Beaver Creek - Childcare and/or ski school

[gemmamay]

Hi - We are off to Beaver Creek in Feb for 10 days skiiing. Our DD will be 2.8 - is that too youngto ski? what is the age they start? I seem to always remeber near babies flying down the hills in Italy and France, is that the same in the US?

The usual google search has proved unsucessful - so thats where you girls come in!

I need either ski school or a nursery! Help!

bump - anyone?

Seems to be loads of info here.

I would say 2.8 is too young to go on skis. We were recommended by our ski instructor friends to wait until ds was 4 - when he took to it like a duck to water.

But scotlou's link looks good for a non-skiing option. it's more impirtant for your dd to have fun in the snow than to go on skis at this stage.

There's skiing and skiing....

ds started - just for a few minutes at a time - almost as soon as he could stand, and was skiing independently by the time he was the age your dd will be. This was him at 3.7 this Easter. However dh and I are both qualified instructors ourselves, and we both teach at (so have free access to) our local artificial slope - so short 1-1 sessions for a few minutes at a time, all year round, without altitude, cold or jetlag to consider were possible for us.

A lot depends upon how active and co-ordinated your dd is - I've know kids of 2 who could get it, and others of 6 who can't. Either way at her age don't expect a lot - mostly playing, with a small proportion of sliding is the most you could expect. There's certainly no reason why you shouldn't get some strap on skis which will work with snowboots (or even real ones if you can find them small enough and they're not too expensive to hire) and let her get a feel for sliding with you holding her on an almost flat area. If that goes well and she's stable, let her try very short distances on her own from one of you to the other. But keep it down to 10 or 15 minutes at a time at most, and stop at once if she's not enjoying it.

Whatever, I'd give her a few days to adjust/acclimitise before going for anything more than a daycare/snow play option in terms of formal provision, and then talk to the people there and see what they think. Beware that even in North America most ski schools won't take them under 3 in a group, so if they do anything at all it would probably mean a private lesson.

My ds started last winter at age 6 - dd went for the first time aged 4, advice we have been given in the US and Europe is that:

Before age 4 their leg muscles are not as strong which makes a difference and the key point they all gave is that the earlier they learn the harder it is for them to follow instruction, iyswim. In my sons group last year he was the eldest as a beginner and was on reds by the end of the 6 half days ski school - the instructor pulled me aside and asked how old he was (as he is small for his age) and when told said it explained why he had got on so much better than the same size 4 year old in his group - she said that when she explained for instance that turning was important my ds understood and did turns but the 4 year old snow ploughed the whole way down the same slope (even though he could do the turns)

We lived in the US and I know they will have childcare facilites at every resort and will go out for 'snow play' with the older children which will probably be enough for 2.8?

Agree 4+ is about right - you see European kids ski-ing at such a young age as they live close to resorts go regularly eg don't do it once a year

Thanks for the link - they look great but then again they should be for $102 per day!

Lunarsea - Your DS is so cute! Thanks for the tips.

Can't wait to go now!!