School ski trip: what sort of fitness required?

[emilyonn]

My dear son, age 13, is going on a ski trip with the school next year. He is a complete ski novice and I'm sure he'll have a good time but I am slightly concerned about his level of general fitness.

He does the normal games and PE at school and walks and cycles quite a bit (but not to a strenuous level, more as a means of getting around). Will this be enough or should he be doing extra? And if so when does he need to start?

He'll be fine. It's the ones that done do anything, dodge PE regularly and don't walk or cycle anywhere that struggle and the ones that are obviously severely overweight.

Average teen fitness like you describe will be fine. He'll be on the nursery slope of they are still called that. If school run a practice trip to a dry slope or a snow dome he could go on that and see how he gets on.

absolutely nothing required in our case. DD went on a ski trip last year and thanks to Covid at least 3/4 of the class were total beginners and unfit :-). They still had an absolute blast and all came back in one piece, I wouldn't worry at all.

DD went for the first time when she was an overweight Y7 who did dance and drama and not much else. She loved it and ended up doing some red runs at the end of the week. She's now in Y10 and going again. This time she's very very fit and I suspect will enjoy it more but for other reasons.

Zero fitness required.

Desire to get stuck in and have fun - quite helpful!

Ebay excellent to buy kids ski gear IME

Get decent ski wear. Standing around can be cold. Tramping to the ski lift can be annoying in ski boots as schools often don’t use handy accommodation! Nursery slopes might be easier to reach and you do not need to be very fit. DDs did a 4x 1 hour beginner course at our snow dome. DD2 was very good. DD1 spent more time on her backside. However she managed on the school trip. DD2 won the school race.