How old were your kids when you first let them ski alone?

A snowHead

My two stepsons are 15 and 10. We go skiing together every year and they're getting increasingly keen not to go to ski school every day so they can spend time with us, esp. their dad. They're getting pretty good, but not as good as us (yet!).

So I'm wondering when we can say ok, you don't have to go to ski school, but there might be certain times / days when if you can't keep up you can ski by yourself! I realise this sounds slightly harsh..! We do enjoy skiing with them very much, just not all day everyday, and definitely not on a powder day...

I'm sure the 15 year old would be fine, but def. not the 10 year old, and def. not both together... An incident with a ski pole, a lip and some stitches on Christmas Day will stay with me for some time...

Any tips or advice gratefully received!

A snowHead

great question, interested in the answers. we have 3 boys near 12, 9 and 4. Don't think the eldest is ready to go it alone just et, he is certainly a good skier- but this is part of the problem…

Might really depend on the resort, I'd say that it would due very tricky to leave most kids under 1516 to ski alone in a bid interlinked resort - 3-Valleys etc just on account of getting lost. Different thing altogether on a smaller hill.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Not got kids but was probably 13-14 before I was let loose on my own, started when I was about 5 so by that time it was my dad who couldnt keep up with me. Cant remember when Id stopped lessons but was let loose with the ski club guides a few times so my dad could ski at his own pace.

Cant you send them to school in the mornings and ski with them in the afternoon?

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Yes, I think the morning / afternoon compromise will be the one we go for, but they're whinging about any kind of ski school at the mo for some reason! (They don't know how lucky they are etc...!)

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

My kids are 13/11 and I can't keep up with them!

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get them in race training or freestyle coaching and you probably wont see them again

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Think there probably needs to be some compromise in your/their skiing. You may find they progress with you quickly if they've had years of ski school, it might be that now other children in their lessons are holding back their ability to progress.

I'd at least want to ski a few days with the older one, making sure he he's sensible, can demonstrate some common sense, etiquette and knows the area before letting him loose.

After all it is free

My son has been skiing since he was 3. He skies with his dad. I bore him to tears so its mainly me who ends up on my own Sad

(he is 14 in February).

It was a sunny, spring day at Glencoe that my 10 & 12 year old boys first cut loose by themselves. Glencoe is rugged enough for adventures and a place where pretty much everyone knows each other too so once I knew they were completely competent getting on and off t-bars, pomas and chairs, it seemed perfectly natural, really no different to them going off on their push bikes around the little town where we live.

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Good point hammerite, about etiquette (luckily he's fairly sensible in general), and also ed123, about the interlinked resort issue - excellent point!

I think the main thing is that they don't realise how quickly they progress in ski school, and how (relatively) slowly they do when just skiing round with us. That is, with a good ski school e.g. Jackson Hole last year. Compromise is obviously the key, but I'm extremely bad at that when it comes to ski holidays!

Any other age recommendations?

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That's interesting moffatross - to add to the complication they live in Spain, and the culture there is a bit more protective and 'babying' e.g. not allowed to walk 500m home from school til age 12...

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BlueSky, I think Moffatross is alluding to an important point. Where are they skiing? My OH and her siblings were off the leash at I guess around 8 or 9, but in Champoluc where the family knew everyone (were related to most) and on a Champoluc only pass. The topology is such that they couldn't ski anywhere that they couldn't get back from and if help was required it was only a radio call away.

I know one bro and I were out on our own with same aged friends in Sauze aged ~11ish and ~9ish. I think (!) we'd been skiing on our own around the Scottish centres for a year or so before that.

We are just starting to do this. Boys are 11 and 13, last year they did laps of the short Poma outside our apartment on their own, this year I may let them ski from a couple of other lifts near us. All blue and red (well light pink if truth be told) runs. They will get the usual dad's lecture before they go though.

You know it makes sense.

I skied on my own from the age of 11, but admittedly this was in the 70s!

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

under a new name, yes, I think you're absolutely right there. The answer is it depends! This year will be St Anton (v tricky). Realistically we'll probably tend to go to larger resorts in general over the next few years.

I like Gilberts Fridge's idea of practicing within well-defined boundaries at first to prove they can do it without killing each other or anyone else!

