So after what felt like an eternity, the weather finally cooperated with some cold weather long enough for some PA skiing!!  While we love all the seasons, and certainly love the warm weather, there is nothing quite like getting out on a cold, crisp January day, strapping a pair of slippery rockets to your feet, and blazing a trail down the…. bunny slope?  Hah!

While Tom & I have been skiing for more than a decade, much of the past decade has been spent on and around bunny slopes and beginning greens as we teach our little ones to ski.  We started Natalie at 2 years old, and have followed that tradition, with Autumn even getting on skis before her 2nd birthday.  It is a lot of work to pour into our kids, with specialized gear to rent, equipment to carry, boots and skis to latch, etc.  But as with most things in life, all of the efforts, all of the time and money spent, becomes irrelevant when years of work turns into a little one smiling and carving S turns down a slope with comfort, ease, and enjoyment.

This week, we had the chance to take our three girls, the youngest just over the age of 4, to Bear Creek Mountain Resort, one of our favorite haunts that is close to home.  There was plenty of snow on the mountain, and being a weekday saw very little in the way of lines and lots of opportunity for us to get their “ski” legs back.  

After that time, Natalie was ready to roll onto the regular lift, and Tom took her up as I stayed and worked with Savannah & Autumn. 

For those of you that don’t already try it, our go-to has been to find a local ski shop by your home where you can lease skis for  the season.  This accomplishes two things – 1) you have a fixed cost which is usually made up if you go skiing more than a handful of times & 2) you bring your gear to the mountain, and avoid waiting in long lines each time you go to sign waiver, size up, and then get your gear.  More-so than cost, this saves you precious moments that you could instead be working with the little ones and enjoying.

Also, we have tried most methods out there for training, including the “tether backpack” setup, where Mom or Dad wears a backpack and guides the child in front with “leashes.”  For us, the thing that has worked best more than any other method has been to hold one pole horizontally, and have the child hold the end of the pole as far over as possible to avoid our skis getting tangled.  This does require some wrist/arm strength, but really helps the kids get a feel for how their skis should feel and how to stop/turn while still having Mom or Dad as a safety net.

It is also quite easy to start teaching them to ski on their own by having them remove their hands but still keep the pole handy in case they need it as a crutch.  Eventually, they learn to live without it.  

Once this happens, we then try to have them follow close behind us.  Tom or I will make very wide, exaggerated S turns in the snow, and we have the kids follow our snow tracks as closely as they can.  Before you know it, they are making beautiful S turns just by simply tracing our pattern.  It may not be a perfect teaching system, but it has worked wonders for us.

Our hope is to get the girls skiing at least once a week for the next 2 months, as ski season goes as quickly as it comes around these parts, and also hope for a ski-trip or two to give them that overnight experience.  We had planned on a week in Vermont this year, but the combination of sub-zero Arctic blast the first week of January, and a little thing called COVID-19 had other plans.  

I hope you enjoyed our post, and hope you get a chance to get out on the slopes this year before the snow retreats.

best,

jess and tom.