December 9, 2004

11:50 AM

What's your experience skiing with children? I'm planning to take my class of fifth graders to the local ski area in February, a grand fieldtrip indeed, and a first for me as a teacher. As I compose the parent-letter this afternoon, I'm wondering if AskMe readers have any tips, advice, etc. for making such an experience comprehensible to non-skiing parents and, moreover, thoroughly enjoyable for a crew of non-skiing 10-11 year olds. [mi]
posted by RockyChrysler to (19 comments total)

for what it's worth: i ski, and i've taught for a long time... i'm really interested in your experiences skiing with children (something i've really only done once before) and, perhaps also making skiing understood better by folks who have never skiied...
posted by RockyChrysler at 11:53 AM on December 9, 2004

What's your experience skiing with children?

It's all a question of using the right wax, and using two children of the same height. If they are different heights, the longer one tends to pop out of the binding.
posted by Doohickie at 11:56 AM on December 9, 2004

My advice: Put them all in lessons with a qualified ski instructor. They know all the little tricks that will keep a group of 5th graders happy and skiing for the day.
posted by split atom at 12:06 PM on December 9, 2004

Make sure everyone gets a lesson-- this makes a huge deal. I organized a ski trip for my college dorm a while back, and we got a group lesson for the beginners as part of the package. Parents will likely be reassured by the thought of their children learning to ski and not just being pushed over the top of the nearest slope.

Most kids I know pick up on skiing really quickly, and have a blast doing it. They might like to try snowboarding too, will that be an option?

This is presuming that we're talking about downhill skiing. I hated cross-country skiing as a kid, plodding slowly through the snow gets dull really quickly.
posted by bonheur at 12:08 PM on December 9, 2004

LOL, Doohickie.

Seriously, though, is some legal counsel on the school's end involved in this? I would imagine you need to pretty hefty indemnifcation language in there. People get hurt skiing- often. You need to be concerned about not only the kids getting hurt, but some kid hurting someone else. IANAL, but I'm pretty sure you (the school) are liable in either instance.
posted by mkultra at 12:12 PM on December 9, 2004

I was a ski coach for kids in your age range, and I have to say, the biggest thing is to be prepared for frequent trips inside. If it is cold they will get cold much faster than you will. And they'll have to go to the bathroom much more often than you will. So make sure there are enough parents/volunteers to take a subset of the kids inside every 2 runs or so (depending on length of runs, of course).
Also, in your letter to the parents, let them know that the kids will probably want to buy hot chocolate, so they should be give spending money (I'm guessing that if you're at a school where the kids can afford the rentals/lift tickets, then the parents won't mind chipping in a few extra bucks).
When kids are learning to ski, it is VERY easy for them to get frustrated. The boots are uncomfortable, and a lot of the movements are very unnatural. If you see the kids getting frustrated (they fall and don't try to get up, or they just go straight down to the bottom of the bunny hill without trying to turn) take everyone down to the bottom of the hill, take off the skis and start a snowball fight or something. Sometimes just running around in ski boots is more fun than learning to ski.
If you want any tips on specific exercises, send me an e-mail.
posted by nprigoda at 12:19 PM on December 9, 2004

Oh yeah, and don't bring along any adult volunteers that want to learn how to ski. This trip is for the kids, not for the parents to realize some childhood dream! They'd just get in the way. Parents at the basecamp = good idea.
posted by nprigoda at 12:21 PM on December 9, 2004

My experience with skiing children is limited to being a child -- of about that age -- and taken skiing. It sucked. Hard. So much that I have avoided being near snow for the 20 years since. It was cold, I fell down a lot, and there was nothing to do except fall down more and get colder.

It's possible that one or two of the children will just plain hate it, as I did, and you should have some plan for dealing with this. Not everyone enjoys skiing.
posted by majick at 12:58 PM on December 9, 2004

Re the basecamp suggestion: could a non-skiing parent or two stake out some tables in the lodge? And maybe bring along a few games (mad libs, card games, uno, etc., would be better than a board game with lots of little pieces). That way kids who wanted to warm up or weren't enjoying skiing would have a place to go and some activities to amuse them.

It also might be worthwhile to bring snacks/juice boxes/etc--food and drink at ski hills can be quite pricey (in the NYT article today about a ski vacation, lunch for a family of four was $60!).

I'd second the professional lessons option. Also, I'd suggest having kids ski in at least pairs, with one watch per pair, and maybe stick a note with meeting locations and times in everyone's pocket.
posted by handful of rain at 1:10 PM on December 9, 2004

Another vote for group lessons. Most ski instructors (at least the ones I know) love to teach kids.

