Ski trip with a 1 year old. Is it worth the hassle?

A snowHead

Hi,

I usually ski with the mrs every winter, typically in a chalet pre covid.

We now have a baby who will be 12 months in Jan/Feb.

Does anyone have any experience doing a ski trip with a child of this age? Is it worth it in terms of additional costs and things to take, and the likely reduced time on the mountain..?

Thanks.

A snowHead

In answer to last question it all depends.

When we had one child at similar age and a year later we did a couple of holidays one with SIL who we shared childcare with (and we paid the whole cost of accommodation and transfer costs, in recompense) and the other was with my parents. With my parents there was a misunderstanding on what was meant about sharing childcare... their expectations were me and hubby sharing, then one of us would ski with them on alternate days.

A couple of years later we discovered Esprit (by which point we had a 4 year old and 1 year old) it was amazing! First week off all cooking and cleaning for 5 years!

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

I've done it and yes it is worth the hassle. I think we made 3 trips before our son was 2. They were all good. Having flown on one of the trips I would suggest driving is by far the easiest option. The cost isn't much more, depending on how you arrange child care. There is, of course lots to take with you and yes you loose some time on the slopes.

Having a child is, indeed, a hassle but most people think it is worth it in the end.

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1) you cant ski together if someone needs to look after the baby
2) you will be doing 1/2 days or full days on your own - depending on how/if you alternate
3) it means 1 person having to struggle with a baby if the plan was to meet for lunch, etc.
4) you can find some resorts that allow you to share a lift pass in such cases, but dont ask me which ones.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

We have done this before with mixed results, it is important you are both really keen to ski.

My wife is not a very keen skier and she ended up not bothering with the skiing on one of the trips even though we had paid for my mother to come along to look after my son. This was not a great outcome and we didn't bother going together with my son again. Since then any attempts at a family ski holiday have been a bit of a failure.

I now take my son on my own at Feb half term and my wife saves her annual leave for other things.

However if you are keen to give it a go here are my tips:
1) It may be worth it because in a few years you'll be stuck with school holidays (there are loads of threads on here to give you an idea of what this means)
2) Go late season so you can take advantage of the longer days and more things to do for the person looking after the baby (if it's minus 20 then you'll be stuck)
3) If you have a parent that you can bring along and is happy to care for the baby during the day then this is a great option. Offer to pay for them and be clear it is a quid pro quo otherwise you may not get the childcare you expect (as per other post). It may be economic if you are driving
4) As previously mentioned if you want some inclusive childcare Esprit are a good option before they reach school age. This is because they tend to be quite good value outside the school holidays.

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It all depends, as noted above! If you can afford to pay someone else to look after the baby (and Esprit sound ideal) and you have the sort of baby who is OK to be left (they vary enormously in this regard), it could be fine. But 12 months is not an easy age - often become very clingy and if walking, still unsteady on feet, likely to keep falling in the snow, and extremely reluctant to be coralled in a push chair or similar for any length of time. We didn't take ours at that age (couldn't afford it) but I have been a childcare granny, so I speak from some experience. French children keep their cute little sunglasses on. My granddaughter tore hers off constantly, ditto with mittens.

Yes, paying for a "nanny" to come along with you, in the form of a doting grandmother/grandfather/aunt/uncle) could be idea, if you have such a thing available.

Driving definitely easiest to take the enormous amount of clobber without which no young child seems to be able to go anywhere these days.

Holidays with babies bear no relation to holidays before....... but then you didn't have a baby in order for life to continue uninterrupted, did you?

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After all it is free

@dh900, Yes!
Then your child will accept ski holidays as normal.
But taking a baby and all of you enjoying the holiday means expense.
With daughter at 4 months (and breast feeding) we took grandparents - grandpa skied, grandma looked after Rosie,
From then on we went with Ski Esprit. Very lucky for couple of years they had a small 3 bedroom chalet in Courchevel with dedicated nanny: brilliant. Then she was old enough to enjoy the other kids.
Also did holidays sharing child care with another couple with similar children (we had added a son by then). Worked well.
So, go for it. Expect to pay for it. But it will be worth it. Very Happy

Breastfed babies are a dream to take on holiday. I took No 3, at 6 - 12 weeks to Disney World, Washington DC, the New Forest and Worcestershire. Flights easy because you always have the means to shut them up, and they can sleep in a drawer. At 12 - 20 months when they want to walk up and down the aisle annoying people and are too little to be entertained with free British Airways cut out models of Concorde which were all the rage at one point ...... completely different story!

