Things I've learned skiing with kids

Thanks Holly !
I'll be sure to use those tips with my new granddaughter ELSA  when she's ready.

A new grand baby!! Name Elsa no less? Aw, how sweet. I know they are out there, but I've only met one other child (and a handful of distant great grandmothers) named Elsa the last 10 years of her life.

And glad you are having the same results, Bobby. The shift has been a little weird for me at times, but definitely rewarding. Elsa has also become a proficient rock climber over the last year, too, and makes an excellent belay partner, if not motivator to stay strong!

...i am already lining up ski partners for him from the charger crew so i will be able to ride with my baby girl

Great job, Holly! Fun stories and innovative tips! I skied with a guy today - one green mitten, one red mitten, he said it was so he didn't get run over by a ferry. Well, it WAS foggy at Silver Fir today...

Good to hear your "voice" again, Chica!

Great story, it brings back lots of memories from when I introduced my now 23 year old son to skiing and developed him into a great ski buddy.

When he was 4 on his second day of skiing it was snowing in the parking lot, but turned to rain by the time we were on the bunny chair at Crystal. I had him in a chest harness with leads that ran under his armpits so I could control his speed. We got off the chair and he pointed 'em down the fall line, singing to himself in the rain. After a couple of runs in the rain we went in for lunch. As we finished lunch Annette made noises about heading directly home but he would have none of it! So out we went for 3 more laps in the rain, and I knew another hard core skier had arrived...

I had been teaching on weekends at Crystal since college, and the task of teaching him technique was next. Teaching your own child how to ski is uncomfortably similar to teaching a spouse how to drive a stick shift; every instruction has the potential to be received as a personal criticism. With this in mind, I signed him up for the 4 hour bunny program in our school and had my friends and peers in the school teach him the basics. At the end of the day after class he and I would ride to the top for one T-to-B run (initially the Kelly's gap road, but eventually anywhere) before heading home which for many years had him falling asleep in the car before we even passed the Northway road.

After he had made it through the full progression in the ski school, the last remaining class was the "high adventure" program which I was fortunate enough to be running with another instructor. This program was designed not just teach kids how to turn left and right but to teach kids how to ski the whole mountain, when conditions were right taking groups of kids out to the slack-country (Northway or south-back). So here he was in the class with about 15 other middle school kids. Because he and I had been skiing around in those same areas for that "last run" for years we already had nonverbal and specific call out communication techniques similar to what Holly describes. My son soon became my reliable lead out or tail gunner as we herded these kids around in deep snow. Our method was low key and the other kids in the class didn't even spot it was a Father-Son combo until the goggles came off for the warmer days at the end of March.

And now...on this Thanksgiving this year he and I did a tour of East peak/Union creek. He's an accomplished skier with a nonchalant no drama style even in challenging terrain. Now if I could just get him to spend more time skiing with the old man...

Skiing with Kids

On Xmas Eve with NEW skis!