Also, if some of your kids have skied more than a few times before, they might prefer to go off to something a bit more challenging than sticking around with the absolute novices. You might want to have one adult who can take these kids. (Hint: if any of your students asks if they can bring their own skis rather than renting the ones there, they probably fall in this category.)
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 1:36 PM on December 9, 2004

Group lessons are a really good idea. You'll need (to reserve) one instructor per every 5 to 10 kids. Ideally there will be an initial sorting by the ski instructors so that kids get grouped (roughly) by ability (athleticism, if nothing else). You'll want a minimum of 2 hours instruction, and if you're going to be there for two days (sounds like "no"), it would make sense to have group lessons on both days. It would be good to talk to talk to the ski area folks about exactly what they would suggest in terms of times.

The advantages of group lessons are many: when other kids are also falling down, most kids aren't too self-conscious; students can watch others as well as practice skiing, so physically this is less demanding than being on one's own; instructors can be really good about focusing on essentials and offering advice that works; it's a lot cheaper than one-on-one lessons; beginners without instructors start learning bad techniques immediately, which is not good.
posted by WestCoaster at 3:27 PM on December 9, 2004

1. The area has a waiver that applies across the board. Include your own though, as provided by the school district.
2. No parents along who CANNOT ski.
3. Everyone gets a lesson
4. One parent to stay at lodge and hold on to the weiners (whiners) and keep them and everyones stuff warm.
5. You Sweep. Have extra gloves and jackets handy, in your pack, go from group to group during lessons praising and giving extra clothes out.
6. PM. Groups of four out to ski with parents leaders. You take a group as well.

fwiw. taking my fifth graders skiing was probably hand down the best day i ever taught.
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 3:44 PM on December 9, 2004

When I took my 10 year old stepson to Canada for the first time, he had his heart set on snowboarding. I had to use all my parental psychological voodo tricks to convince him that skiing might be a better idea. I think that snowboarding is a lot more difficult for a beginner and for the first day, anyway, is probably likely to be more frustrating than skiing. You'll be amazed how many kids can ski fairly well after just one day.

You may keep that in mind if some of the kids decide that they'd like to try snowboarding instead.
posted by MotorNeuron at 4:58 PM on December 9, 2004

In my area, every school gets a ski day at the local mountain (Silver Star). AFAIK, it's heavily discounted and the instructors are well-prepared for the influx of n00bs.

So IMO, you should contact the hill well in advance and follow their advice...
posted by five fresh fish at 5:25 PM on December 9, 2004

I used to teach skiing to kids usually in an all day (six hour) group lesson format that's offered at many areas. I'm sure your local ski school will provide something like this for you and will be prepared to keep your students together (and grouped by ability of course) if that's what you want, provided you notify them in advance.
posted by Songdog at 5:32 PM on December 9, 2004

Oh man, I came to say what majick said.

If you get a little chubby kid who can't balance on skis and falls off the lift every time and the lift op has to come out of his little hut and help her chubby ass up for Pete's sake let that child go sit in the lodge and do not make her ski against her will. Odds are good she's socially awkward and brainy and will be very happy left alone in a corner with a book she brought along tucked within her many layers of clothing, hoping that at some point, she would be left alone in a corner to read instead of being forced to wallow fatly around in the snow with skis strapped to her feet.

And if other children laugh at her, publicly impale them with ski poles lest the chubby little girl grow up to be a bitter, jaded, adult with a fearful hatred of snow sports.
posted by jennyb at 6:46 PM on December 9, 2004

But she won't be bitter, ooooh, noooo. :-)

I feel a need to reiterate: contact the ski hill directly. They should have a plan for dealing with such things. The more responsibility (legal and childcare-wise) you can pawn off on them, the better.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:19 PM on December 9, 2004

thanks everyone! great advice in the main... just what i wanted... particularly, kudos to nprigoda, handful, and brodie for practical, first hand advice!

to be a bit clearer at this point: i have already contacted the ski area, in fact the day is sponsored by them and the local pepsi bottler... the ski area (and the state revised statues) have a rock-solid skier liability form... the school district also provides a parent-authorization form which i use for all fieldtrips, this one included... the area will be sending a fitting rep to our classroom twice prior to our day on the mountain to ensure everything's in order well in advance of our arrival... each child will receive a 2 hour lesson (and a free can of pepsi!)... and every adult must be a skier already.

in case you're curious, were skiing here: Arizona Snowbowl.
posted by RockyChrysler at 9:02 PM on December 9, 2004

I don't know if you're talking downhill or cross country, but either way you are an awesome teacher taking on a difficult challenge.

I learned to cross country ski in first grade. We lived in a northern land, though, so we just rented skiis and cross-countried around outside the school for maybe half an hour the first few times.

Here's my one hopefully useful tip: Make sure there are alternative transportation options. If most of the kids take the bus, make sure one or two chaperones has a car. If every kid is driven, make sure there are extra seats so that a chaperone can leave early in an emergency and there will still be enough seats for all the kids.

My mom chaperoned a ski trip a few years ago and my little brother ended up breaking his arm. She went with him to the hospital, and the two other kids who rode to the ski area with her were farmed out to other vehicles. If there had not been extra seats with the other chaperones, there might have been trouble.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 10:28 PM on December 9, 2004