Question about managing kids on slope

[TheSilverSurfer]

Single parent teaching 3 kids. Twin 6 year old and 9 year old.

9 year old is good. Can turn, stop, get off chair, and navigate lift line. One of the twins can keep up with her.

We have a beginner quad chair with a slope that is fully visible (Holiday at Snoqualmie).

I am considering letting the 9 year old and her brother ride together at their own speed.

Is 9 and 6 too young to be riding together?
They have perfect lift riding technique and have both been on snow since they were 1.

[Vt-Freeheel]

I live at Sugarbush in VT and see kids like this all the time. Some that shouldn't but a shitload of local kids and weekend program kids that flow right along unless horseplay is involved. Bunch of them yesterday afternoon from one of the local schools.

[Shredhead]

Single parent teaching 3 kids. Twin 6 year old and 9 year old.

I am considering letting the 9 year old and her brother ride together at their own speed.

Is 9 and 6 too young to be riding together?
They have perfect lift riding technique and have both been on snow since they were 1.

Go for it!


Good on you for taking three!

[jables]

IMHO: 9 and 6 are fine to be riding together if you're confident and they're confident. In reality, outside of your comfort and theirs...whose opinion matters? Not trying to be rude when I say that but my guess is you're confident in your competent kids ability to do this, the variables that would cause issues are out of your control (other people loading with them who aren't competent, or folks working the lift who aren't attentive).

Of course, to each their own, but as a parent I encourage you to do what you're comfortable with. Best way for everyone to grow.

[SnowMachine]

My 10 and 6 ride together all the time. No messing around on the lift and safety bar is down. My 10 YO is really great about helping to load his brother if the chair is too high.

Makes me nervous sometimes, but one of the greatest things about skiing is the independence that it breeds. We started letting my oldest do park laps solo at 8. We only lost him once. Now he rides with a radio or a phone on him.

[anotherVTskibum]

IMHO: 9 and 6 are fine to be riding together if you're confident and they're confident. In reality, outside of your comfort and theirs...whose opinion matters? Not trying to be rude when I say that but my guess is you're confident in your competent kids ability to do this, the variables that would cause issues are out of your control (other people loading with them who aren't competent, or folks working the lift who aren't attentive).

Of course, to each their own, but as a parent I encourage you to do what you're comfortable with. Best way for everyone to grow.

I mostly agree, with one caveat: could they follow directions during an evac? It's unlikely but possible, and I'd generally think a nine-year-old would likely be okay but a six-year-old would need help. I've met nine-year-olds who could be helpful and some who couldn't, so it does go back to your confidence level, just considering that particular scenario.

[Vt-Freeheel]

Concerning evac I bet you could ask at a patrol shack and someone would walk your kids through the procedure so they knew what to do in advance.

[anotherVTskibum]

Concerning evac I bet you could ask at a patrol shack and someone would walk your kids through the procedure so they knew what to do in advance.

Where I've worked patrol before, we'd have been happy to do that. We (and I'd expect all mountains) also had contingency plans for dealing with getting up to a chair if need be, but that's a situation I'd personally prefer to avoid (lift evac takes long enough when it goes smoothly).

[paulster2626]

As long as they can get the bar down themselves all good. Do it all the time.

[fatnslow]

Probably better off riding with each other than half the adults on a beginner lift anyway.

[tenB]

My daughters rode together often at that age with zero lift issues. Always bar down was one rule, keep up with your older sister was the other rule.

Lifts were no problem, difference in skiing speed was more of an issue, but we only lost the younger one once. It was about an hour on a spring day and she had a handful of m&ms in her pocket from the year before, so she wasn’t concerned. All ended well.

[californiagrown]

I am considering letting the 9 year old and her brother ride together at their own speed.

Is 9 and 6 too young to be riding together?
They have perfect lift riding technique and have both been on snow since they were 1.

FWIW, my wife and SIL grew up with a single dad who taught part time lessons at Park City and Canyons. They were allowed to ride together at young ages and the hill was their daycare on his teaching days. They got lost many times (PC and canyons each being orders of magnitude larger than summit west), but had strict instructions to just ask patrol or liftys for help, as needed... and the number one rule was for my wife to NEVER EVER EVER lose her little sister (it still happened, but like tenB said, little sis didnt mind the little tastes of independence at all because it was in a familiar environment and apparently just kept lapping the same lift till her dad put out resort wide BOLOs and a lifty pulled her aside).


They loved it and it worked out totally fine. Each are super strong willed, viciously independent women now, so take that correlation FWIW. If you are just talking about letting them ski West, they should have no problem at all. Just make a couple laminated cards with your contact info on it to put in their pocket (so they can show an adult as needed), and keep your phone on loud ringer and let them explore on their own. Give them the gift of freedom, and they will learn the lesson of responsibility in return.

[HappyCamper]

That seemed pretty standard for my kids' lessons around that age after the requisite education. Holiday seems like a good chair to do that too.

I put a small sticker on the back of each kid's helmet with my cell #.

[k2skier112]

Probably better off riding with each other than half the adults on a beginner lift anyway.

Truth

Watching 7-10 year old race brats horseplay on a Riblet, Skibowl, I'm surprised some of them never fell out of the chair.