A snowHead

Mine was 9 when he first skied solo - from the top to bottom of LDA with his instructors encouragement. At 11 he had the run of the Mont Evasion - but he did ski it very nearly every day for 5 months and knew it like the back of his hand. Since then he has pretty much done as he pleased in whichever resort

A snowHead

Can't really remember. Probably not alone but together at about 13 and 11 I'd say.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

My kids are 8 and 10. They are perfectly capable of keeping up with me. We usually try a few hours of ski school for them in a morning and then ski with us in the afternoon. Saying that, we are off to 3V next week and they will ski with us every day. They have been skiing from age 4 though and have slightly nutty tendencies and a worrying lack of fear

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My boys really got independence by degrees, ie yes the 3 (4 years between them) of you (stay together) can take such and such a route but meet us at this point at around this time. At first just a a short alternative run on their own, gradually building up to half days. I think the eldest was around 12 when we started this. Certainly by the time he was 14 they were doing a couple hours on their own and had our youngest been a bit older the oldest 2 could have done more earlier if that makes sense. But youngest always wanted to go with his brothers rather than with Mum & Dad! Then again you have to know your children and we did go skiing several times a year then and we would not have been happy with them exploring unknown territory on their own

We did not do ski school, after a disastrous experience when they were small, and really they were so competent so quickly it was never a problem. In my experience with very little guidance (a bit like learning to swim) small children work it out for themselves! Then again we never wanted to ski off piste and maybe that would have been an issue with children in tow.

bagginsmum, I so relate to that 'worrying lack of fear' mine still display this but say its just 'Mum' being overprotective. rolling eyes

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

BlueSky, well, this might sound a bit brutal, but I think you need to choose between EITHER accepting that on a family ski holiday you have to compromise, and skiing with them, the kind of stuff they want to do and can cope with safely OR letting them ski in their own with some strict rules about boundaries.

It sounds rather as if you want it all your own way.

Yes, it does sound brutal...... but as someone who will be skiing with a few different people over Christmas, none of whom is as good as I am (not that I am any great shakes, but they have all done far less than I) I think it's fair enough. And I'll be skiing far more than last Christmas when I spent most of my time looking after grandchildren and hardly skiing at all. Ghastly things, families, eh what? Twisted Evil

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I have an 11 year old who would love to explore on his own, he doesn't do ski school.

But I don't think I could live with myself if anything happened because I wanted to ski alone, fast or because he was to slow, so many people on the slope really don't know what they are doing.

I tend to make it a bit more interesting and try and encourage him to ski in front and find his own path and thus in my belief give him the confidance in what he is doing, he will have plenty of years to ski alone.

All kids are differant and I'm sure your older one would be fine but in my opinion def not the little one.

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After all it is free

BlueSky, pam w, my answers to the question of 'how do I get to have a good time skiing with my family on a family skiing holiday?' have been- compromise, ski a lot with kids, telemark. THis mostly works.

But: My eldest boy now telemarks and after 2 weeks can go- quite fast on piste- i.e. faster than me on tele-gear and fast enough to keep up with a reasonable SCGB group of adults on Alpine gear and quite steep and deep- back bottom. But with very bad style……so my plan may not work for much longer- unless he stays on tele-gear and I switch back to alpine.

But Pam has the best point which is ski with them all together and soon enough you'll just have a ball. But I do admit it was very nice to actually ski a bit with my wife.

For a long time now I have let mine ski to X ski cannons away and then caught up. Feb this year they were 13 and 10 respectively and both damn good almost whole mountain skiers except for hiked off-piste. On the advice of their instructors (I get them an instructor for a few hours private fun in situations I can't cope with) we let them ski lumps of the mountain (top or bottom half) whilst we waited in specific bars in suitable locations. We set boundaries - they were to carry their mobiles, behave themselves and every five circuits or so they were come within sight of the bar and wave at us so we could see they were still in one piece, they were all to stay together and not bicker - any report of bickering or arguing by one on the other when quizzed separately and all lone-ski privileges would be revoked, finally they were to stay within the boundary area and not go deeper into the trees than areas they had skied with us as a family earlier in the day.

