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Original poster

What is the youngest age you took you dc skiing?

29 replies

sammysam · 10/02/2009 08:14

Dp is away at the mo and I would love to be there as well ....so was just wandering how young your dc's were when you went skiing?
Would you ever take a young baby? When going with young children do you actually get to do any skiing ......?

Oh and where did you go? Thanks

OP posts:
madwomanintheattic · 10/02/2009 08:19

10 weeks.
he got double pneumonia and rsv from the daycare lol. nebulised 5 times a day for a month. they only let him stay at home because he was bf and i was (allegedly) sensible, otherwise they were admitting him... it wasn't my finest hour lol. i know someone else whose 3 monther got heli'ed out with similar too...

but, my advice would be to take grannies lol. toddlers are harder than babies as they tend to scream in childcare if they are so inclined

all mine are at school now! hooray!

we've been to canada lots, norway, austria - most places are similar with tots tbh - have you looked esprit? pricey but good with littlies...

Original poster
sammysam · 10/02/2009 08:26

DD is 2.5 now so next year would be 3.5, but all things going well (fingers crossed) we could also have a 5month old as well.....would we be crazy?
Can't think which grandparents would come...? I suppose we could ask but it most likely wouldn't be either of my parents....

VERY stupid question (and I think I know the answer!!!) but could you take a baby in a carrier to go skiing? (I know, I know!!!! Thought i'd just ask!!!!!)

OP posts:
LIZS · 10/02/2009 08:58

No you should n't take a baby in a carrier on your back - a lot of resorts ban this and it is very dangerous. When ds was young we took gps , when dd was little one of us stayed with her (usually me !) and watched ds ski on nursery area or at home then we used a creche. There are plenty of hotels with in-house creches and resort ones on the mountain - look at Kinderhotels in Austria/Germany and Familienhotels in Switzerland(see MN Review section too). At 3 1/2 your ds isn't going to be up for much skiing anyway so would need some form of childcare for much of the day at very least.

Original poster
sammysam · 10/02/2009 09:35

LIZS-exactly what I thought-just thought i'd ask the very stupid question

Good point about DD not being up for much skiing as well....only real option will be if we can get grandparents to come and not ski or at least let me ski a bit

OP posts:
missingtheaction · 10/02/2009 09:53

we took ours from about 2 and 6months respectively. Frankly it's a bit of a mission - obviously not much of a holiday for them until they can ski, if you can't get good childcare it can be a week from hell - everyday life transported to somewhere you don't have friends/shops/your own washing machine etc. Either throw money at it (Esprit/organised childcare with lots of toys/facilities/local knowhow) or leave them at home with DGPs.

Once they can ski it gets to be fun - but ONLY if THEY like skiing! And then it gets to be very very expensive...

MrsGrahamBell · 10/02/2009 09:56

would leave it till they are old eough to go to ski school part of day - I would put it at 4. Otherwise very expensive childcare, not much of a holiday - better to leave them at hime with doting grandparents and have a proper adult hol. We went when DS 1 was one, fine, no prob, he was happy in the exceptionally good childcare ( Mark Warner). Went again when ds1 3, ds2 1 - terrible - worst ever childcare, ( Mark Warner!) no kind of hol for any of us.
Went again when the DS were 7 and 5, no childcare, they loved it, we all had a fantastic time and have now been another 7 times in 4 years - no childcare and now they don't have ski classes eitehr - we just ski where we feel like...
When you need childcare there is always anxiety about it, great releif if it ruens out well, but a gamble.

piscesmoon · 10/02/2009 10:13

I took my DS at 9 months but we also took my mother to babysit. I left him in a nursery at 2 yrs and he was miserable. I took my mother after that and she was quite happy pulling him along on a sledge and playing with him.
It doesn't work very well until they are 5 yrs old IMO. 6yrs old was the age that everyone had a super time. I wouldn't let it put you off though.
Much too dangerous to put in a carrier to ski.

wideratthehips · 10/02/2009 10:13

ds1 has recently returned from a skiing holiday in the french alps with dh. hes 4.5.

he went into ski school mon to fri 10 am until 12 dh did his skiing, then lunch on the piste and then sledging etc in afternoon but he was exhausted.......but really loved it

i stayed at home with 20mth old and was about 28wks preg at time.....i knew he would be cold and miserable and demand to be carried (this recent snow has proved that)

snickersnack · 10/02/2009 10:29

Hard work with tinies, I think. You spend a lot of time indoors doing drawing, which makes for a very expensive week. dd skied at 3 - really enjoyed it, but could only manage a couple of hours a day. My friend is a skiing instructor in France - he says that from 5 they start to really get the idea, plus their co-ordination and strength are that much better.

jack99 · 10/02/2009 10:41

Last yr went with a friend who's ds was 3 and he HATED the childcare. Basically she hardly got any skiing in at all as he refused to be left. Was a lot to do with the fact that very little English was spoken at the nursery.

My dcs are 9 and 7 and are now happy in ski school and better skiers than dh and I, so we all have a great time, no worrying about childcare. Better to wait until youngest is 5 imo, or leave dcs at home and have adults holiday

snorkle · 10/02/2009 10:42

We went with 2 under two (so, one nearly two & the other about 6 months) as the holiday costs for them at that age were pretty much childcare only. They had a creche in the chalet which was fine - they didn't really go outside for long at that age - just a short walk in the snow each day. At the end of the day we sometimes took them for a ride up & down the mountain in the bubbles which the 2 year old seemed to enjoy. That was at Courchevel (the lowest one).

happywomble · 10/02/2009 11:23

We took DS at 10 months with simply ski (no longer exist) - didn't work well. He was not used to being in a nursery environment and developed an ear infection and didn't sleep (we didn't realise the problem at the time).

Roll on a few years and we have taken the DCs at 5 and 3 and they both loved it. Last year we went to Puy St Vincent with snow bizz. I would highly recommend this company. They have their own ski school and creche. Depending on the age of your children they can either stay in the creche, ski followed by creche or do ski school only and ski with you in the afternoon. See Mumsnet review section for more info. Snow bizz also offer evening babysitting and they appear to choose their staff very well.

snorkle · 10/02/2009 11:48

Puy St Vincent does have a good setup. We went there when the children were 3 and 1.5 and had a good time except one of the nannies was horrid. Two years later, age 3.5 and 5 the children had their first go on skis (at Montchavin in La Plagne area). The 5 year old took to it straight away & the 3.5 year old had a good try - got the hang of stopping very well, but turning was trickier - she just made it down the mountain on the last day, but had pretty much forgotten everything by the following year. So I'd agree with what's said further down the thread that 5 seems to work well as a starting age.

dueinnovember · 10/02/2009 11:50

Took DC1 aged 4 months with Mark Warner. They take children from 4 mths but Hillwood take them from 6 weeks. Didn't feel like walking 6 weeks after a baby never mind skiing! Then took DC1 again aged 16mths again with Mark Warner. Their childcare was very good so we were able to do plenty of skiing both years. We'd come back mid afternoon and have a nice play and give her tea but lots of other parents would leave them in the childcare for their tea too. It depends on your baby and how happy they are being left and how happy you are to leave them. Am going to check out snowbizz after happywombles review as there has to be an alternative to Mark Warner.

Wheelybug · 10/02/2009 11:56

We took dd at 13 months and she went into the creche. Was fine despite her not being used to being away from me (although was with friends she knew well which probably helped). However, the creche was away from the chalet and was a bit of a faff getting the children there and back.

We went again when dd was just 3. She again went in the creche which she loved (no ready made friends but other children her age) and the creche was in the bottom of the chalet block so was v. easy to drop off and pick up. My parents also came and although they had some ski lessons (first timers at 63) they were happy to take dd out of the creche early which also helped. We hired skis for dd and took her out a few times just at the bottom of nursery slopes/ in between dh's legs, letting her go and catching her that sort of thing. It was enough to give her a taste and she talks about having proper ski lessons.