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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

We took a non skiing member of Lady F's family to help....and the toddler was happier with someone they knew. It's still hard work, so you have to love your skiing.

When going Self Catering, it often filled out the apartment, saving underoccupancy fee (we went with a T.O.).

For us, it was worth it.

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@dh900, we did it and used family orientated tour operators that offered good quality specialist nanny services.
Don't scrimp on the childcare as having your youngster happy and well looked after means that you and your wife can go off skiing and enjoy some quality time together with a clear conscience.

No. Wait until they are 3

You know it makes sense.

i made trips with our kids since the were 6 months . And i think my daugter was 4 months old when sie made her first holidays. And always in Alps. Winter and Summer
And without support (grandparents etc)

If you dont have a problem with the "logistics" or money why not?

Ok, it is a hard work with all those things you have to carry with, but once again why not?
There are hotels with baby care services, or appartments where you have plenty of space etc. We have done both.
My son is 8 y old, my daughter 6, and from the first year of his life we are taking them with us, without grandparents etc.

Although i have to mention here that i always choosed somewhere where there was near a Hospital (lets say 30min with the car or less) with a paediatric department such in case something happens.

Do it. Enjoy the time even if you dont ski as you want. You are a family and the kids are your family, and if skiing is a part of your life, there is nothing better than enjoying this with the kids. Even if they are 1 y old.

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

@dh900, also when you do go - as can't believe that wouldnt be the answer snowHead

take a few balloons as toys. They take up no room / weight before being blown up, give hours of enjoyment, then just popped and put in the bin, at the end of the week

A snowHead

A snowHead

Thanks for all the replies and insight!

The idea of paying for a willing family member to help with childcare sounds like a potential option, and possibly convincing other siblings with kids to make the trip . We usually go in January to avoid the peak season crowds and cost which I still think is wise with a young child. I'd never thought of driving though, which I will look into.

I think I need to look at the specialist family ski operators (Espirit, Ski Famille etc..) and compare their offerings and cost.

Then I guess the choice of resort is important with a short transfer or less of a drive from UK.

To summarise after all the comments, I think we will be going skiing next season, how the trip looks is still TBC....

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

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We've done three trips in our daughter's first two years, two with grandparents and aunties in tow, and one just the three of us. All have been to Livigno which for us is a very long day of travel (2 hours to the airport, 2 and a half hour flight, 4 and a half hour coach). We have enjoyed them immensely. The grandparents and aunties weren't there for childcare, we had accepted that we would be doing the bulk of that ourselves and that would mean drastically reducing the time we spent skiing. On balance for us, this was worth it. Our daughter got to spend loads of time with her extended family and absolutely loved messing about in the snow, seeing the reindeer (aka 'Sven' from Frozen), going on the gondolas etc. My wife is a bit less keen about skiing than I am, so we negotiated that I would ski first lifts for a couple of hours, then we would meet for coffees, family time and a long lunch and see how we felt after that. I managed a couple of blue sky powder days and two hours was enough to get the best of it.

For us the key parts were:

1. Very clear expectations on how much skiing we will be doing.
2. An acceptance that nightlife probably won't be part of the trip (though a wee 5pm beer in the pub next door always went down well before dinner).
3. Emphasis on lots of family time.
4. A large, high altitude (i.e. snowy at village level), family oriented, walkable resort that we knew well, with lots to do. This part was really key.
5. Easy access to the slopes - restaurants that back onto the slopes in the town with kids play areas etc.
6. An apartment with a balcony and at least 1 bedroom so we could relax while she napped/slept.
7. A willingness to tolerate major amounts of faff.

We've done a lot of skiing, but they have been some of our most fun trips.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

A word of warning against high altitude, can cause discomfort when trying to sleep.

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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

@element, we were staying at 2000m with a 1yr old and 4 yr old and definitely had issues from this

if money is not a problem at all, i suggest some kinderhotels in Austria.
There are a few e.g. in Serfaus or maybe Zauchenseehof (in Zauchensse) and in some other places (for France no idea at all)

Got location , all incl, with child care etc, near the lifts and not so high vor altitude problems

I found Zauchenseehof perfect (althoug a little bit old)

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@turms2, 100% yes. Kinderhotels are realistically the best chance for a holiday all of you enjoy with no stress. We’ve booked Hotel Löwen in Serfaus for next season.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Inasmuch as any trip is worth it. Children and parents all differ, and while some might be fine others might not. It's a lot down to how you specifically cope plus the usual uncertainty about how well any 1-year-old will behave on the day.

