Tips for teaching toddler to ski

Drop kid off with instructor.....go ride for a few hours....rinse and repeat

forget Pizza

just teach them french fry

Get a harness - it was magic for both our kids.  Make sure it is a harness that goes around the waist (like a climbing harness). This ensures that when you are holding the kid back (speedwise), they are not leaning back with their entire upper body, but are moving their center of gravity back over the toes of their boots to be more in control. Edgie-wedgies worked for our kids, but are not critical (especially once they turn 3 and have a bit more leg strength).

Play Play Play - that is key. Lots of fun and excitement - treats (smarties on the slope), songs on the chairlift, hot chocolate (bring some from home with marshmallows so you don't have to pay $7).

Final thing - lower your expectations. 1-2 runs may be it - and that needs to be ok. It is an expensive few years as a result, but pays dividends. We have a 7 and 4 year old and we are skiing together as a family now without any harnesses/wedgies - and it is great - I can see the light.

Posted by: Taz123

Get a harness - it was magic for both our kids.  Make sure it is a harness that goes around the waist (like a climbing harness). This ensures that when you are holding the kid back (speedwise), they are not leaning back with their entire upper body, but are moving their center of gravity back over the toes of their boots to be more in control. Edgie-wedgies worked for our kids, but are not critical (especially once they turn 3 and have a bit more leg strength).

Play Play Play - that is key. Lots of fun and excitement - treats (smarties on the slope), songs on the chairlift, hot chocolate (bring some from home with marshmallows so you don't have to pay $7).

Final thing - lower your expectations. 1-2 runs may be it - and that needs to be ok. It is an expensive few years as a result, but pays dividends. We have a 7 and 4 year old and we are skiing together as a family now without any harnesses/wedgies - and it is great - I can see the light.

Solid tips, thanks for posting this!!

Posted by: three-sheets

Drop kid off with instructor.....go ride for a few hours....rinse and repeat

yeah we dropped the grand kids ( 7 & 5 ) off with Craig up at the ski school and he had them doing really well in a 2 hr lesson

Got to say the best thing we did was put our kids in group lessons. 

The harness thing worked well enough when skiing as a family but they just do so well in a group setting. I think it’s the amount of instructors, no parent to fall back on, and good old fashioned peer pressure. We are lucky, Silver Star has an awesome monthly program  

My son started at 4, he’s turning 7 soon and I just got back from a great full day skiing easy blacks and blues.

Daughter started at 3 and is 4 now. She’s terrifying! She likes to ski the trees or, as she calls it, “secret passages”. 

Won’t be long and they will both be out skiing me. When we ski as a family now it is the most satisfying and pride inducing thing I have.

Anyone have experience with the Whistler Kids weekend program? Our cousins have their kids it in and they have progressed amazingly. I think they started around age 5? I see Whistler will take them as young as 3. Jan - April every weekend (choose Sat or Sunday and staging area). I think I'll look into it when our kid is 5 assuming dad teaching and lessons on the Shore mtns go well. It also guarantees I get a ski day myself :).

I don't have any first hand experience (not a parent) but nearly every parent I know in the sea to sky has their kid in one of those programs, all are pretty stoked on it. Coming from lower mainland would be tough, I would lean towards Saturdays due to Sunday afternoon traffic,  creekside might save some time going home but the learning areas and beginner runs at the village or blackcomb would be better when working on the basics (going from the learning carpet then the first real run being like pony trail from roundhouse or something is a big jump, and they'd be downloading creek gondy every time). The programs sell out too so think about that!

We just finished 10 lessons on Seymour. Great experience and very well organised. My main advice is book the earliest lesson time you can unless you are able to make a weekday work.

The kids went from zero (literally never set foot on skis) to blue runs (on seymour...) in that time and are fully self sufficient now.

Posted by: Kevin26

I don't have any first hand experience (not a parent) but nearly every parent I know in the sea to sky has their kid in one of those programs, all are pretty stoked on it. Coming from lower mainland would be tough, I would lean towards Saturdays due to Sunday afternoon traffic,  creekside might save some time going home but the learning areas and beginner runs at the village or blackcomb would be better when working on the basics (going from the learning carpet then the first real run being like pony trail from roundhouse or something is a big jump, and they'd be downloading creek gondy every time). The programs sell out too so think about that!

Good point about Sunday afternoon traffic down, can be a bear. It is a haul from Vancouver, the kid is only 7 months old so this is all dad dreaming at this point and will depend how he does on car rides when the time comes since it will mean early mornings + gear wrangling to get to Creekside for 8:30 but it would also ingrain the Creekside routine into him early in life haha.

Max: Also good to hear about Seymour. I think when he has the stability I'll take him up for an hour here and there myself just to play in the snow and slide around flat terrain on skis and then at age 3-5 do North Shore lessons then move onto Whistler Kids when he can ski blues.