Skiing with Elanor

Last year, we took Elanor skiing a few times and she loved it. She loved going fast and did not want to have to ski alone because she just wanted to go fast! We took her up to Park City Resort this past Monday, where they have a magic carpet (conveyor belt type thing) and it is all free! It is a great place to take kids, for anyone in the Utah area.

Look at that face, all ready to ski! My camera was accidentally zoomed in, but it is still a cute picture.

Elanor rocked it this time around. The first few times down she wanted us to hold on to her, but once she felt confident she wanted to go straight down as fast as she could. We had to keep reminding her to turn or we would end up having to catch her as she bolted down the mountain. We skied for an hour and a half, took a lunch break and then skied for another hour. She was super exhausted by the end, but had a great time! I think some of the key things to know when taking young kids skiing are:

Getting ready to go!

1. Go on a nice day, you don't want your kids to remember only that it was wet, cold, windy, etc. You want to make the experience enjoyable.

2. Don't push them. Again you want them to like skiing, so if they are tired or just not feeling it, take a break, have a snack and try again. There was a dad there working with his 2 or 3 year old daughter and she was crying the whole way down as she skied. She was doing an ok job skiing, but if she is having a horrible time, the memory will just be a bad one.

Elanor was so excited to have her own hot chocolate.

3. Try and play little games with them. We played follow the leader and that worked really well and Elanor followed me as I skied down. Red light, green light is also a good one.

4. Ski with them so they have someone to watch and copy.

5. Don't take them on a rope tow. You will end up carrying them up it and that is not worth it and so tiring. Magic carpets are the best, so find a place that has a magic carpet. 

 Here are two little videos of her skiing: