Advice please - daughter doesn’t want to ski

[Whowherewhywhat]

Hi - we are a family of 5 - have wanted to ski for years but daughter has never wanted to go. The kids (pretty much adults now!!) will be DS20, DS18 and DD16. We are looking at either Lapland or skiing over Christmas next year - if we went skiing we would look at something like Neilson skiing (we are frequent Neilson summer hol goers) as we will all be skiing newbies - I’ve just mentioned to my daughter and she is adamant she doesn’t want to ski - my question is would there be enough other things to do / people that don’t want to ski to do other things eg sledging etc?
would this be a nightmare hol for her over Christmas - thoughts please or safer to do something like Lapland?

Speaking as an orthopaedic HCP, you could pick almost any mundane activity of daily life and it can result in limbs being broken. Life is for living - not wrapping yourself in bubble wrap at the ripe old age of 16.

Skiing is unusual in its ability to break both arms at once.

Have any of you been skiing before OP? It’s a lot to pin a holiday (over Xmas) on if not… I’m personally in your DD camp - I despise it. Tried it and lasted all of 30 mins but I snowboard instead. Even so, a full 7 days of boarding is just knackering, especially if you wipeout at any point, so I pick places that have good spas, thermal pools, hiking trails, glacier walks etc so there are some other things to do when I can’t be bothered strapping myself to pieces of fibreglass and hurtling down a hill.

I’ve got appalling balance and hate feeling like I’m out of control. I have tried and loathed ice skating, roller skating, can barely ride a bike, and am only prepared to toboggan extremely slowly. I fall over extremely easily and am scared even walking downhill on steep slopes. I didn’t want to feel a failure so I did a ski lesson on a baby slope, sobbed all the way through my only short downhill run, and was told kindly by the instructor not to come back. But I think it’s entirely reasonable to know yourself well enough that skiing is not for you. Apart from anything else, the more nervous you are, the more likely you are to injure yourself falling stiffly. And 16 is not a child falling from a lower height.

@Whowherewhywhat "Any recommendations on Lapland? Companies you’ve used etc ?"
I have stayed with Wilderness Hotels twice now, highly recommend. They are a chain of five hotels all within the same area, and they offer packages.

I agree, - or breaking a leg. DD16 might also be afraid of heights and going on a ski lift (I certainly am), or just not 'sporty' (it's not compulsory).

@Whowherewhywhat I did a ski-ing holiday with a large group of friends about 10 years ago, and didn't do the ski-ing aspect and it was okay. I did a bit of sledding on lower slopes, and one day we went to a mountainside restaurant, where you had to walk to get to it, then they provided sledges to go back down and that bit was fun. Overall I enjoyed it, even without the actual ski-ing, but I'm not sure I would have at 16.

I am like you.

And I am like you. I can’t even go on a ski chair lift as I get too scared at needing to jump out quickly on to a slope.

Decades ago, holiday in Scotland, went up a tiny mountain on a chair lift. I was so terrified that I refused to go back down on the chair lift. It took me hours to walk down, hours.

I have poor coordination as part of my autism. I also have poor circulation and use the electric blanket in August because my feet are so cold. Like you, I don't need to try skiing to know that it would be an awful experience for me and likely to result in substantial injuries.

@ThatMauveRaven If she hasn’t tried it then she has absolutely no idea if she likes it or not. It would be reasonable if she genuinely just doesn’t like skiing (I am one of those people, much to my DD’s dismay!) but if she has never given it a go and simply refuses to then that is just being bratty and ungrateful

Okay, so if someone wants you to go jump out of a plane with a parachute or go bungee jumping, you would be obliged to do so because otherwise you have no idea whether you like it or not, and to not give it a go would make you bratty?

Skiing is dreadful.

I would get yourselves some lessons in a snowdome op. You should try before you do it. And get your 16 yo dd to try a lesson or two also. She may enjoy it.

Go to Levi in Finland. It's a great place for skiing novices.

I also never caught the skiing 'bug' but love going there with my family

It's a small, safe place where I enjoy perusing the small supermarkets for interesting foods for dinner, eating at lovely restaurants, reading my book curled up in our log cabin, or having a sauna.

As a family we have had magical husky and reindeer safaris, roasted Finnish sausages in kotas, trips to see the ice hotel and watched the aurora on a frozen lake.

You can also buy day passes for a great pool complex at the Spa hotel, go snow shoeing or kick sledding.

But the best thing is going on a solitary walk around the frozen lake.

No, lots of downhill fell skiing

The first time we went we thought it was going to be a once in a life time trip so went with https://www.magicoflapland.net When it became an annual event in February we used Inghams who have actually been excellent.

I'd recommend log cabins, which are all lovely and well equipped or the cabins at the K,5 hotel and actually if you want an hotel we really liked the crazy reindeer. The spa hotel is nice but food is not and the K5 looks nice but we didn't love it.

aye. I stepped off a step, broke an ankle bone and screwed the ligaments and spent six months incapacitated. I wish I had done it skiing.

It isn’t bratty or ungrateful. There are loads of holidays I would turn down if someone offered to take me: Disneyland, ice climbing, clubbing holiday in Ibiza, anything on a cruise ship, motorsports holiday to name a few. I haven’t tried any of these but I would hate to go on them and it would be a waste of money.

Just back from Lapland - highly recommend. Hotels give out toboggans on arrival and landscape is much more ‘Narnia’ than it is the wide open fields of skiing. Husky sledding was amazing, northern lights were amazing, a wonderful place. All I would say is the “Santa” part is babyish and you all would definitely want to avoid that day trip. You can ski there too if you want so something for everyone. Sariselka is where we went. A national park.

edited to correct spelling

Its not compulsory to enjoy skiing!
I found it stressful... the lifts, the crowds, idiots who weren't nearly as good as they thought putting others in danger..

Ask you DD what she would like from the holiday.

I am fairly sure I wouldn't enjoy eother of those but would do them if someone else was paying. However they both have the advantage of being over fairly quickly. Skiing for those who don't get on with it is a week of misery.

I liked Levi, there is a pool and bowling. But Lapland has about 4 hours of daylight in Dec and is extremely cold. Not great for a beginners ski trip and I wouldn't like wandering the town in the dark for a week.

We go to Finland. The skiers ski and the non skiers snowshoe, wilderness ski (completely different), hike and relax.

DH and I went on a ski holiday early in our marriage. It was a two week trip. I realised within a few days I hated it and didn't ski for the rest of the trip. I was very bored. I wouldn't take your DD on this trip if she already knows she won't like it. I wouldn't make this your main Christmas trip if it won't be fun for her.

We go with a non-skier and my advice is get a hotel with a spa and gym and a resort with other activities eg sledging - so she can do the spa etc in the morning then you can take it in turns to spend the afternoon eg sledging or walking with her.