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Teaching a teenager to ski?

knolan12

Angel Diva
Hey Divas,

My youngest brother is turning 16 on the 16th and for his present, my husband and I are going to teach him how to ski. We're going to throw him in a lesson first thing in the morning and then spend the rest of the day skiing together. He's never been on skis and I really want this to be a fun experience for him. I also learned at 16 and it was kind of a disaster (high school ski trip to Stowe, girlfriends let me go down the bunny hill like twice and then brought me up to the top of Toll Road, I had to be rescued by the Spanish teacher haha). It somehow didn't me put off skiing, but I definitely don't want the same experience for him. We're going to Ski Butternut in MA and figured we'd spend as long as he wants on the bunny hill and then progress up to the longer greens.

For those that have helped a teenager learn to ski, what did you find helpful? Or what has your teenager said helped them that first day out?
 

liquidfeet

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Is he aggressively athletic in nature, loving the thrill of danger?
Or shy, timid, and analytical in his approach to taking risks?

His personality will dictate what he is comfortable with after that initial lesson. Let him lead where you go. But I have some suggestions for your together time on the bunny slope.

Prime Directive: don't confuse him. Have him do one thing at a time, explained with as few words as possible.

A rule of thumb: speed before steep. Have him get comfortable speeding up on the bunny slope, then come to a stop in both directions by turning to the side to stop. Be sure he can do this in both directions before you take him to a green run. If he's using a big wide wedge when he turns to a stop, that will mess him up on steeper terrain. So encourage him to come to his stops with a very narrow wedge. This may be difficult for him to do. Having most of his weight on the downhill ski will allow him to slide that uphill ski over to narrow the wedge. Another way of looking at this: pull his feet together as the skis turn. Be prepared - teaching requires patience and compassion!

Also, if you can find anything a little bit more steep that's still accessible from the bunny slope, have him sidestep down that pitch without his skis taking off forwards or backwards. Sometimes this takes a bunch of tries. Then teach him to sideslip down that little extra-steep pitch without his skis shooting off forward or backward. If he can do that, then he can probably sidestep or sideslip down a pitch that causes him fear on the mountain.

Taking him onto terrain that frightens him will drive him to use defensive movement patterns (a very wide wedge when it's counter-productive). That's not good, so he needs to not end up on intimidating-to-him terrain.

If he's aggressive and eager to go up, he'll do fine emotionally as long as he doesn't hurt himself. But bad defensive habits will still naturally arise. Staying on the bunny slope to get his turns nailed down, and to cement sideslipping, is best. This should help prevent him from falling into defensive habits on the green trails up the mountain. If he insists, you might end up rushing his ride to the top anyway. Then you can teach him to sidestep and sideslip under control once up the hill, and have him practice coming to a full stop in both directions with a narrow wedge in both directions on green runs.

Best of luck! It's all about fun, right?
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Hmm, have only helped beginner tweens. Definitely make sure that the rental boots are as snug as possible. My niece (ages 10-14) found that even at a resort rental shop, there were more than one type of boots available. She would keep trying alternatives to come up with a better option. She only skied 1-2 days a season.

With the tween boy who was my friend's son, I had to make sure he went in to warm up often enough. He didn't want to stop skiing. I would sometimes tell him I needed to go in and he wouldn't object. But it was rare that he would say he wanted to go have hot chocolate.

Good to repeat the idea that when putting skis on, much easier when put on the downhill ski first. And pointed ACROSS the fall line. Saw quite a few kids in MT who were young enough to be trying to do it the hard way and were taking longer as a result.
 

knolan12

Angel Diva
@liquidfeet @marzNC This is really insightful, thank you!! I have no idea what kind of skiier he'll be. He's recently become an athlete (went from not participating sports EVER to being a 3 sport athlete haha) so I think we may see a little adventurousness from him, but I also think he's a thinker so it'll be an interesting balance. We'll definitely make sure he has the hard skills down before we attempt anything more difficult. Really excited to get him out there!
 

