TAHOE 22/23 -THE YEAR OF THE (t)RAM

[Bozo T. Clown]

a few group lessons with kids her age

Then you don't want one-off lessons. You want

https://www.palisadestahoe.com/plan-...k-ski-programs

or https://www.palisadestahoe.com/event...shooting-stars

or https://www.palisadestahoe.com/event...untain-rangers

Or if you need flexibility, at least https://www.palisadestahoe.com/plan-...ackages/take-4

Most of the camps are sold out, and I can't tell about the miniature teams. However...

If you're willing to commit to some minimum number of days teaching they'd probably sign you right up. Based on your experience wrangling 4 year olds, and xx years skiing, not to mention over 2K posts on TGR.

[lepistoir]

Mammoth opening Saturday

[J. Barron DeJong]

At palisades/alpine meadows it comes out to almost $100/hr. How much of that does the instructor get vs the mountain taking their cut? Wrangling a bunch of four year olds is tough but not sure how anyone can afford that regularly. Tahoe Donner doesn't do lessons for my kiddo without renting them gear so while it's cheaper that alpine meadows, we don't have a pass there. Boreal seems like the cheapest option but it's a bit more of a hike from truckee/kings beach/tahoe city.

Have you looked into Buddy Werner through the Truckee Rec Center? Can’t personally say whether it’s good or bad, but it’s probably the cheapest:

[TahoeJ]

Mammoth opening Saturday

Woah... that's aggressive and pretty awesome.

[meter-man]

Have you looked into Buddy Werner through the Truckee Rec Center? Can’t personally say whether it’s good or bad, but it’s probably the cheapest:

My kids did Buddy Werner when they were 5, and I tailgun-coached their team. It was fun. (It was $260/kid.) They mostly skied Boreal, but homebase is Soda Springs if they have enough snow. Some "Away" skiing, one day at Diamond Peak, and one day at Alpine. It was one day a week.

You get nothing for coaching except 173 smiles per hour.

Kids liked it, but definitely has diminishing returns as they get older because of the small hill terrain.

Check out Auburn Ski Club - I think they have a similar program.

My girls did Summitteers at Alpine on Sundays when they were 6. That was good, but not great for the money. Lots of cancellations that year. And the price reflects that there are lots more folks from down the hill in the weekend programs.

Last year, when they were 9, they did midweek Mighty Mites at PTOV - Wed/Thursday. It was awesome for that age. Not cheap, but "only" $900 for two days a week versus $3500 for weekends+. They really fell in love with skiing last year - lapping the whole mountain with a crew of kids, pushing their skills, and having a great time.

This year, they are focused on skate skiing and laser biathlon!

Anyway...lots of options. Unless they're going to be Olympians, don't put too much pressure on them. Gotta keep it fun!!

[bodywhomper]

I’ve heard lots of positives about the auburn ski club program, and I know several alumni who are rippers. I had zero interest in that program because of $$ and having to almost always ski at boreal. We took the route of carefully trying to teach the kids (mainly me), which eventually became a minimal hands-on approach.

Nowadays, they all ski like their dad tried to teach them and they weren’t listening. I figure they’re having fun, and they will all be rippers as they get older if they want. They have a solid foundation of good and bad habits. These days they’ve watched their dad recover from multiple injuries, 3 out of 5 recent seasons, which has got to be worth something.

[scmartin69]

The "school" programs at Mt Rose used to be a good deal... 5 Fridays (weekends more expensive) of 2 hr lessons with the same instructor. Bonus for me and the boys was taking off Fri afternoons from work/school to go skiing. Taught them a valuable lesson about an appointment with Dr Powder.

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[powdork]

sampling the forest floor like it's oregon pinot noir

[G]

Gman. Instructor's pay starts at just slightly over minimum wage, or less.

[thefrush]

sampling the forest floor like it's oregon pinot noir

Fluff on duff?

[lepistoir]

Choo choo

[PB]

Ideal conditions for pups: no post holing!

[Blaster]

Stoke

[powdork]

Gman. Instructor's pay starts at just slightly over minimum wage.

Sort of. It obviously depends on the resort, but there are usually a number of ways that you end up making more. Tips, per student pay if groups, additional pay for private lessons, more additional pay for request private lessons. Also, in the Tahoe basin the majority of resorts are starting all employees at $20/hour or more. Not sure about Palisades. They have a $17/rate for tipped employees and I'm not sure how instructors are categorized.

[heckacali]

Let's get some warm temps before Sunday to solidify this base and glue it down, then bring the hype train to town.

[bodywhomper]

Snow on the ground in grass valley this morning. Snowball fights at the bus stop.

I’ve been told that Tahoe Donner instructors make more per hr than the other hills.

[old goat]

When my kid was teaching 3-4 year olds he was paid by the hour, regardless of how many kids. It was a little above minimum wage as an entry level teacher. He got a free pass but had to get new skis (used) because the graphics on his skis were too racy. I think he got a tip once or twice.

[heckacali]

RE Tahoe donner
hazard pay commensurate to the risk.

