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Posracing

In the parking lot (formerly "At the base lodge")
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Joined
Feb 18, 2018
Posts
3
Hey everyone,

So here's the deal. My son is 13 years old and he wanted to give skiing a try. But hes kinda a shy, nervous kid that isn't very athletic so I already knew that this possibly wouldn't go well. To make matters worse he really didn't want to take a lesson and would only go if I agreed to teach him.....which is literally the worst case scenario because we bump heads A LOT when I am trying to teach him something. You parents know the drill....complain/I KNOW/complain/I KNOW!

Anyway, I wanted to get him to try it out this year so I made a terrible mistake of going to Mountain Creek with him today. It was an absolute mad house. Now, to quickly sum up the day. We started off in the little area they have there with the 2 magic carpets. I taught him the wedge and how to slow himself down on it. I got him to do some small basic turns. But there were a lot of people around so it was hard to have room to really learn. Plus the fact that at mountain creek this area was so small that we just weren't getting any real learning done here after about half a dozen rides. SO, I bring him up the Sugar Quad onto the beginner slow skiing area. But once we are up there he just froze up on me. Yes, it was a good bit steeper than the learning area and maybe too big of a jump up for him. But he got up there and just completely forget how to turn or stop and to be honest it was not a great situation. Plus, add the fact that it was super crowded. He nervously tried to make a turn and just ended up pointing straight down the mountain going way to fast out of control until he fell. After getting back up on his feat the second attempt went exactly the same way. At that point he was shaken up and took his skis off and walked down the rest of the way. Complained his foot hurt and that was the end of our day.

Now, luckily he really enjoyed the first half of the day on the baby slope and is willing to give the whole skiing thing another try. But I need to do this a much better way this time! We are willing to pay for a private lesson for him, even though he's not thrilled about that at all. But it's absolutely the way it has to go. I can ski, but I am not a ski instructor.

So, finally to the question. What is the best place in the NJ/NY/PA area to take my son to learn to ski? Something with a wide range of beginner features where he can slowly develop and gain skill and confidence? What can you recommend to me to make sure my son has a WAY better 2nd experience? I am open to all suggestions. I'd really love this to turn into something we can enjoy together for a long time to come, but that future is a bit rocky right now!

Thank you all for reading!

---Joe
 

Philpug

Notorious P.U.G.
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For the Poconos, I would say Jack Frost/Big Boulder, the high elevation has some of the better snow in the area. If you are headed to the Catskills, Belleayre, great teaching terrain and a family atmosphere.
 

VickieH

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I love Belleayre, and especially for beginners. The green trails at the bottom are really long ... something like 100+ chair lift.

I don't know anything about their ski school.

Wherever you go, if you aren't familiar with the green trails, you might want to do some scouting runs first so you can help your son choose the most appropriate run for him.
 

Varmintmist

Bear, with furnture.
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Apr 25, 2017
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Shawnee is just over the boarder and it gets passed up by most of the folks from Joisey. It is a smaller hill. Take him midweek if possible. Get him a lesson, that is the requirement to go.
 
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TS
Posracing

Posracing

In the parking lot (formerly "At the base lodge")
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Posts
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Yes, I should have mentioned I'm from central Jersey. Belleare is still under 3 hours for me so that's and option. How are the crowds there? Haha, Jack Frost...Broke my collar bone there as a teen doing a backscratcher that I didn't come out of in time. Ouch! I will check out Shawnee as well. I think the midweek thing might be the key. I think I could persuade him to take a nice private lesson in exchange for not going to school one day! LOL!
 

johnnyvw

Out on the slopes
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near RDU
I suggest taking a look at Bear Creek, just west of the Lehigh Valley area in PA. I avoided the area for years as it doesn't have that much steeper terrain, and I figured it would be more crowded due to it's proximity to Allentown/Bethlehem. I found it wasn't all that crowded on the weekends I've gone there this year, probably most people by-pass it to go to Blue Mountain. Their beginner area is isolated from the rest of the mountain, and has a magic carpet lift. They also have a chairlift that goes to just above the beginner area, that serves a slightly more difficult, slightly longer green run, and this run is also pretty much isolated from the rest of the area (not 100%, but most people won't bother skiing down the run from the rest of the mountain). They have probably the nicest base lodge in PA, and they also have 4 hour lift tickets available on weekends which start 1/2 hour after you buy them.
A private with an good instructor would be the best scenario, I definitely recommend talking to the head of the ski school to get the right match.

