 Poster: A snowHead
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Children that learn to ski at age 3 are skiing offpiste by age 5. It’s almost impossible to keep them on the piste, and pretty boring for them if they did. So safety education should start as young as possible in my view. If I’m skiing offpiste, with my now 10 year old son, he wears a transceiver and has a small backpack with shovel and probe, and a whistle in his pocket. We are not going anywhere where I think there is a real danger of avalanche. We ski some of the classic offpiste routes in Sweden, and there are always others around. I want it to be in his mindset that you should be properly equipped when you ski offpiste.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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With the possible exception that you might catch the handle on something in a crowded restaurant or similar.
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exactly this
or crowded bubble
or snagged on a chair lift
I just modeled my behaviour on the guides that I skied with who were the first people I knew who had them.
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Fri 26-07-19 17:05; edited 1 time in total
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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For that reason, I don't see the point of NOT training a 15 or 17 year old.
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that I tend to agree with
My decision so far has been partly informed by the personalities of my children.
One of mine has a very serious allergy and carries epipens. It's life threatening. He's been hospitalised, etc. It maybe partly because of that (and the fact he is pretty bright and thoughtful) that he has had a sense of his own mortality from far too young an age. If anything he apt to be a bit too serious and risk averse. If I had trained him in avalanche rescue as a young teen he would have FELT responsible for avalanche rescue and known he probably couldn't do it without adult help. I didn't want to put that burden on him - better that I took the decisions that kept us all safe and removed that from him.
That is very specific of course but I think there are psychological considerations that mean the decision is not as obvious as some suggest.
But I will do avalanche training with them next season.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| philwig wrote: |
| sweaman22 wrote: |
| ...(Exceptions may apply) minimum age for cat / heli skiing in Canada as part of a larger adult group is 14... |
It depends on the operator. I think that the reason kids are restricted is logistics more than safety: the operator can't afford to slow down/ annoy a helicopter full of guests.
If you rent the machine you can take who you like (even dogs), although they'll not take people who manifestly aren't going to be able to ride to places they can't be extracted from easily.
Places where the skiing is closer/easier (eg daily heli) can be more flexible. |
Not necessarily that I think. I suspect most adult guests would be slowing down and incapable of skiing many places with my 11 year old and his skiing buddies!
More likely a combination of social things - which are likely to annoy adult guests, and be a different logistical problem. Ironically however, since they are coached to listen, particularly in high consequence places, they may well do better than some adults I've been cat skiing with who seemed to completely ignore the guides!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Themasterpiece wrote: |
| Children that learn to ski at age 3 are skiing offpiste by age 5. It’s almost impossible to keep them on the piste, and pretty boring for them if they did. So safety education should start as young as possible in my view. If I’m skiing offpiste, with my now 10 year old son, he wears a transceiver and has a small backpack with shovel and probe, and a whistle in his pocket. We are not going anywhere where I think there is a real danger of avalanche. We ski some of the classic offpiste routes in Sweden, and there are always others around. I want it to be in his mindset that you should be properly equipped when you ski offpiste. |
I agree - small transceiver and training to go with it as young as possible, and an understanding of a useful role during a rescue that doesn’t have to include digging ie whistle, phone, assembly of probes and shovels, transceiver search etc. Anything and everything that teaches respect for the mountain is good imho.
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