Only been there a few times but seen some crazy shit.
It's very unique in Tahoe for drawing people who have not only never skied before, but have never seen or been on snow, or ever done anything athletic in their lives, and decide to rent skis and just go for it in jeans, an inappropriately light jacket, no glasses or goggles and maybe no gloves on a cold stormy day.
The levels of flail and stupidity are off the charts.

[powdork]

When my kid was teaching 3-4 year olds he was paid by the hour, regardless of how many kids. It was a little above minimum wage as an entry level teacher. He got a free pass but had to get new skis (used) because the graphics on his skis were too racy. I think he got a tip once or twice.

Yeah that was the same at Heavenly with the Enchanted Forest before Adventure Peak. But on the adult side if you had a group it was $2/person (in 98 I think), something small for a private but you usually got a tip. Request/return privates were an extra $8/hour I think. Plus higher starting pay levels (or bumps) for higher level certifications.

[Ottime]

Settling in here for pictures of snow. Any pictures that depict temperatures below 25C are much appreciated.

[splitter]

Meh. Seems like a PWL-maker to me…

[old goat]

RE Tahoe donner
hazard pay commensurate to the risk.

Only been there a few times but seen some crazy shit.
It's very unique in Tahoe for drawing people who have not only never skied before, but have never seen or been on snow, or ever done anything athletic in their lives, and decide to rent skis and just go for it in jeans, an inappropriately light jacket, no glasses or goggles and maybe no gloves on a cold stormy day.
The levels of flail and stupidity are off the charts.

We taught the kids at TD a lot. Back then it was a nice mellow place, although the kid did wind up in a lift tower well, but no harm done.
Boreal was the place to avoid--young friend of ours had her leg broken by a sledder on a ski run.
And DSR was the place to go to have your gear stolen--I was sitting next to a couple of execs who were watching a pair of bait skis they had put in the rack.

[Ottime]

At palisades/alpine meadows it comes out to almost $100/hr. How much of that does the instructor get vs the mountain taking their cut? Wrangling a bunch of four year olds is tough but not sure how anyone can afford that regularly. Tahoe Donner doesn't do lessons for my kiddo without renting them gear so while it's cheaper that alpine meadows, we don't have a pass there. Boreal seems like the cheapest option but it's a bit more of a hike from truckee/kings beach/tahoe city.

For sure, figure a way to pay for a few lessons. Especially at that age, when they are forming snow skills. We tried to get our kid into lessons last year (at 10), but failed to make it happen. They are again at an age/skill/physical/mental level to take a lot from a lesson.

My kid can be a hack (just like Dad), but has really strong snow sense, decent skiing skills, and has a ton of fun on skis. We got here by skiing together at ton. My $.04 on this. Make it fun and go at their pace. Find a good day to go out together - fair weather, fair snow. Make sure they get plenty of sleep and a good breakfast. We always arrive early to get a good parking spot, but then take our time suiting up and getting out. Sometimes we chill for an hour plus in the car. Pack lots of food and snacks. I ski with my backcountry pack and have the following in it: Hot cocoa or hot cider, gummis, jelly bellies, or the like, lunch, beer (to help me chill), hydrating liquids, extra layer for the kid, dry gloves for the kid and snacks. We take a lot of breaks (fewer these days). We eat outside on the slopes, and build a bench with our skis - usually find a spot with a view. When my kid was younger, I packed a shovel and we would build snow forts and toss snow balls. I would bring money, in case we got cold and wanted to head inside for hit food - but this rarely happened - only during big storms.

My kid now skis all day, with just one big break. They will choose to ride a long slow fixed grip if they start getting tired. They ski on icy days and on storm days. Like I said they could get stronger skills - they don't look like a racer - but they are confident on most slopes and nearly all conditions. They have a ton of fun. In my mind, they are killing it.

But it took many many years of figuring out their pace. We started at 2.5yrs of age and at that point, we would take one run up Chair 1 at KW, ski about half way dawn - build a bench and sip hot cocoa, throw snowballs at people coming off Norms Nose (not at beginners on Bunny Flat) and then ski down tot he lot and call it a day. I can remember the first day they hit 3000' of vert as being a big day. Now it's a small day if they don't hit 12K. If you follow their lead on the day, and make sure it is fun, they will grow to love the time together and grow fond of the snow.

Lessens are super expensive. It is insane. Some of the programs listed so far are worth checking out. If you get down to Mammoth they have pretty good lesson programs. Worth checking out. Not cheap tho. We might up for a year of JETS when we return from SG next year. All depend. Best of luck.

[powdork]

Yesterday afternoon I was driving back to the north shore after a short ski and grabbing my mail from my old place. On the way back, Emerald Bay was an icy mess. 3 cars without chains that couldn’t make it up the steep part pulled over. But as I got closer to Eagle Falls there was a car pointed at me stuck in my lane. It was clear every time he gave it gas he just move sideways closer to going over the edge. I went around and that was all I thought of it. Fast forward to this morning.


Apparently a semi somewhere behind me couldn’t go around this guy, hit him and went off the road


So I turned around and went home.






















jk. I grabbed my skins and skis and went up from there








https://youtu.be/RryikQYQW-Y


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[~mikey b]

ok now it’s time to post in this very important thread