Are you an active person?
Do you enjoy the cold?
Have you ever dreamed of fighting with your kids on the side of a mountain?
If you answered yes, or even if you answered no, to any of these questions, then going on a family ski trip may be right for you. Of course, even an experienced skier may be hesitant to take the whole family skiing for the first time. But, have no fear, because this handy dandy guide breaks down the essentials of a family day at the mountain. Follow these pointers and you will be making family memories in no time.
Prep
Before you do anything else, you need to mentally prepare yourself for this ski day. Specifically, you need to be mentally prepared to drop a small fortune on this enterprise. The gear, the tickets, the travel costs all add up very quickly. Before you lose your mind, and think about everything else you could do with that money (like save for your retirement), remember this: “We’re making memories here.” Now, take out that credit card and make paying for this day future you’s problem.
Of course, with some real advanced planning, there are ways to save a little money. One easy way that both a seasoned ski bum and a beginner can handle is to pack your own lunch. Grab a cooler, get up really early, and make some sandwiches. Be sure to make an individual sandwich for each member of your ski party. Plus, have a few extras along with chips, snacks, and drinks. While this will take some extra effort on your part, the savings over buying lunches in the lodge are significant.
As an added bonus, bringing your own lunch means you will get the chance to fight with at least one of your kids in the ski lodge. After all, they don’t care about the savings, or the fact that you got up before the sun to make lunch, or the fact that you cut the crust off the bread to their exact specifications, they want the overpriced chicken fingers and french fries from the lodge. And, after all, can you really call something a family activity if it does not involve a public fight with a kid?
Establish a Base Camp
When you first arrive at the mountain, don’t think of yourself as a parent on a ski trip. Imagine that you are Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, the first men to climb Mount Everest. You do not just proceed to the top of the mountain, you must first establish a base camp. Now, the most important part of your base camp is not the dozens of bags, coolers, and extra mittens that you hauled into the lodge. Rather, the most important piece of your base camp is your seat reserver.
What is a seat reserver you ask? Quite simply, a seat reserver is another adult. Ideally, this adult hates skiing, and therefore has no desire to actually go onto the mountain. The seat reserver must be either completely socially unaware or a borderline sociopath because he or she must occupy a table for ten almost entirely by themselves for upwards of six to eight hours. They must be immune to the hateful glares and mutterings of skiers struggling to find a place to sit for even a moment. Bonus points if your seat reserver has an obnoxious toddler who treats the entire ski lodge as his own personal jungle gym.
On the Mountain
Family skiing is a group activity. Ideally, you will have at least one other family with yours during this activity. You need to have a large and diverse party, like the Donner Party had. While you will (obviously) be the undisputed leader of your party, you need at least one other adult with you on the mountain. Having two adults will allow you to have anywhere from one to a dozen kids on the slopes with you. The next part is crucial: make sure that the kids in your ski party are wildly different in age, ability, and overall level of interest in the sport. If you do not find yourself trying to cox one stationary kid, petrified with fear, to slowly descend the mountain, while another kid shoots off like a rocket down the mountain into the thronging masses below, you have not really gone on a family ski trip.
Also, hopefully you have some level of either scouting or military experience as you try to navigate the various trails around the mountain. Sure, there will be maps around the mountain, but they will not be to scale and will often seem to require uphill skiing. And, of course, the trails will all be labeled with a seemingly simple colored coded system to indicate the level of difficulty. However, know that this system seems to vary from mountain to mountain. Also, as snow is not a permanent substance, the makeup of a trail can change over the course of the day. What was powdery bliss at the start of the day can become an icy sheet of death by late afternoon. Factor in the different members of your ski party, and every run becomes a roll of the dice. Will this be an enjoyable experience for all or the worst moment of your life? Really, you have no way of knowing in advance.
Apres Ski
“Apres Ski” is a French term that means, “Do you want to cut our losses and call it a day?” If you have not done a family ski trip before, then Hollywood and the media likely has painted a vivid picture of Apres Ski for you. There you are, sitting elegantly in your knit sweater with your legs stretched out in front of a roaring fire. You are sipping something delicious while enjoying a little fondue. A back rub from the love of your life? Sure!
The reality is a little different. It is a packed, sweaty ski lodge filled with hard benches and screaming kids (several of whom belong to you). Sure, you might have a drink, but it is either a can of domestic beer that is as cold as the summit of Mount Washington or a cup of hot chocolate as hot as molten lava. It doesn't really matter which you choose, because you are not going to be able to enjoy it. You have about six seconds before at least one of your kids is in full on meltdown mode. After all, you hung tight at lunch and refused to buy them something from the mountain cafe. Of course, they also hung tight and refused to eat that PB&J. Now they are cold, tired, and starving. And, to be honest, so are you. Of course, there are a couple of restaurants nearby, but the wait for a party your size is about three and a half days. Good luck with that.
Wrap Up
If all of this makes you wonder, Why would I take my family skiing? The answer is quite simple, to make memories. To be clear, I am not saying that they will be fond memories. Bad memories are also memories.
Also, neon clothes never go out of style on ski mountains. So, there is that.
Happy Skiing!