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Toddler skiing at Steamboat/WP

Kimmyt

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
For Christmas, Santa brought our almost-3yo a pair of big kid skis, and after a few days of getting him used to them and skiing between our legs in the front yard, we took advantage of some nice springlike weather and got him on the magic carpet on our weekend trip to WP/Steamboat.

On Friday at Winter Park, I skied while my husband entertained the kids (no small feat with a cranky 6 month old who is trying to learn to crawl and a 3yo who has opinions on EVERYTHING). They went sledding in town while I enjoyed soft snow in the trees and bumps and a luscious lap of windblown powder after a hike to the Cirque.

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We stopped over at Winter Park base while the sun was shining to take the toddler on his first magic carpet ride. To say he was stoked is an understatement, he loved that he could 'do it all by myself!' even though mom and dad were party poopers and wouldn't let him ride on the gondola and chair lift and go 'all the way to the top!'

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Saturday we were at Steamboat and after a rough night (our infant's first night out of the house and our first night as a family of four stuffed in a hotel room for a ski trip) my husband got to enjoy 5" of new snow and blowing wind while I entertained the little ones at the old town hot springs. Which, I highly reccomend if you have kids. The water in the big pool is perfect for even infants (97F to ~1002F in spots) and they have an assortment of puddle jumpers and life vests for young kids to use that can't swim. The daycare is really nice and the ladies that work there couldn't be nicer, even when your 6mo decides that she is going to scream her head off because she wants a nap and you have to run in dripping wet from the pool to try and calm her down.

That afternoon, we took the toddler for more laps on the magic carpet, this time at the base of Steamboat. This was my first time taking him and it was... more challenging than I expected. But, he was starting to get the hang of shuffling his feet to move and once I figured out that he didn't want me to pull on his ski harness too much and just let him do his thing, it worked much better. He was starting to get much more comfortable gliding and I just used the handle on the harness to slow him down and stop/turn him if he needed it.

All the folks that work at Steamboat are so friendly, I really see why this is such a great family ski resort. My son even got a special badge/sticker from the guy who was moving the wagons- 'SHERIFF OF SHRED'

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On Sunday, I skied in the morning and enjoyed a low wind day, hopping around on the upper mountain to find where the snow was softest and least sun affected. We all met for lunch at the TBar which is my favorite place for a bite to eat on the mountain (if you can find parking), and apparently the hangout spot for people with young kids. We ate lunch in the sun while my son played in the snow and then we skied just down the trail to another magic carpet which was much less crowded than the one at the base. Several laps there and my son was actually gliding the whole way down without me hardly touching him, although he did get frustrated at me for 'pulling him' when I needed to use the harness to help him move along. We did a bunch of laps on the carpet before his need of a nap outweighed his desire to ski.

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Overall, a very successful (albeit exhausting for us parents) trip. Mostly this year we are working on getting my son to just learn to like sliding on the snow and not be afraid of it. And of course getting used to his ski boots and moving on skis. He showed a ton of improvement in those regards in just the three days that he skied. Next year when his little legs get stronger we will focus more on getting him to ski by himself and learn to wedge/turn but right now I'm happy that he loves to ski!

Bonus points for when I skied down to meet him after my morning at Winter Park and he said to me, 'Mama, you're a really good skier!' Thanks, kiddo!
 

Christy

Angel Diva
Slight tangent but I have 4 different colors of your Icebreaker 200 top, including that purple/gray color, and I LOVE those. I wear them constantly, to bed to sleep, as base layers for skiing, as a sweater around the house.
 

RachelV

Administrator
Staff member
All the folks that work at Steamboat are so friendly, I really see why this is such a great family ski resort. My son even got a special badge/sticker from the guy who was moving the wagons- 'SHERIFF OF SHRED'

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I will happily cart someone's toddler around the Steamboat base area in one of those wagons in exchange for the opportunity to get a SHERIFF OF SHRED patch for myself. PM me to coordinate ;)
 

Kimmyt

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I totally had the opportunity to snag an extra one. If I'd thought ahead I could have traded you a badge for an hour of babysitting!
 

Tvan

Angel Diva
Great story! Thanks for sharing!
 

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