Although that sounds fairly restrictive I think it worked for first time on their own. They are two of the most sensible kids I know and they took the restrictions in good part. In fact I experienced a lot of parental pride when I lifted down a couple of times and watched them free ski under me, scything safely down the piste in huge fast arcs, stopping and discussing directions with each other waiting for each other etc. Their behaviour last Feb. will result in greater freedom this coming year. I think I still want to be on the same bit of mountain, but they can be trusted to be at point X by time Y I think now. Also, I think it does depend on weather, I wouldn't send them off if the visibility wasn't fair enough or it was blowing 7 bells etc.

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Ski with them. No question. Apart from confidence and perhaps less experience of variable conditions they are actually as good as you now.

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pam w, nail, head etc.

If got two daughters 19 and 16. When they were younger and not in lessons we all skied together as a family. I'm positive I could have skied faster and better 10 years ago, but the key thing was I wanted to ski with them.

Now the roles are reversed and (so far) they seem to want to ski with me and their Mum.

Maybe I'm kidding myself and the only reason they do is because they know I'll buy them a decent lunch.

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BlueSky, I've just re-read your post - I answered the bit about when I let them ski alone:

However, you put

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Megamum, I think the 15 year old would be in adult classes in most places I've skied, and not be allowed in childrens ones.

A snowHead

Hells Bells, then I think all the more reason for them to ski as a family, surely the 15 yr old and 10 yr old wouldn't want to be alone in lessons, esp. if the 15 yr old is with a group of adults. Mine are 3 years apart and ski well together, 5 years still sounds doable.

A snowHead

Thanks all for some very helpful suggestions. Not sure I was expecting quite so many value judgements on family holidays as a side dish, but I guess it comes as standard with a feisty forum like this...!

In case I'm leaving anyone with the impression that I'm completely heartless, what I'm trying to achieve is for all of us to have as nice a time as possible together. This involved a bit of compromise on all sides, as with any family holiday, but not any one person feeling like they're making all the compromises either. I'm not their mum, and although I am extremely fond of them and we enjoy each other's company very much, I do need a break from time to time to retain this enjoyment, and I know they feel the same way! Obviously this can be achieved during ski holidays by occasionally skiing on my own when they're not in lessons (so kids and dad ski together), but this isn't perfect, as their dad and I like to do some challenging skiing together too.

On the skiing front, their Dad and I are still a lot better than them. If they don't take any more instruction then this will continue to be the case, as we are still striving hard to improve (and regularly have lessons/do courses etc) and just skiing with us isn't going to lead to especially fast improvement, their age and quick learning ability notwithstanding. Sadly I don't have the gravitas (or skill!) of an instructor, so much as I'd love to teach them myself this just doesn't work. Thank you for the suggestion of joint private lessons - weirdly I hadn't thought of that, it's a genius idea!

So far we've been lucky enough with ski schools having the right age and level of courses. Obviously I'd never make them do ski school if a) it was a pointless crocodile leading to minimal improvement, b) they didn't enjoy it, or c) the ages weren't appropriate. Last year in Jackson Hole was absolutely perfect on all those fronts - we tended to do 1-2 days of ski school (where they improved in leaps and bounds and came out of each day filled with pride at their latest achievements, and we got a backcountry guide for the day) followed by a day skiing together as a family to bed it all in and for them to show off their new found skills. They started the holiday just about able to do reds, they ended it by flying down the unpisted bowls.

I would LOVE for them to continue to improve to my level and beyond, but obviously not everyone is driven to get better in the same way that I am, hence trying to work out what to do if they don't want to continue to actively learn, despite really enjoying skiing. I obviously love skiing with them otherwise we wouldn't go skiing with them every year, but all day every day would be too much of a compromise for me, and also their Dad who is similarly motivated to improve at the same time as wanting to spend time with his kids. And if this is the case there is no point going to challenging (and expensive!) resorts with them either! Hence my original question about ages for skiing solo, which would be one way we could all maximise our enjoyment for portions of a holiday. But I appreciate that not everyone will feel the same way.

Anyway, thanks again, you've given me some great ideas and some pause for thought. Bring on the family holiday!

Help!!

How old were your kids when you first let them ski alone?

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