My boy is old enough to learn to ski. As far away as that seemed a couple of years ago its here. He’s left toddlerdom behind and is an active little boy who likes to learn and try new things. Growing up in Arizona, I never hit the slopes until my second year of college, but being a Colorado native, the earlier the better for Nathan! With that in mind I thought it would be a good idea to review the ski school programs that we visit over the next several years. In poking around on the ‘net, I didn’t find much and thought it might be of help to other parents when deciding where to take the kids when its time to start carving! OK, learning to carve.

Saturday February 13th, 2010

I’ll start off by saying that we had planned on a full day lesson, but northwest flow over the state had produced 5 inches of snow on the Continental Divide overnight and it continued Saturday morning. Loveland Pass had been closed for 9 hours as we left Colorado Springs and the hourly closures of the Eisenhower Tunnel to allow trucks hauling hazardous cargo through along with reduced visibility in the still falling snow turned a normal 1:45 drive into 3 hours. Arriving after 10am, it wasn’t possible to get Nathan into the full day lesson, but the folks at the ski school were very accommodating  and did get us in for a half day lesson. These don’t seem to be available all the time (based on demand?), but there was one other child of similar age and skill with him during the afternoon lesson that started at 1pm.

Getting gear was a breeze and can be rented, helmet included, as part of the lesson for only five dollars! The operation is a well oiled machine from the registration and check-in area (reservations are required for 4 and 5 year olds as classes fill up prior to the actual day) that involves only a small amount of paperwork to the adjacent equipment area where Scott and his staff pleasantly work quickly to get each child the right gear and out the door as fast as possible. It seems like the goal of the staff in this area is to ease the mind of parents some, possibly being aware that the drive up to the resort may have been a bit stressful (at least that’s how it worked for me!). I found the gear to be of good quality and Nathan commented as he was trying it on and at the end of the day that it was comfortable and felt good on his feet and head.

I know I’ll learn more about the defined ski-school bunny hill areas as Nathan takes more lessons, but the defined ski-school magic carpet area was big enough for all of the kids in there on this busy Saturday afternoon. As you can see from the picture, there was ample space between kids, both on the carpet and coming down the hill.

I was interested in what measures were put in place to prevent kids from wandering off from ski school or an abductor from taking a child, possibly posing as a parent. The area was, for the most part, confined with a fabric type wall so that there was a definite defined area. There is an open spot toward the top of the hill, but the wall is configured in a way so as to not be a visible opening from the inside as there is some overlapping of the higher part and the wall lower on the slope. It almost creates a bit of a “runway” that I doubt the kids can see from inside. While it would be possible for some crazy to get in to this area through this opening, it appears that it would be difficult with all of the instructors around to abduct a kid, but may be an area that could be improved in terms of absolute child safety. At the end of the day, pickup is very smooth with all of the kids funneled into the exit at the base of the hill. Parents are given a numbered ticket that matches the ticket attached to your child. While mine wasn’t checked specifically this day, it seemed pretty obvious that he new I was his dad and with only two kids in the class I feel confident that the instructor recalled me from dropping him off. I imagine in larger classes that the tickets are checked before kids are released to the adult.

Nathan’s teacher “Ketchum” was awesome! He got down to the kids level right away and spent a few minutes getting them excited about the opportunity to learn to ski.

Nathan tells me that he laid down some ground rules and talked some about how to put on and take off the skis. They worked on pizza wedging to slow down and followed Ketchum to attempt to learn to turn. I don’t know what specific terms or techniques Ketchum used to describe how the skis would feel underneath their feet, but as you can see, Nathan was skiing! He left the lesson sad that it was time to go, has been talking about it ever since and can’t wait to ski again. As a parent of a 4.5 year old, that combination makes the day and the school a success in the most important area.

The ski school is located at Loveland Valley with is a 1/4 mile down the mountain from Loveland Basin, where the bulk of the terrain is at the ski area and the most likely place where Mom and Dad want to ski. Loveland does a nice job accommodating this by running a free frequent shuttle (every 5 to 10 minutes) between the two areas and I did not have a problem getting back and forth. I might have enjoyed being able to “spy” on him at the bottom of each run were the ski school in the main area, but I spent most of my day up high anyway. There is a lodge at Loveland Valley so parents wanting to watch their children from the comfort and warmth of a building can do this with ease.

Overall, this was a pleasant first experience. Loveland breaks ski lessons out into 9 levels and offers all age and skill levels from 4 up. Child prices (up to age 14) for a full day lesson are 96 dollars and are in line with or a little less expensive than many of the bigger resorts. You can find out more at www.skiloveland.com.

Nathan’s Overall Rating : 5 out of 5 skis

Daddy’s Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 skis