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How much regression to expect?

Sheena

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I felt like I had to report back!

Saturday was our first day of the season. We got our passes, got everyone suited up, and headed up the chairlift. At the top, we got off the chair and my 4-year-old started to freak out. Oops! In hindsight, we should have started on the bunny slope, but he was looking so comfortable on the skis at the base I thought we were ok. The first run was ROUGH. I sent the rest of the family off to ski, and the little guy and I took our time. I didn't rush him, but I did push him to keep moving. By the halfway point everything started to click again, and by the time we got to the bottom (1.5 hours later for a not that long trail), he was having a blast and couldn't wait to get on the lift again!

By the end of the day, the fear was (mostly) gone, and his technique was looking pretty darn good. He was even finishing some turns in parallel! I think after another day or 2 he'll be back to where he was last year. Now I just need to work on him getting back up by himself!

I had a similar experience. My two youngest were 4 last season, and by the end of the year were finally skiing down the bunny hill at Snowbasin independently. I took them up on Thursday for opening day. To say the first run was rough is an understatement. It was so ridiculous, that people were skiing by laughing at me. The epic nature of the meltdowns was pretty spectacular. But we finally made it down, and took a break at the bottom - they wanted to go home, I was able to convince them to try again, and after 3 more runs, they were back in form more or less. We went out again today, and no issues and were back to making nice turns and such. I think that first day is SO hard.

Glad to hear that your little one got back into it too :smile:
 

Kimmyt

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
@Sheena did you take the twins by yourself!? I can barely manage my one at a time, so color me impressed if you did!
 

Sheena

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
@Sheena did you take the twins by yourself!? I can barely manage my one at a time, so color me impressed if you did!


Lol yeah. On Thursday it was just me and my twins. Yesterday was all of us so my dh was there.
To be fair though, I think they are a year or so older than your little one?? They just turned 5 a few weeks ago. So definitely a slightly more manageable age.
 

Sheena

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Oh, and @MsWax I just noticed that you said your 3.5 year old was skiing blues and blacks last year - thats amazing! Sounds like he has really taken to the sport.

I know all kids progress at different rates, but my dd just started skiing blues last year at 6, I am always super impressed to see super little ones getting on the more advanced terrain so young.
 

MsWax

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Oh, and @MsWax I just noticed that you said your 3.5 year old was skiing blues and blacks last year - thats amazing! Sounds like he has really taken to the sport.

I know all kids progress at different rates, but my dd just started skiing blues last year at 6, I am always super impressed to see super little ones getting on the more advanced terrain so young.

I will say that the "blacks" were a generous rating that likely wouldn't transfer to many other mountains. He was a solid blue for sure, though. I attribute that being on the slopes about 40 days last winter, and his unusually large/strong build.

He's now pretty much back to where he was at the end of last season. However, he's so big now he doesn't LOOK that impressive on the mountain. A stranger looking at him would likely think he's 6, but I know he's only 4!
 

Moonrocket

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
It amazes me that my daughter seems to have the growth in size/strength outweigh the time off every year. She just turned 8 and this year I think her observation skills grew a ton. She turned to me a few days ago and asked “am I supposed to turn after every bump?” I said yes and before I knew it she was ripping down a perfect zipper line and waiting for me at the bottom. Both her dad and I were gobsmacked.

(Having spent the past 5 years trying to convince her not to traverse the entire slope.)
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
It amazes me that my daughter seems to have the growth in size/strength outweigh the time off every year. She just turned 8 and this year I think her observation skills grew a ton. She turned to me a few days ago and asked “am I supposed to turn after every bump?” I said yes and before I knew it she was ripping down a perfect zipper line and waiting for me at the bottom. Both her dad and I were gobsmacked.

(Having spent the past 5 years trying to convince her not to traverse the entire slope.)
Welcome to the tween years! :smile:
 

echo_VT

Angel Diva
we took our 6 year old back this year and she was in new boots and new skis b/c she grew.

it took us maybe 2-3 days to get the muscles back. we were very tired after 1 or 2 runs. it wasn't easy.

i would say by the 4th time we went out she was back in terms of being able to last out there (muscles-wise). by the 6th time out she was more comfortable on blues and picking up speed as she did before. i know the other day she did a black run, that was maybe her 8th day on hill - so i would say she was progressing by day 8.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
:bump: for new members about to experience their first return to the slopes for a kid age 7 and under. Got a story to share? Boy or girl?

@MsWax , @Sheena : have you been out on the slopes with your kids yet? If so, how did it go this year?
 

MsWax

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
We've had 4 days on the slopes so far this season. My youngest is 5, and this year has been a HUGE improvement over last year. He's skiing really well, and after his lesson on 12/1 he's linking nice parallel turns on green/blue terrain. I see the wedge creeping in when he gets on natural terrain with bumps or anything too steep, so I'm working hard to not "over terrain" him. I think (hope?) with a few more lessons under his belt this year he'll be comfortable on the blacks as well.

My older 2 (8 and 10) are better than I am, and don't miss a beat getting back on the slopes. I thought my oldest may struggle a little with his longer skis this year, but they only help him go faster! :ski2:
 

Sheena

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
:bump: for new members about to experience their first return to the slopes for a kid age 7 and under. Got a story to share? Boy or girl?

@MsWax , @Sheena : have you been out on the slopes with your kids yet? If so, how did it go this year?

We have only about 10-11 days under our belts so far. My kids are all doing the ski school "race development" program. My now 6 year olds (as of Nov) are able to ski parallel on green and easy blues here. We tried a steeper harder blue and it was an epic disaster. My 8 year old is going after powder crud and trees on blues! So fun to watch them progress.

AS a bonus they all have lessons on Saturdays so I have some alone ski time this year. Buuuuuut, I have realized that my skiing has seriously regressed. I signed up for a 3 Saturday lesson package so hopefully I an fix some of the bad habits I have picked up.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Thanks for the update!

AS a bonus they all have lessons on Saturdays so I have some alone ski time this year. Buuuuuut, I have realized that my skiing has seriously regressed. I signed up for a 3 Saturday lesson package so hopefully I an fix some of the bad habits I have picked up.
Give it a few years. Once the younger kids are fully independent, then you'll have plenty of incentive to up your game. I tried to improve in order to stay a better skier than my daughter but since I was paying for ski school for her--but not for myself--she was leaving me behind by the time she was 10. :smile:
 

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