All I'd say is the obvious, that at any one time one of you will be handling the child an a non-home environment, with all that entails. If you're offloading the child fo the whole day then you have to ask yourself is it worth all that effort in terms of you and your partner skiing together all day. You're probably the best situated to answer that.

So in your evaluation, weigh up whether each of you might not prefer to go on a trip by yourself (i.e. not with the partner and child). So that you go on your trip separately to your partner going on their trip. If you feel that this will be better than trying to share childcare with reduced ski time, then that sort of gives you an answer.

snow reports

@LaForet, There's a lot of sense in that.

In our case, bringing someone out to help, was never about skiing all day together - but getting 2 or 3 hours in the morning - coming back for lunch and then getting an hour or so in the afternoon - back for tea and playtime outside.

Esprit all the way. We've skied every year with my son (now 13), except the winter after he was born. It's the only way to have anything like a regular ski holiday. Make the most of travelling outside school holidays - you won't have many more years. Of course you have to be comfortable having someone else look after your child. We never had any issues.

You know it makes sense.

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

A snowHead

We had a different solution, we left the baby at home. When our eldest was about 9 months, my mum offered to take him for a few days so we could have a short break together. Somehow this got stretched to a week, with my mum doing half the week, and the MIL doing the other half! The year after we didn't ski at all because the second child arrived mid January, but for the next 5 years we went off for a week, leaving the children at home with both Grandmothers imported for the week. The last 2 of those years we did 2 trips a year, one with the kids and one leaving them at home. I know we were lucky!

A snowHead

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

Our first family ski trip we had our 5 year old daughter and 18 month old son. I would ski in the mornings and my wife isnt too bothered about skiing (shes never tried it yet but im sure she will love it when she does!) so she would take the 5 year old sledging and the little one would pad about on the snow abit.

Its been the same each year until this year at New Year when my daughter (now Cool

finally decided to do ski school and picked it up realy well so me and her spent february half term skiing together and my wife tootled along with my son (now 4). Hes 5 in November and said he wants to do ski school on our New Year trip and my wife is going to learn then too.

So its took a while but im hoping by our feb half term trip we can all ski together on some easy slopes which would be absolutely fantastic!

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Since you asked, I would say "no" unless you don't want to ski together. That in itself could be a nice break for the parents. If you're fine with just dividing the day in half, go for it.

I have mostly erased the bad parts of young children from my brain, and only the good stuff is left. But I definitely recall traveling being a trial until they were age 5 or so.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I would say "yes".

You don't need to spend much money, especially if you share childcare. You only need to buy 2.1 plane tickets, and you can make do with a small apartment which will be super cheap outside the school holidays.

In a few winters time your family ski trips will be much (much) more expensive. You'll regret not going!

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We took our one year old daughter (actually would have been nearer 18 months) without problems. But that was with a company that offered childcare (Simply Ski, no longer trading) and our daughter went to nursery at home and easily adapted to a different nursery. It all worked pretty well.

We wouldn't have considered it if we were taking turns to provide childcare ourselves, each only skiing half time and not with each other for company. And if we hadn't kept going on ski holidays, it would probably have been harder to start up again. Not cheap though, when you think how it all added up over the years (mostly Esprit after that).

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3 trips under our belt by the age of two. Snowbizz in PSV were awesome, all geared around best childcare experience, definitely worth a look for your first solo trip. Also had good experiences with roping in parents who were happy to come spend sometime with their grandaughter (we subsidised a fair chunk). Good advice on going later in the season as bit warmer, but with the right gear would have no worry about time of year. We tend to drive, but can not imagine taking all the stuff we took on a plane! We utilised the night to get some miles under our belt in peace!

After all it is free

Should have also said, definitely worth the hassle. A bit more planning needed but lots of fun to be had for you all on and off the slopes

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One of my best ski trips was when my wife took our 9 month old home to her family in SW France and I went to the Club Med in Chamonix with a friend.

I skied twice in the US with my daughter before she was ready to ski on her own. 1st time she was up front in a kangaroo pouch. IIRC, she cried on the short lift ride up the beginner chair, but enjoyed the ski down. The 2nd time she was a bit older and was in a proper hiking backpack designed to carry kids. We took about 3 gondolas/chairlifts, several where the lifties said how cute she was. At the top of the last lift, the attendant came out and said ski patrol wanted to talk to me. I waited 5 or 10 minutes, then just skied down and downloaded the gondola to our hotel.

Help!!

Ski trip with a 1 year old. Is it worth the hassle?

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