off the lift, have someone else in your party go ahead of you and have them doing something silly to distract the kid, they will focus on that and do whats natural to them when it comes to getting of the chair without even thinking about it.

[weibo]

I think I put too much weight on the chairlift incident, it was more of an example of him being tentative, it only happened once. He broke his femur on day 2 the first freestyle comp of the season last year (skiing to the venue not in the comp). Looking for advice to get him back in the ripper groove.

[~mikey b]

that’s a tough one I’ve never been through

[stealurface831]

jesus, man. a broken femur must be a bitch. what a tough kid.

i don't have any kids but i was a kid quite recently (hell, i still am) so i think i may have some insight. never broke anything but took some tomahawks down peak 8 chutes at breck when i was 10 or so. scared the shit out of me. joggled my little brain a good bit.

it just took time for me to work myself back up to that big stuff i was on before. and really thats what it was: just working myself back up. just give em time. he wants to be back at that level too and i'm sure he'll get back there soon but it might have to be on his time.

[Ottime]

Go back to the basics of making skiing just fun. Ski terrain that is easy. Take breaks in the woods. Build a fort and break out the hot cocoa. Stay chill. Call it a day when he is done. Don’t push too hard. Give him time to ramp it back up and be okay if he decides he just wants to ski recreationally and not jump off shit in free ride comps. It is all about having fun. Make sure he is having fun. The skills will come naturally.

[Jax]

Nice bump telemike, er, mikey b. Wow time flies! Proud papa. Nice work.

[~mikey b]

he's becoming such a cool dude

[getoutside]

the 11 year old skied the bird yesterday.

[~mikey b]

fkna

[The Tortoise]

That's some solid style for an 11 year old.

[getoutside]

and good luck weibo with your son. hope he's skiing again and just having fun.

[gimpy]

Femurs heal strong af.......especially in young kids.....he’ll be at 95% in no time. While it’s infinitely more painful......it heals so much better then knees, ankles, shoulders and all joints for that matter

[L82thegate]

Does your son have complete confidence of his ski's / bindings? That was a difficult break and if gear had anything to do with it, a tough mental barrier to overcome. I 'm sure he has the skills to ski above the level right now and possible some hesitancy & apprehension could still exist. That would be natural as I see it. Skiing hard & often at the levels he's comfortable with puts the miles in that should restore confidence & strength. Accept it all with enthusiasm (as I'm sure you do). He will push through this, bet he surprises you by seasons end.

[~mikey b]

found these old pics

[~mikey b]

little ripper is 16 now