Fun family ski day at Beaver Mountain…known as Ski the Beav! Kicking off our winter 2016-2017 skiing with family in UTAH. We started at beaver mountain… Tana Hallows, Creative Director of Destination Nursery will be sharing her fun tips + tricks for best locations and ways to get the most out of skiing with your family this or any season in our series about skiing with family in Utah.
Hello, Tana here, and may I first begin with saying, its never too late to start your kids skiing or boarding…young or old, they can learn. If they are like mine…they will LOVE it and never want to stop! I recommend if they are young and you have a choice, starting at age 3 or 4 is ideal…at that age,most seem to be more aware + the instruction they get in their lessons will stick. My little P is 5 and she started last year at age 4. This age seemed like the best for her, but even if they are older, like my two boys started at ages 11 & 12, which was still really good, they did amazing!!
Now into our 2nd year, and what a difference that year makes as they are already accustomed to the mountain + have some confidences. We had an amazing time as a family at Beaver Mountain. They hosted us for 2 days of skiing and boarding, my 16 year old daughter loves to snowboard. Whoah it was great, lots of nice powdery hills, and so family friendly. We stayed with some good friends who live in Logan, Utah. The resort is about 40 min from Logan, rught up the canyon…super cosy…they even let you bring your own pot of soup or chili! Family owned + operated you really don’t see that often, I worked directly with Grandma Marge and met her there, sweetest most kindest ever [the lift Marges Triple I would guess was named after her 😉 ]
Very impressed by the 4 lifts, over 40 trails + 2 terrain parks…with 2 days of skiing, I feel like we were lucky to get through most of it…no black diamonds usually for me…but they had a few trails that said black diamond and surprisingly I was able to get through them… As an intermediate yet somewhat cautious skier…this was really fun for me to feel like I could do something I never thought possible! Sharing more fun below plus a few Tips for getting your kids easily out on the mountains this season.
After skiing last year several times with a few lessons, first off we got little p… re-acquainted with the mountain by sending her up the magic carpet several times. We then took her to the little beaver lift for most of the days. While my other kids had fun skiing and boarding all over the mountain.
Loved spending priceless family time together over these 2 days at Ski the Beav…creating these family memories is really what it’s all about. Plus I love getting outside and doing something active together.
TIP #1 Take a lesson…from the start, I would encourage you to get your child enrolled in a proper lesson. So many make the mistake thinking, I’m a decent skier, I might as well teach my kids a few things to get them started. Do n0t make this mistake as I promise you will regret it. Most kids really will listen better to someone else, even if they are afraid and do not want to do it..they will stick with it…for the teacher. You can then save yourself the stress + the crying from your child that most often occurs. As well you can go and enjoy yourself for a few hours while they are having fun too. Little P has had several lessons, love that these have helped her understand safety but most important she feels comfortable and gains more confidence each time we are on the mountain.
Another idea, why not take a lesson yourself, even though I have skied for years, I tried a lesson last year and loved it! You’re never too old to learn more and become better :).
TIP #2 Season Ski Rentals are a MUST! 2 important reasons, 1-its very affordable. Most cost approx $80 for kids and $100-125 for adults. Growth spurts tend to happen every year, no worries, as you will have a new set of skis every year with each new season rental. 2- its so convenient, you are able to pick them up at the beginning of the season, take them in for FREE maintenance if needed, waxing etc, plus if your child also has a growth spurt during the season you can have them adjusted or upsized for FREE. This year we partnered with Ski ‘n See for our season rentals and we have been so pleased with their skis and service. Sharing specific details about our season rentals from Ski ‘n See in a previous post HERE.
TIP #3 Season Passes are so worth it… Most resorts in UTAH offer FREE skiing for kids 5 and under, which means all you would need to do is pick up a season pass for you. But if you have older kids, take advantage of the SKI UTAH 5th & 6th Grade Season Pass for only $35!! As a 5th grader your child will have the chance to ski twice at any Utah resort. As well the 6 th graders will get to ski once at every resort. This pass is what really started us skiing, as last year my younger son was in 5th grade. Loved that we could take advantage of this great program from SKI UTAH….We were able to ski at several Utah resorts last year, and will hit even more this year yay!
TIP #4 It’s possible to ski on a budget! There are many ways to keep it affordable….knowing what I know now, I wish I would have started my older kids when they were younger. First as I mentioned in my previous tips, get a season pass for yourself while your kids are little and its FREE for them, like 3,4,and 5, there are even some resorts here in utah that offer skiing free to littles up to the age of 10. Another thing you can utilize is the passports for 5th and 6th graders from SKI UTAH. As well investing in season ski or board rentals… you will save yourself money simply by not buying a whole ski package. With season rentals for kids starting as low as $75, its so worth it. Especially since they seem to grow every year and will need new ones each year anyway. We picked up or season rentals from Ski n’ See….check out our post all about why we love season rentals here + they are offering you a special discount of 27% off with code TANASKI
Last we also pack a healthy lunch, waters plus snacks and take our lunch break sitting down on the outdoor tables or the lodge enjoying our lunch and the beautiful scenery. This saves money too right away as we are not buying a $10+ lunch for 5-7 people.
So to recap, buying season rentals yearly for the season each year, we are able to save a min of $200 per person as we are not buying a min package of skis, boots, poles per person… we get the season rental at a fraction of the cost then return the set at the end of the season…that is at least $1000 in savings right away.
TIP #5 Too much too soon….as a parent we naturally want to push our kids to always better their best. But when it comes to skiing or boarding, you have to be patient with the process, they will naturally get better with time the more they are on the mountain. For some reason I learned this same lesson again that day…
I share this because it happened while skiing there at Beaver Mountain. Its funny now but it was not so funny then. On the 2nd day I was thinking ok little P has been doing so well on the green runs maybe it would be ok to take her up to a blue/intermediate run…I reasoned it may be a little steeper but she can go slower back and forth…like that should not be too hard right? Wrong, it was super hard I found out and not only scary for her, but scary for me too. So I kinda talked her into going on a harder trail/lift…we got off the lift and everything was all good, until we started to go and she froze…she saw the incline and said I can’t do it! So I expressed my confidence and encouraged her to go down with me right by her. Well this didn’t go so well as she went more straight down instead of across and she got going so fast she could not stop…I went in front of her to help slow her down and we ended up tangling and I biffed it…with my skis up the mountain and my head down the mountain…and she was crying. More than embarrassed, I consoled her while thinking, wow we are not getting down this mountain anytime soon. Luckily my good friend saw us right at that moment and came to our rescue. She began skiing with little p in the middle of her skis as she helped her get down the mountain. Safely down, I realized that I should not have pushed her… from now on I will keep her on the green runs….:) But what was even funnier after this traumatic experience for her and me, I thought oh she will be done for the day, but no… she was so happy and still went onto have so much fun. At the end she says to me proudly, “I’m a good skier mom!”
Skiing with our friends, especially Kyle was the highlight of little p’s first day! She had a ball, he gave her some very individualized attention, sorta like a mini private lesson. Remember how I said they will listen better to others and not you when it comes to skiing. He was the reason she was so confident by the end of the day, she also did great the second day too. We loved Beaver mountain, Ski the Beav, my kids want to go back there again and again! Thank you so much for hosting us!!
