My daughter can ski switch!

M

mikeno

Member
Yeah, no big deal, but she's barely 5 years old! She's also skiing off of about 3 foot high drops. So flame me if I'm proud of these small accomplishments. I just have to get her to start looking behind her when she's skiing switch - it's kinda dangerous right now when she skis up to the lift line without looking....

But the battle begins. My wife is a snowboarder, and she's trying to get her to switch to snowboard next year.

And at this age it's most about how pink the skis or snowboard is.....

Any girls out there that started early remember what made it fun (or not fun)?
 
just calmly explain to your wife that snowboarders boys rape little snowboarder girls, whereas skiers are friendly to everyone.

but that's sick man. I hope my kids rip. 
 
My daughter turned 3 in december and just started making her own turns last week!!!! I am hoping to teach her to ride switch next season!!
 
definately sick bro congrats

and just make her have as much fun as possible...compliment her on everything she does right.

make her have so much fun skiing she wont ever want to snowboard dude.
 
Eh, 46.

Found NS about a year ago and got some advice on skis. I'm not exactly the most active on NS, but I like seeing what's happening with the new skis and try to pick up some tips on skiing in the park.

No, I'm not very good in the park, but I have fun and like to mess around - going straight downhill, even fast, is too boring, and since I almost always ski with my kids, doing any real off-piste doesn't happen much - that means park with my son and trying to keep up with my daughter skiing on the trails through the woods.
 
mikeno,

Does your daughter have twin tips? I wonder how short the smallest twin is?
 
I'm jealous, I got to wait year and a half before I can even begin teaching mine how to ski. Any tips on how you started out?
 
Started mine off with the little plastic skis that you just strap onto their feet. I bought her the skis, the tip clips and this wooden tow pole that has a bar that goes behind her legs and a handle to hold onto. I would pull her around the house and outside in the snow. Did that for 2 seasons until this season when her foot was finally big enough to fit in a regular boot. I am doing the same thing with my son now who turned one in november. He has huge feet so he will be on regular skis next season.

 
I wish my dad would have bought me twins when i was that young.. your kids are going to be fucking super good when they get older. teach them when they are young
 
I teach 4-8 year olds in the park. This one little dude rides for salomon at age 5! I got him sliding boxes and doing 5's it's so crazy to watch him progress. I'm definitely looking forward to having some kids and starting um early. Props on your daughter! :)
 
i teach basically all my kids in my classes (excluding the retards who can't learn anything) how to ski switch
 
Teaching them is pretty easy. My son started just before he turned 3, and my daughter just after she turned 3. With my son it was a little early on hindsight - We lived in Colorado then, and I remember him falling asleep in the afternoon on the lift up and having to ski carrying him down the slope.

For me, it was really easy to teach them by using a harness - there's a couple of types, but it's basically just something that goes around their waist and has "reins" going back so that you can control the speed and turn them. (Use the reins like on a wagon - for my son he was a horse and he was pulling me down, and for my daughter, she was a reindeer, and I was Santa.) We used the "Pizza Wedge" expression to teach them to snowplow. And Santa can't use poles for a couple of years - to hard to mess with the reins and lift them on and off the lifts.

But my personal opinion is that's only good for a couple of years. At about 5, get them some proper lessons from a proper ski instructor. In one 50 minute lesson, my daughter went from a snowplough to almost parallel turns. If you have the ability to start with a real instructor, that's probably the way to go, but for us, it wasn't an option because of the timing of the classes.

And they know no fear at this age. The problem is that they just want to ski straight down the hill, and will do almost anything. My daughter wanted to ski the whole resort last week (it's a small one), and she did, including one red bump run with a lot of loose snow - nothing groomed there. I was more nervous than she was.

But like has been mentioned, just keep it fun - you don't have to push them - if you do it will be a disaster, and no fun for anyone. If they figure out something is hard for you, they will really enjoy wearing you out.

Oh, and try to buy used - one meter skis aren't that much cheaper than 177's and new skis and boots every year gets expensive after a while.

Smallest twin tips I've found so far that she likes are 130s, but I think I've seen 110s. Since they're probably not landing switch at this age, true twin tips aren't really necessary - for my daughter the amount of pink is the most important thing for next year - and preferably with princesses :-).
 
One additional thing - I want to emphasize using a real instructor - it does two things. First, they're a hell of a lot better at teaching kids to ski than me (and probably you), and second, 2-3 years is a long time to ski slow, and if you're smart, stay out of the park, so getting a ski instructor gives you some time to get some hard core skiing in.

