No phones on ski trip

[AreTheyMad]

DD is going on a ski trip with school next week. We've just been informed they won't be allowed to use their phones during the day, only for an hour in the evening.
Would you be happy with your DC not being allowed to take their phones on the slopes?

I think it's mad, and I'm trying to formulate a mail which doesn't sound over protective pub! It means they can't call if they get separated from the group, check the map, if they injure themselves. What if the visibility is bad? Am I overreacting here?

Of course you’re overreacting! My daughter wasn’t allowed to take her phone at all when she went away with school for a week three years ago, I was thrilled!

Safety standards vary.

OP, if someone gets avalanched, only a beacon is going to make a real difference in locating them. It’s highly unlikely. They might also get separated but they’ll figure it out. My DB and I skied into the woods when were 12 & 8 and got lost but we had a paper map and just figured it out. Is she an experienced skier?

Personally I’d be very in favour of ltd or no phone ski trip. With unrestricted use, how are staff meant to police what gets posted to social media or who is videoing someone falling over and passing it around private WhatsApp groups which then upsets the person who originally fell over etc.
Your child might not do this but if it’s unrestricted use for your child then it needs to be unrestricted for all and someone else’s child might do this.
The lasting memory of the ski trip is then becomes not the skiing but the upset caused by phones and social media etc. There’s enough of this is ordinary school life. Let the ski trip actually be about skiing and not the phone.

You would have had very different responses had it been clear from the start that you weren't based in UK, health and safety standards for school trips here are incredibly high. If you're that worried about the safety of the students whilst on the slope you shouldn't be sending her at all. Having a phone isn't going to change anything about the way the trip is organised and that seems to be the biggest issue here.

This isn't a normal way to grow up always being tracked

You're overreacting. There's no need for phones on the slopes.

If you're in a country where skiing is an important part of the economy, hence the compulsory ski-trips, and where children ski better than they walk, I wouldn't worry too much unless your child is a newcomer and at a much lower standard than the others. In that case I'd just ask whether they can take a dumbphone if you think there is likely to be reception there.

Presuming your daughter is telling the truth, I’m even more amazed that your only concern is about phone usage. I’m also extremely bemused that the trip is happening next week and you’re only just finding out this information now, and second hand through your daughter. Haven’t you spoken to the school at all about what’s actually happening on this trip you’re apparently forced to send your daughter on?

I'm not going to be helpful but I agree with you. My daughers friend on a school ski trip was the last down the slope and injured herself ... strangers found her. She ended up in hospital without a teacher as there were not enough teachers and not being able to speak the language.

DD has been on the school ski trip twice and said phones were quite handy when a child was misplaced after he fell asleep in the restaurant at lunch 😂. They’re 13-17 so would have been fine anyway. To be honest they were skiing for 6 hours a day, and had evening entertainment (and were then so tired it was straight to bed) so there was no time to be in their phones. Except for the 18 hour coach journey.
it wouldn’t bother me one way or the other!

@DancingQueen2018 I'm assuming as the ski trip is £190 there isn't much travelling involved so no 18 hour coach trips..

No but then it’s not normal to be in isolated unknown potentially dangerous environment abroad. Only fools aren’t wary in deep snow.

The host family rang me to say he was currently horse riding (😱) in their paddock and what a “mighty fine” young man he was.
Horse riding???

@BigBlackPuppyDog Why were you so concerned that your son was riding? It’s a very enjoyable activity.

Yes you are overreacting - it’s standard for school trips I would say. Our school says not to even send phones, and if they do bring them, that they can’t use them at all apart from for the journey out there.

We ski and have never had any problems - on the odd occasion one of the kids has been separated from our family group then they know to wait at the next lift and tell the lift attendant. It’s only happened once to my children (aged 14 & 12) and once to me when I was a child (when there were no mobile phones!). Your son will surely be with a ski school so his instructor will be very very experienced at keeping all of the children in his / her group together. You don’t need to worry.

Over reacting

I'm concerned at your faith in modern technology. Even with a phone, there is an assumption that the phone is actually charged (iPhone's are notorious for running out of charge in cold weather), that there is actually a signal for receiving the map and location, and that there is a signal for calling. In addition, the phone can only contact the mountain rescue services if the owner knows the number, and the individual can only tell the rescuers where they are if they actually know where they are. "On piste #2" isn't sufficient - where I ski, #2 is 7km long with numerous places where people could take a wrong turn or simply ski off the side of the piste.

As for risk assessment, of course this is not a magical thing that prevents all accidents and incidents. What it does is evaluate known and foreseeable risks and provides mitigation plans for each risk. FWIW, I have been an instructor for many years and have also worked for one of the specialist travel companies that organises school trips from the UK. These companies work with the schools, and where relevent with the UK local authorities, to produce risk assessment plans. It is not just a "paper exercise." Standardised risk templates cover every concievable situation and the school either signs off the Company-produced assessment, or has to get approval that follows the LA guidelines and templates.

Cos he’d never been near a horse in his life, was thousands of miles away and apparently ‘riding round the paddock!’

Fair play to him! They were a lovely family, and I’ve plenty of photos of him over there that they kindly sent me. It was just the casual comment of the host lady that threw me!

Don't mean to be unkind, but it's parents like you who ruin it for the majority of families who appreciate when schools try to implement limits on mobile phone use.

Your child will be fine with no phone during the day.

These posts are going from bad to worse.

If a child needs to be dug out of the snow, unless they're located and freed within about 15-18 minutes of being buried, then sadly it will be a body and not a child that will be recovered. The presence of a phone is largely irrelevant - it may become detatched from the person (dropped/torn from clothing) and might be nowhere near the person, it may be smashed by the avalanche debris, or it may have no charge or not even be turned on.

The best way to avoid being lost or needing to be dug out of the snow is to not get into the situation in the first place. Your posts suggest that your child is going skiing without the presence of a qualified, experienced instructor or mountain guide (and therefore probably without the correct equipment such as an avalanche transciever, an airbag, a shovel and the correct skis for the terrain if going off-piste). This more than anything is what poses the greatest risk to them on this trip - not the issue with the phone.

Its clearly emerged that this is not a ski trip in the sense that most with kids in the UK system know. Which is very misleading. My grandchildren had 5 years in school in Switzerland. They had several mini trips with skiing or snowboarding included for the whole year. Often only a daytrip or overnight. Its possible this type of thing is what the op is reffering to though not in Switzerland Id think

When DS went in the school ski trip
a couple of years ago, phones were handed into the teachers at the airport and given back on the bus back to school a week later.
The kids weren’t thrilled at the prospect but all agreed that it was a good thing to do afterwards.
If a phone will be the only thing keeping your daughter safe, I wouldn’t be calling her to go on the trip. There will be far more risk assessments going on that you will be aware of.

I disagree entirely @Notthehill . I'd happily see all children banned from social media and banned from having phones during school hours. I'd also be entirely happy for them not to have their phones whilst they are in the hotel or whatever other accommodation a school has arranged for them.

However, when they are out and about in a foreign country, I think it is good common sense for them to make use of modern day tools to be contactable. Don't care if it is ski-ing, sightseeing, doing their DofE or whatever else. Mobile phones should be considered a helpful tool for staying in touch and should be included in the risk assessment a school does for any trips away.

I agree. I don't think most posts here are going to be helpful because this kind of trip is absolutely not one a UK school would do - and it'd never be compulsory!

My daughter wasn't allowed a phone at all on her ski trip