We are planning to go next year (am currently 35 weeks pregnant so not this year !) and will probably go back to the resort/company we used last itme as we know the creche was good - then dd will be just 5 so having lessons but all being well we should a 1 year old too !

spicemonster · 10/02/2009 12:01

I took a year old baby last year but won't take him again until he's a bit older. He was fine (we went with GPs) during the day but he was happy to stay in the hotel and potter round. Now he's a toddler, I won't take him until he can actually go to ski school as he'd be bored stupid. I work ft too so there doesn't seem much point in taking him on holiday and leaving him a creche all day - not much of a holiday for him

BonsoirAnna · 10/02/2009 12:03

I took DD when she was 2.5. I then skipped last year, and am skipping this year, and will probably take her next year when she is 5.

Carrying a toddler around in the snow is no fun at all.

andiem · 10/02/2009 13:52

I took ds1 when he was 4 and he went into the esf snow garden and really enjoyed it he is now 8 and goes to ski school in the morning and then skis with us in the afternoon
took ds2 last year as well he was 8 months and it was hard work. I hadn't factored in bf at night and then trying to ski in the day and was exhausted by the end of the hols We have been with mixture of esprit/mark warner and they are much the same tbh
off for half term next week yippeee

mamhaf · 10/02/2009 21:51

18 months for dd1 in a chalet with Crystal, then when dd1 was 4 and dd2 was 10 months.

On both trips, one of them threw up all over the floor of the bus on the transfer up the winding roads from the airport - you can imagine how that thrilled the young Crystal rep.

Tbh if they're too young to ski and you can either take a granny or leave them at home with grandparents, that's what I would do if I had my time again - you don't get much ski-ing done with tinies, although they were memorable holidays.

We went to Andorra when dd2 was 3 and she went to ski kindergarten, then progressed to proper ski school when she was 5 - by then she was tackling black runs with an instructor.

mamhaf · 10/02/2009 21:54

I should have added, if you don't have childcare at home or a granny who can travel with you, go for it!

We went to Valmorel in France when they were tiny, they were fine in the chalet daycare and we did have a lovely holiday - just not the same as when you're childfree and harder work - but that goes for everything to do with parenthood.

Or could you leave dp at home with the kids and sneak off on a ski weekend with a girlfriend? That's what I'm doing next month.

jicky · 10/02/2009 22:02

We went first when ds1 was 5, ds2 was 3 and ds3 6 months. All three started doing mornings only, ski school for 1 and 2 and creche for ds3. After a few days ds1 moved to all day ski school. In the afternoons ds2 and 3 would hang out with me, then in the evenings we would go out together tubing or snowmobiles or something (well ds3 mainly slept in a pram). As it was right at the end of the season the creche was almost empty and he got pretty much 1 on 1 care. He was still exclusively breast fed so I didn't want to leave him long and would call into the creche to feed him.

The next 2 years were much harder for him being left in the creche as he knew what was happening, so I would say go at less than a year or wait until they are 3+.

Milliways · 10/02/2009 22:13

I am very

I am 43 and my parents have STILL never taken me. My kids would love to go.

Do you recommend swapping a 2 week cheap summer break for a 1 week Snow holiday one year?

mamhaf · 10/02/2009 22:25

I would definitely swap the summer break for ski-ing, every time - it's a superb family holiday - you really can have fun together every day. One of my favourite pictures is dd2 being bf with me in a ski suit, sitting outside an Alpine restaurant.

And although it is expensive, it's actually cheaper when they're tiny because you're not paying full price for everything. Now mine are 16 and 12 it's almost prohibitive - in fact the price is one of the reasons we're not going as a family this year(although hope to make up for it next year).

piscesmoon · 10/02/2009 22:40

I would swap a summer holiday for skiing.

Milliways · 10/02/2009 22:46

Ah - mine are Teenagers! (And DH is out of work so this is pure daydreaming here......)