Ski Trip With Toddler

[scott43]

Ok, so after our first winter with our young'un, I'm thinking maybe we can plan a ski trip this winter. The kid can't ski this year so we're looking at day care all day. He's in day care now so hopefully not a big deal..he loves it there. So...anyone done this? Idiocy? Any recommendations or good places to go??

 

[SKI-3PO]

We took our kids on ski vacations and used resort day care until the kids were ready to ski - or I should say that lesson programs were ready to have them. This was 8-12 years ago for us now, so I don't think my specific resort recommendations would be very useful.

I think the fact that your kid is already in day care at home will be a big plus. My recommendations are to make it as convenient for you as possible - if you're staying at the resort, choose lodging close to the day care location.. If you're driving to the resort every day (less preferable, but cheaper), make sure you find the short term parking/drop off location. If you can afford it, this is probably one of those situations where spending more for convience will be worth it. Get the kid checked in early before the hordes arrive so that the drop off is not overwhelming to them and you can maximize your skiing time.

One of my memories of this time was when my daughter was 2 at Jackson - I think it was the last non-skiing day care she was in - and she told me they took them up the Gondola. I didn't believe her right away - she thought it was the coolest thing ever.

 

[kimmyt]

We're too cheap for day care, so I've found it's nice to go with a group of people, and then get a slopeside condo so we can each ski half days (the group of people so we have folks to ski with instead of skiing by ourselves which is our normal m.o.). If you can afford daycare rates at a big resort, more power to you! Also look into babysitting services. They have these at a lot of resorts, they aren't necessarily run by the resort but an outside company and if you book ahead of time you can get the person to watch your kid at your condo or wherever. If you have a care.com account you might be able to find babysitters/nannies at the resort towns.

 

[scott43]

Yeah, the day care rates at the resorts aren't problematic for us I think. I suppose you do get what you pay for so probably the better resorts would likely have better care I guess..or maybe the most kid-friendly/most kids? He's super-active so I'm hoping they'll take them outside and let him burn off energy even if it's not skiing. Thanks for the tips so far!

 

[crgildart]

When my kids were 3-4 I went ahead and put them in boots and let them play with 80-90cm skis, stomping around in the yard. Just learning to walk around in boots, falling down and getting up with skis on, etc was both fun and gave them a foundation to build on. My mistake was not spending enough time with them once they did start getting strong enough to ski. One kid dropped skiing until she was 10, the other really enjoyed it every chance he got to go with dad and his friends.

Pretty sure the bigger resorts have half day and full ski wee programs for kids around 3 where they get to wear ski boots and skis even though they're not really skiing. Most of the time they are really just playing and not trying to actually ski at that age. Ages 1-2 are probably mostly indoors through because I doubt they'll be dealing with wet diapers in snow suits if they can avoid that.

 

[Philpug]

@Kimmy & @crgildart did what we did. Stay slope side, ski half days and share a ticket. Just get them out in the snow playing around at first. Lola used to ask, "What if the baby doesn't like to ski?" I said, the baby won't knwo he doesn't like to ski, it's like a fish not liking to swim. It's winter, we ski in the winter, he won't know any different" Grand parents llike @Lil Georg was also helpful with the swapping of duties.


Smugglers Notch, early 90's.

 

[Tricia]

I know that Squaw/Alpine, and Northstar have programs that get kids on snow a little when they are that age. Northstar's program uses the snow area on the overlook which they call the Beach, for kids.

 

[Mike King]

snowmass has daycare.

Mike

 

[crgildart]

When we had two really little kids we shared the ticket and jacket between them. I took one out to play on the carpet run and a lap down the shortest lift served green while mom played video games in the lodge with the other kid. Came in to trade kids, rinse and repeat. They looked like twins back then so nobody would have noticed, even under close scrutiny. All in all they shared one 9-5 ticket and only skied 4 hours combined so I don't feel like a thief for doing it that way.

 

[kimmyt]

Yeah, the day care rates at the resorts aren't problematic for us I think. I suppose you do get what you pay for so probably the better resorts would likely have better care I guess..or maybe the most kid-friendly/most kids? He's super-active so I'm hoping they'll take them outside and let him burn off energy even if it's not skiing. Thanks for the tips so far!