There have been other threads on it, but any decent size park is a dangerous place for 3-5 year olds. They just love sking over the jumps really slow, stopping on the landing and looking around, and looking at the rails from the landing end. Make sure they listen (and obey) before you get them in what can be a danger zone or else stay with them every second - they'll follow you wherever you go....
 
i've taught some successful lessons to kids at the age of 4, depends on how much of an independant skier they are tho, the kids that make you ski infront of them holding a hula hoop aren't ready for lessons, they are getting nothing out of it except some expensive experience.
 
Roxy and Rossignol both make adorable skis for little girls. They may not be twintips, but she'll still be able to play around with those until she gets big enough and strong enough for a larger pair of skis in the twintip range.
 
yeeaa nice work!

the good thing about learning when your really young is that stopping and turing is completely natural when you get older. i learnd to ski when i was 2 or 3 and skiing is more comfortablet then walking for me.
 
I would never bring my daughter into the park way to dangerous. I tried the leash but did not like it I did not want her to rely on training wheels. The leash is designed to teach turning not stop or slow down your child. I ski down switch in front of her and have her ski down to me. She is skiing independently. Next week we are going to the resort and she will be in kids camp/lessons for two days two hours each day.
 
that is so sick. Its always cool to see younger and younger kids getting into park. Keep pushing her to be a strong mt skier too it will pay off in the long run. But sounds like you have the right attidude about keepin it fun. congrats man.
 
1. she needs friends who ski, it'll help keep her interested and stop her from being swayed to the dark side.

2. lessons. if she's good (which it sounds like she is) then she'll love it even more.

3. boys.

you're going to hate to hear that as a father but ski boys definitely kept me interested.

it's good that she's starting early, i really think that's key to enjoying skiing. it gets frustrating to learn when you're older and a lot of people give up. just make sure she's always having fun, that's what is most important.
 
Really glad I don't have to think about that for a few years! She's got a boyfried now, but he's imaginary/invisible, so I still feel she's safe!

But yeah, I fear you're right.....
 
Best lesson for teaching really young kids to turn is the "catch me game" I figured out after getting frustrated yelling TURN! TURN! from behind that the really young (2-5 yr olds) have a gleefully fun time if you ski backwards making turns and they try and catch you. Even more fun when you bust your ass. Good stuff..

I was that way with my son until he turned about 6. (not allowing him in the park) In a few years, he could ski faster through the moguls than I could. Gradually - I would let him go into the park to hit the jumps but never the rails. Finally at about 8 he would disappear and I would find him in the park riding and sliding boxes and rails. The rest is history..

Hey parents! message me for an invite to the Over the Hill Gang Cult if you want to trade sappy stories.
 
that's great. When I'm a parent I hope that my kids are in to all that stuff. and if my kid want's to be a monoskier, I might have to give him a 5 year timeout or something
 
Never mind - googled it.

Not me, I've got better things to blow my money on, and don't need artificial courage - either you've got it or you don't.
 
perfect, so he can be another annoying kid with his stupid parent trying to get their kid killed.

DONT LET HER NEAR ANYTHING BUT THE WAY SMALLEST PARK YOUR MOUNTAIN HAS IN THE NEAR FUTURE. She wont progress on anything that's too big, rolling over lips of 50 footers does not improve your park riding, for the love of god stay in the tiny park.
 
My generation (x) was the first to see "newschool" skiing - Those of us who were active/professional skiers in the mid 90's (think J.F Cusson, Skogen, Mike D etc...)got to be the first to really explore half-pipe, rails and switch skiing.

We were late comers to this huge new aspect of skiing - sure we all grew up skiing/boarding - but skiing was stagnant (unless you call double twister spreads in the mogula prgression) - it was only after 1995 or so that skiing started being fun/prgressive again...

You guys (gen Y) entered into the scene as it came about, or soon after (probably 2000-2001 or so) - and have only a few years of newschool progression uynder your belts - many of you destroy it - Proof positive by the daily slayings I see at my home hill -

BUT the kids just starting now - our sons/daughters (including my 7-month old son) will be the first generation born into this new mindset -

Imagine if you were taught from the first time on skis on, that there was no right way to ski - forwards, backwards, poles. no-poles, butters, slarving etc....

Just wait - the future is gonna be nutso - 15 years from now - when your all old like me - these new kids, like this guys little girl will be showing us how much fun and progressive skiing can really be

just my 2-cents
 
^^^ wikit man

yo teach your girl to ride the mountain and be a solid skier and ski switch and look over both shoulders...then teach her like easy boxes and teach her to do jumps

but since she will be able to ski switch

teach her switch and normal so she is just as good at both
 
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