knolan12

Angel Diva
Any thoughts on making sure he gets the appropriately sized rental gear? @liquidfeet I feel like I recently read through a thread where you mentioned that rental boots are usually too big (maybe on the sideslipping thread?). Is it weird I measure his feet in centimeters before we get to the mountain to tell the shop? haha Also, pole length? I know he doesn't really need them for the first day, but I think they come with the package anyway. I overheard someone on the mountain today telling someone who rented that their poles were too short and I have on idea what size he'd need haha He's 6'0 - 6'1 if that helps.
 

liquidfeet

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Set the rental boots down on the floor next to his street shoes. Line the heels up. The two should be about the same size. That's how you check the length. If they aren't the same size, the boot will be too long for his foot. Help him get them on by holding the flaps open. He'll find them difficult to wedge his foot into by himself and ask for longer boots. Don't let him get longer boots until he's stood in these with his heels forced all the way back and until he flexes forward. His toes should pull back from the front wall when he closes his ankles to flex the front of the cuff where the tongue is.

If he normally wears narrow shoes, ask at the desk if they have rental boots that come are narrow. They might.

The rental shop will tell him how to figure out how long the poles should be.

It's MUCH easier to learn to ski without poles. His instructor may have the group ditch the poles, and if that happens, don't add them back in when the lesson is over; just take him skiing without them. They won't get stolen; rental poles can't be resold. You'll have to remember where they are, though.

My adult beginner students learn without poles and if I give them back at the end of the lesson for one run with them, the group inevitably all together says they hate them and won't use them the rest of the day. Which is fine by me - for beginners and novices. Poles get in the way of learning to balance and learning to make turns with the feet and legs. Beginners will try to manipulate their direction of travel by stabbing the snow with the poles before their skill set has developed.

Have fun!
 

Peaheartsmama

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Gosh that’s the best and simplest explanation I have heard for why beginners should not use poles! I’m gonna steal that the next time someone asks me why!
 

knolan12

Angel Diva
Skiing was was as success! My brother absolutely loved it and said he can't wait to go again :smile: Conditions were rough, it was all slush and slippery, but he did well despite it!

We dropped him off at the lesson and he ended up having a 1:1. We went off to ski for his 90 min and then headed back for the last 10 minutes to watch. I was a littleee concerned when I saw him kept trying to stop and somehow instead of hockey stopping, he spun like 360 degrees and kept popping out of his skis. I was also a little concerned when Connor told me he used his poles immediately and was immediately taken up the bunny hill lift. I was also concerned when he couldn't wedge turn or stop haha

My husband and I worked with him for another hour and a half (he skiied for 3 hours straight without a break!) and we definitely saw some improvement. Connor ended up being kind of freaked out by the lift in the end and wanted to avoid it. It was REALLY low (I even had trouble getting up from it) and he kept eating it when he got off. We switched to the magic carpet (which went up pretty high) to focus on skiing. We didn't want to make it traumatic for him so we didn't want to push it. We didn't have a ton of time to ski (had to get him back to CT for an event), but I think we could have progressed him to a step up from the bunny trail for a last run or two if we had more time.

Also, in typical teenager fashion, HE FORGOT HIS COAT hahaha Luckily my husband had the foresight to pack an extra. It's tough with him being in CT and us in the Boston area, but we were talking about how to get him up to us on a Friday night so we can take him skiing further north over the weekend. I think he'd do really well at Pat's Peak and that's an easy day trip for us.
 

liquidfeet

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Sounds like you all had a good time. Isn't it great that doing things right (getting off the lift without falling, stopping successfully without spinning out, remembering that coat) is not required when the goal is fun! I remember giggling so hard I couldn't stop when I first started skiing. I didn't take it so seriously back then and laughed out loud with every fall.
 

diymom

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
@knolan12 -- I don't know if you saw my posts last week, but I have some 2 for 1 coupons from tanking up at Irving gas that I won't get around to using. They include some places in CT, and also Pats. Just PM me if you are interested. The Irving site says I can just forward the reward email to a friend to transfer the coupon.
 

knolan12

Angel Diva
@diymom Ah thank you but I think we're good!! We actually have two tickets from REI to Pat's that I don't think we'll get to use :( :( :( Next winter I'll def take them off your hands hahaha
 

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