Shawnee's beginner area is actually a bit steeper on top than it should be. I instructed there for one season, and I always thought they should re-grade the top part of that hill to make it more of a consistent pitch. And about half of Big Boulder runs are terrain parks now, so take that into consideration.
 

Pete in Idaho

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I know nothing about ski resorts in your area. BUT. talk to the ski instructor that will be giving your son his private lesson and go over that he is shy, not particularly athletic etc. and give the instructor some insight into your sons personality as only you know. This will put the instructor way ahead of the game and he won't have to spend the lst half hour figuring this out.

I am a big fan of small family type areas where people are genuinely friendly and helpful.

Make sure he is warm and remember the entire ski experience also applies to a 13 yr old, after skiing sit down with him in lodge, have some hot chocolate and discuss what a great day you BOTH had.
 

Scruffy

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+3 on Belleayre. The have a huge beginner area ( pod as some call it ) it has not one but 2 lifts, actually 3 if you count the bunny slope lift. How busy is it? On holiday weekends or prez week, like we're in the mountain is busy. Off peak weekends, not as much. The beginner area use to be avoided by advanced skiers, but now that the put in the Gondola that starts in that general area, I'm not sure to tell you the truth if those beginner green runs are seeing more traffic or not.
 

MikeS

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I would suggest absolutely nowhere in the Poconos or Jersey. The further from NYC you can get, the better. Catskills are good, Dacks are better. But avoid Southern Vermont, because that is the confluence of the weekend travellers from NYC, CT, and Boston.
 

wallyk

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Cant believe that I'm writing this........but what about Campgaw or Tuxedo Ridge??? Depending on where you live, close to NYC, can rent skis from Ski Barn and not have deal with lines at the areas. Both are cost effective, small, not steep and easy to walk away from at the end of the day or if your son has another negative experience.
 

T-Square

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I’ve never skied in the area but really like the idea of a small feeder hill. They are excellent places to learn and have fun. From the pictures it looks like Camp Gaw has enough terrain for him to safely learn. Plus if he wants to ski by himself you have a view of the entire hill from the bottom. From an instructor’s point of view it looks like a great learning hill.
 

surfsnowgirl

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What about somewhere like Butternut. It's a great place to learn to ski and is in western Massachusetts. There's a learning carpet area, a longer one with trails on either side once you learn how to turn, this is also serviced by the beginner chair lift so lots of room to practice. We also have a fantastic terrain based learning area. It's definitely a feeder hill but it's a great place to get started. I also teach at Bromley which is southern Vermont but I just don't feel it gets as crowded as some of the other southern vermont places. At bromley which is about twice the size of butternut but still has a small family feel to it and is loaded with lots of greens to progress on once you get off the beginner hill. We also have chair 6 which is a chair run entirely serviced by greens so you can't get into any trouble here.

The places I mentioned might be too far for you. I have heard great things about Wyndham but other than that don't really know much about the NY mountains.

I think you have some good choices on this thread. Good luck!
 

Marker

Making fresh tracks
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Kennett Square, PA & Killington, VT
Montage in Scranton, PA has some nice easy terrain at the top of the mountain, and it's isolated from the more difficult black terrain. The lodge is mid-mountain, so the easy terrain feels small and accessible to beginners.

Camelback has a nice teaching area isolated from the much busier main slopes.
 
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TS
Posracing

Posracing

In the parking lot (formerly "At the base lodge")
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Joined
Feb 18, 2018
Posts
3
Wow! Thanks for all the great advice everyone! I am going to check out all these mentions!

Now I'm just trying to figure out if I should get him lessons this year, or wait to next season. Im thinking with the rising tems in the east the season is going to end sooner rather than later, and spending money now on private lesson may be kinda wasted.

Do you all think maybe I should hold off till December at this point? Star fresh then and have a whole season of practice ahead of him? Our next 3 weekends here are booked solid with Scout stuff so we cant even be weekend warriors right now. :(
 

Uncle-A

In the words of Paul Simon "You can call me Al"
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Yes, I should have mentioned I'm from central Jersey. Belleare is still under 3 hours for me so that's and option. How are the crowds there? Haha, Jack Frost...Broke my collar bone there as a teen doing a backscratcher that I didn't come out of in time. Ouch! I will check out Shawnee as well. I think the midweek thing might be the key. I think I could persuade him to take a nice private lesson in exchange for not going to school one day! LOL!
I would only go to Shawnee mid week on the weekend the lift lines can be BAD the longest lift line I ever waited on was at Shawnee.
 

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