I was certainly naïve at the time – or maybe I was in denial – because I didn’t fully realize how much my life would change after my wife gave birth to our twin babies. Waking up in the middle of the night to help feed milk and change diapers left me too tired to even think about my own hobbies like skiing. After missing two years (of what used to be annual) ski trips to places like Aspen or Vail and skiing very little at the local hills, I desperately needed a return to the slopes. My desperate and weary mind would spin at night, trying to formulate a plan to get in a few turns. We finally managed to squeak-in a three-day adult trip to Winter Park after convincing Grandma to babysit. But the trip only left me wanting more.
I eventually realized that taking our kids skiing with us was the only practical way for me to spend more time in the mountains. Besides, what ski-obsessed parent doesn’t dream of racing their own little-ripper down the ski slopes one day? Our kids were only two years old at the time and I wondered if they would even be old enough to try? I honestly didn’t have a clue as I hadn’t learned to ski until I was around 10 years old. My wife didn’t learn to ski until I (tried) to teach her in college.
I started looking at nearby resorts for options but discovered that none of our local, midwest, ski resorts taught ski lessons until the kids were at least 3 years old. I did come across a few resorts in the U.S. that taught kids as young as two, but they all required private lessons and at roughly $600 a day per kid there was no way that was going to happen.
The only option remaining was to teach them ourselves. But being a good skier does not automatically make you a good teacher. We winged-it our first day and it did not start well as my wife wiped out on the rope tow (with our son) and they both started crying. Even with the first misstep, the entire family was having a great time by the end of the day. A little more knowledge and preparation certainly would have gone a long way back then. Now, having the benefit of experience, we have a much better grasp on the right way to do things.
Let’s start by covering everything you will need to start to Teach Your Toddler to Ski (Part 1) – Essential Gear.