I've never understood the disdain in safety bar, footrests

[Yonder_River]

Sure, that is definitely fine on holiday At that age. All of my kids were riding the riblets at Alpy during lessons either by themselves or other groms from age 5. Heck they couldn't even sit properly on the chairs since they're legs weren't long enough. I just told them to hold on and not turn their bodies to look different directions.

Sounds like your kids want to and them being comfortable doing it is the most important thing. Haven't heard of any kids going splat up there in recent history.

[old goat]

Relevant to the topic if not to the OP's specific question--for parents of small kids just learning to ski, avoid the temptation to guard them by skiing close behind them and mirroring them. You've taken an 18 in wide obstacle which is easily visible and which most people will stay as far away from as possible into a 15 foot obstacle with the kid you're protecting partly hidden from view. The width of the obstacle will force other skiers and riders to come much closer to the kid than they want to. It's ok to do this on the pure bunny slopes where other users will be going just as slow but once you graduate to harder slopes, which are often the runout of blue and black runs the kids should be able to get up on their own and otherwise manage the situation without you on them like glue. Trust me--even the most entitled, self absorbed skier doesn't want to hurt a kid. They'd much prefer to take you out.

[muted reborn]

Relevant to the topic if not to the OP's specific question--for parents of small kids just learning to ski, avoid the temptation to guard them by skiing close behind them and mirroring them. You've taken an 18 in wide obstacle which is easily visible and which most people will stay as far away from as possible into a 15 foot obstacle with the kid you're protecting partly hidden from view. The width of the obstacle will force other skiers and riders to come much closer to the kid than they want to. It's ok to do this on the pure bunny slopes where other users will be going just as slow but once you graduate to harder slopes, which are often the runout of blue and black runs the kids should be able to get up on their own and otherwise manage the situation without you on them like glue. Trust me--even the most entitled, self absorbed skier doesn't want to hurt a kid. They'd much prefer to take you out.

That's a hard no from me. Not in a million years will I do this.

[justo8484]

Relevant to the topic if not to the OP's specific question--for parents of small kids just learning to ski, avoid the temptation to guard them by skiing close behind them and mirroring them. You've taken an 18 in wide obstacle which is easily visible and which most people will stay as far away from as possible into a 15 foot obstacle with the kid you're protecting partly hidden from view. The width of the obstacle will force other skiers and riders to come much closer to the kid than they want to. It's ok to do this on the pure bunny slopes where other users will be going just as slow but once you graduate to harder slopes, which are often the runout of blue and black runs the kids should be able to get up on their own and otherwise manage the situation without you on them like glue. Trust me--even the most entitled, self absorbed skier doesn't want to hurt a kid. They'd much prefer to take you out.

You have a lot more faith in humanity than I do

[Stuntmonkey]

If they are confident, I see no problems. Twice a week I watch 120kids ride a pulse quad age between 5 and 14. The issues aren't from them, it's from the adult beginners who can't unload without falling over. My 8 year old who is a nervous newbie rides it fine.

[Shredhead]

I was evacuated off a lift at Snowmass in 1969. I was solo and 11.
I was stoked because they gave me an adult all day, that was worth $8 and a kids ticket was only $2.

[anotherVTskibum]

Truth

Watching 7-10 year old race brats horseplay on a Riblet, Skibowl, I'm surprised some of them never fell out of the chair.

I've never understood the disdain in safety bar, footrests

Since I started racing around age 10, I've understood that ski racers don't use restraining bars. Exceptions may be made for downloading, riding with small children, and possibly areas that aggressively enforce Vermont or NY regulations on the matter. I'm not claiming it makes sense, but that's the way it's been.

Weather-related exceptions are also permitted, but any time I've seen that happen, the lift has been closed by the time you got to the top.

D-Line chairs are a newer exception, as some have automatic bars, and any that I've ever seen also lack any place to hold on when they stop (and the ones here bounce pretty damn good).

All that is rather off-topic, though. Ski racers are generally still better than most at riding lifts with kids, assuming they're at least a little bigger.

[old goat]

You have a lot more faith in humanity than I do

I have no faith in humanity--I just consider it far more likely that some idiot will turn around you and run into your kid than if they can just go around your "unprotected" kid. In order to safely pass both you and your kid--that's a pretty long straightline for some people, even on an intermediate slope. I'm not saying let your 4 year old ski alone, I'm saying stay far enough back that the two of you can be dealt with as separate obstacles. I raised a couple of skers; it's not like I have no experience with this.

[yeahman]

OG is right. Worst thing you can do is ski directly behind your kid and block any view of them from uphill. People will turn around you and bang, there's your kid right in their path. Your fault for blocking their view.

Ski next to your kid so you are both clearly visible from uphill.

[Hood26]

If they are good on and off the lift, then the only other factor to consider is, are they going to be ready to follow and execute from patrol if they have to evacuate? Maybe watch a successful Evac or two from YoutTube to evaluate yourself and possibly show them so they kind of know what would happen.

[JoshG]

I'm not buying the blocking kid from view tangent.... As far as the original post, good points made about judgement based on kid more than the number and ability to operate restraints safely. Also hadn't thought about evac discussion with kids will remind me to inform my own that have been doing well with this for years now.