ski or snowboard classes for 6/7 year old

A snowHead

due to take eldest who just turns 7 arround ski trip, he's been a reluctant ski starter up til now. Anyone experiance of trying both ski classes and snowboard classes for a 6/7 year old child and able to venture which would turn them on quickest

Puzzled

A snowHead

We encouraged our kids to learn toski first, assuming that if they learnt to snowboard they'd never bother to ski. They're now 12 and have skied for 8 years. The daughter's never boarded, the son has a few times. From our limited experience, they can learn to control skis very quickly and easily at 6/7 (which is irritating) but it takes them longer to control a board, so kicking off with skis may be bettter, especially if he isn't falling over himself (as it were) to do it at all. We were told not to stick the son on a board until he was 7 or 8, some safety/health thing, could be balls.

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My twins skied at 6 then switched to boarding at 8, no problem. My 5 year old is now a good skier and pestering to switch to boarding. I think I'll hold back until she's about 7, I don't think she could manage the lifts on a board until then.

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AFAIK many ski schools don't take kids for boarding until they're 8.

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brenmac, kids who can skateboard seem to take to snowboarding very quickly and it hurts less to fall. If your son is a good skateboarder he'd probably be fine boarding. But why has he been reluctant about skiing, and has he expressed any interest in boarding? Maybe it's the ski school experience he hasn't enjoyed, there's a huge variation in standards. But motivation is a key element of learning to board because of the steep and painful initial learning curve so unless he's desperately nagging you to let him have a go at it, it's probably not a great idea.

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brenmac, as per above, our 2 are both learning to ski first - both frantically want to board. For insurance reasons children are not allowed to board at norfolk ski club until 11/12 years old. I have decided to learn to board first, then I can have a little bit of understanding about what they will experience.

pam w, your suggestion about skateboarding is interesting - will try them on this first - does the protective gear do for both?? do you board too?

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Myself & the missus have both snowboarded for years, but we have got our kids to learn ski-ing first. I would agree with Richmond that kids pick up skiing very quickly & less painfully & can then start to get round the mountain more quickly.

Two years ago we spent a day with a French off piste snowboard guide. Although his daughter was 8 he was not letting her board until she was 9. It wasnt just the physical part of learning skiing vs boarding but he thought that kids also needed to be able to understand about fall lines & how a ski / board carved.

Learning to snowboard does not have to be a painful experience though (as long as you stay away from ESF that is). I think your idea of learning to snowboard first is a good one. My oldest daughter (9 years) has been keen to move to the dark side for years. What we do is hire a board for a couple of days in the middle of the week and I take her onto the beginner slopes late in the afternoon after the lifts have shut. We walk up the slope a bit then, holding her hands she practices "falling leafs" ie using her backside/frontside edges and her body position to control her board position relative to the fall line. We then practice "gliding" on a less steep part of the slope.

By doing this she can boast to her friends she has been "boarding", we can ski/board as a family and she prepares the basics for learning to board properly in the next few years.

After all it is free

Some ski schools won't take kids for boarding until they're 8/9, the argument being that they don't have the co-ordination for it until then.

Having just started boarding, I'd still recommmend skiing for a first-timer of any age - I think it's more natural and intuitive. Skiing is all about moving your weight from one foot to the other, something we've all been doing one way or another since we started to walk. Boarding is about balance and movement, and requires you to hold positions in which you would fall down unless you were travelling at a decent speed. This makes the first few days difficult, to say the least. The learning process is a bit easier of you can already ski, because you're used to the sensations of having no friction underfoot, looking down a slope, and sliding about at speed.

Exceptions to this might be skaters, as pam w suggests, and definitely surfers - all the surfers I know have just got on snowboards and whizzed off down red and black runs. Apparenly snowboarding is just the same but much easier.

The choice could depend on the size of your child and the resort. We visited every shop in Kitzbuhel last year before finally finding one with kit that was almost small enough for Sam, the boots were only 2 sizes too big and we laced them up really tightly. Nowhere else had boots smaller than size 36, and the smallest boards were 140, he needed size 31 and a board of 130 max.

He learnt to ski first and now is learning to board, he's been down the Kitzbuheler Horn, but still wants to keep to his skis, as he can go everywhere on them at any speed. We're going to Swadlincote at half term for a boarding day.

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Jane L, you can get smaller boards than that, but you'd probably have to buy rather than rent. One of our staff this season is riding a 135 Shocked

(She's quite wee!)

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I have started all of my granddudes out on skis but 2 of the 3 have converted to boards. The 12 year old is wanting do some skiing again. I am biased towards skiing but whatever they want to do for a snow sport is certainly what they should be doing. I remember Alex Lowe at the mangy moose being interviewed by an outside reporter...the reporter asked alex who was the best climber in the world--he thought about it for a few seconds and answered "The one who is having the most fun." So that is now how I feel about skiing or snowboarding. Whichever gives the kids the most joy is the one which they should be doing.

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in my experience throw the kids on anything - board or skis - and in 2 days not only will they love it, they will probably be better than their parents!!!!!!

I had the experience of helping out a friend and his two kids in the snow for a week in Australia (I'm from Sydney and YES, WE DO HAVE SKI FIELDS IN AUSTRALIA). his kids were 6 (a girl) and 8 (a boy). the little girl, Keeley, had never skied before - after day one she was very confident and was able to follow me (with a little help) over all the green runs. Day 2 she was with me on the blue runs and by the end of the week she was tailing me down the blacks as though she had been skiing for ten years. Her technique wasn't perfect but her confidence was there and she LOVED it!!

Now, I'm not even going to mention the 8 year old - that little $hit was fearless - even have the nerve to try and race me a few times in a few steep places .... I won sometimes.....

brian

pam w, beginner skateboarding has nothing like the same pain potential as beginner snowboarding for the simple reason that your feet aren't attached. You feel yourself going, you jump clear.

I got into boarding a bit in the early 90s and having done a bit of skateboarding I'd say that made it a lot easier.

brian

AndyTheSkiMachine, welcome to snowHead

s !

A snowHead

A snowHead

While with enough time/patience you can get even a 5/6 yr old boarding pretty well, I'm told that they can't really get their heads round boarding until 7/8 - hence most snowschools won't take them till they're 8yo. I started mine off skiing at 3yo, and will resist their apparently inevitable wish to board as long as it takes for them to get reasonably good at skiing. They're now 6yo and have skied for 4 weeks (plus some dry and xscape). At the rate they're going (2 weeks a year and regular xscape sessions) and judging by the excellent junior skiers in the xscape race club, I suspect it'll be at about 10yo that they'll get to board. By then I hope to be a reasonably good boarder!

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Dunno if anyone else is using it but a balance board with a half circle at each end (skateboard shape), you can stand on it and practice your balance while you are doing the ironing, dishes, standing in the bar etc....... just an idea ...you can use it in both ways, feet on either side of the half circle or feet parallel with the half circle snowHead

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ski or snowboard classes for 6/7 year old

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