Keeping in Touch/Tracking Kids on the Slopes?

[GabbyNYTX]

Hi all! We are approaching ski season!! Thinking about our December trip to Whistler. We will definitely be starting out our vacation with lessons for everyone and then family skiing. However, kids (10 and 14) are already more advanced and I am sure the gap will grow this winter. I want us all to stay together, but inevitably we may get separated or kids may surge ahead. How do you contact your kids if you get separated or track them if they go ahead? Fourteen year old has a phone but it will be buried in his coat pocket. I was thinking of lending him my Samsung watch and connecting it to his phone while on the slopes so I can track his location and contact him. 10 year old doesn't have a phone. Should I invest in a kids watch for him? Is there another system? Thank you!!!

 

[pinto]

Radios work well. Motorola Talkabouts have some fairly inexpensive ones.

 

[marzNC]

Haven't had to think about kids younger than 12 for a while. Back when my daughter was a tween, I actually got a demand flip phone so that she and I could text. We were only skiing our home hill a few long weekends a season at that point. I could turn it on for 4-7 days. That was a decade before smart phones became standard everywhere. We did radios a bit for our small home mountain, but they can be a pain.

Regardless of what communication technology you end up with, having a clear understanding of backup meet up locations and times is important. With a large destination resort that has multiple bases and on-mountain lodges, best to go tother to those locations in the first couple days.

There are some comments about how to stay in touch in this thread started in 2015 that still apply to tweens and young teens:

Tips for adults skiing with little kids

Since I spent a couple weekends in January with my friend's little ones (ages 4 and 6) who were skiing for the first time, wondering what tips we can collect together for skiing with young kids. In particular, kids who can ski unassisted but are young enough that they are always skiing with an...

www.theskidiva.com

 

[wernerslab]

I have a 14 yr old who snowboards better than I ski! Until now, if it is just us we usu stick together but a few things we have tried/seen work. His friend and his parents use radios at the local areas to keep in touch when they don't ski together. My son and I tried this with radios we had at home at Sugarbush for a day this year but it didn't really work well for us. The choice of radio may be key! My son has a phone and while I have used Ikon pass tracking in the past, he found the Slopes app last season and so we used that to track one another when we were at the mountain. The slopes app works well to tell you where they are (and make sure they are moving!) even when call coverage on mountain is spotty. If you just want to know where he is, that should work. He started skiing at 11 so he either stayed with me or I put him in a full day lesson at the slopes. I still don't feel great thinking about sending him out solo on the slopes this year but with the tracking app and some repeated safety instructions (don't ski trees solo), I think it will work ok. Agree with Marz on preplanning where to meet up and when and looking at the resort layout before ski day.

 

[pinto]

Would AirTags work? For tracking, not communication.

 

[marzNC]

Would AirTags work? For tracking, not communication.

Interesting idea. I don't see why not.

I've been using AirTags in checked luggage and backpacks for the last few years. Been long enough that I've had to replace the battery on one of them a couple times. Get a notification when the battery is low.

 

[scandium]

If you have reception, how about bluetooth earbuds with a microphone for the older one? That way if you phone they can easily pick up (as long as not actively skiing) and/or retrieve phone to call you back. Cheap ones aren't noise cancelling so they can hear what's going on around them as well. Will 10yo/14yo stay together or is the 14yo significantly faster and more impatient? If there is a higher chance of separation then you may need to think of a different way to contact the younger one.

If it's just to track them rather than contact I agree airtags or an app may be the way to go!!

 

[Skac1919]

Would AirTags work? For tracking, not communication.

They are ok but not great. There is not WiFi on the hill, so once past the lodge they are location-pinging off nearby skiers iPhones (which may or may not have reception). That makes their update frequency delayed, and completely useless in a lower-populated area. When you go to “find my”, you get a location marker on a road map - no ski area landmarks - and driving directions.

Learned all this when I lost SpeedDemon1919 at Okemo a couple years ago. His AirTag was pinging on a crowded trail, and he was still surprisingly hard to find. I don’t think it would have worked at all in more remote glades etc - unless maybe the technology has improved.

 

[marzNC]

Garmin has a kid's smart watch for $149. Seems to have potential for use on a ski slope.

Bounce™

Green Burst

www.garmin.com

 

[aliciaski]

My friend has two kids and got them each the cheapest Apple watch to track their location and be able to message them without giving them phones.

 

[LucieCZ]

Would AirTags work? For tracking, not communication.

I agree with others that air tags aren't very useful. We got them for our 4 & 6 yos. They aren't good for locating them on the mountain. However, we still put them on them because it can help give a rough location ... like are they skiing or at lunch.