Most large family-friendly resorts will have daycare. Only some smaller resorts will have it (the only one I've ever used was Loveland CO, which is remarkably affordable for daycare going at a full day for $70 including lunch). They do book up in advance, however. I stayed at Steamboat and last minute decided I wanted a daycare day due to a big pow day but there wasn't anything available and I couldn't find anyone to watch my son the day before as most places require booking further in advance than that with the exception of the resort daycare (which as mentioned is only available if its not fully booked). The resort daycares often take the kids outside 'weather permitting'. I believe if the kids are on skis for some of that time, those programs are listed separately from the regular daycare, the kids typically need to be potty trained (3+ ish). Different resorts have different age requirements and programs based on staffing availabilities.

 

[David Chaus]

Even some mid-sized and smaller resorts have nice daycares. Brundage, near McCall, Idaho, has a very convenient daycare, close to the main express lift, beginner slope and the parking lot. Even though it's a smaller, out of the way resort, Brundage made it on Ski Magazine's top 10 lists for 3 categories: Family-Friendly, Snow, and Value. I would also mention it was about the least crowded resort I've ever skied, and maybe the best snow.

 

[RNZ]

We used the resort childcare facilities here in New Zealand when our son was aged 11 months and again when he was 23 months old. For the following two years he went to the centre at the resort that catered for 3-5 year olds, then he just skied with us apart from when he had a lesson once a day.

Back home he was in childcare during the week at a centre that he loved, but he wasn't always keen on being left in the mornings.

Things are probably a bit different here, but there are probably lots of similarities too. It is definitely cheaper here. First up, we chose the resort that had the best childcare facility - (here you can look up govt reviews of centres). It had fully qualified teachers and was registered. There were two reasons for this; first the teachers should be more experienced at settling children in; and second the centre routines and activities would hopefully be vaguely familiar. These turned out to be really important. We expected him to be a bit nervous and hard to settle initially. What we hadn't factored in the under 2 centre was the effect of lots of other unfamiliar children who were also nervous and unsettled. If I was doing it again turn up really early, if the place opens early, or be late. Turning up right on 9am if that is when the centre opens is a high risk strategy - it may be a zoo. You know those television ads where one baby or toddler starts crying then they all start crying - it happens. If you get there before or after the main rush you are more likely to encounter happy settled kids which makes settling them easier.

The second lesson we learnt was to have a contingency (here you can't do slope-side condo) but I would do that. Our resort gave all parents a pager so that they could contact you wherever you are on the mountain. At 11 months, we got to the top of the short first chairlift and the pager went off (we sort of expected it) and we had to do the run of shame back to daycare where our monster was very pleased to see us. We spent the rest of the week (which turned out to be low vis and cold all week) tag teaming in the daycare - which he loved if he could see one of us.

Subsequent years were much easier, and we never got paged again. Now you can't keep him off the mountain.

What we didn't do that may have helped was to bring our own blanket from home - he had his monkey, but a familiar blanket might have helped.

Otherwise we found it much like normal daycare

 

[Monique]

@RNZ - off topic, but did I tell you that last season I saw a family and heard their accent and actually asked if the mom was you? It was sort of around the time you were out there. They were not you, as it turned out, but very nice with some great little ripper skiers. Really fun to see mom, dad, and both kids ripping down Joker together at Breck. It's one of my favorite runs, and they liked it a lot, too, so we kept seeing each other. But .. *whispers* ... I got the accent wrong. They were not from NZ.

 

[scott43]

We've been also thinking about the travel implications. I'm thinking it's best to get as close to the resort as possible if flying and we have to think about transport with a car seat. Shuttle buses probably don't require them but do you bring it anyway? Dunno. I think for ease of access, SLC has to be the easiest I've been to yet. Unless we fly right into Jackson Hole or Aspen.

 

[Jerez]

Winter Park is family friendly, not too far from Denver Intl. Airport and Home James is an easy to and from service. There is lodging slope-side. They have all day child care: ski lessons for 3 and up and day care for 2 months to 6 years including snacks and meals. And the public shuttle system into town is really easy to use.

 

[SKI-3PO]

Some shuttle services will offer car seats so you don't need to bring one. Definitely ask.

 

[Jilly]

I was wondering if you were thinking about driving versus flying. It'll take a day either way to drive to Quebec or Northern US. It's takes a day to fly to Colorado, California, Utah or even BC.

First time out, driving might be the way to go. Then favourite toys, blankets etc can go too without luggage issues. Not much help on who has the best childcare, but I think there might a thread on the Ski Diva. com

 

[scott43]

The problem with driving is the hit and miss nature of it. So I'm thinking west as well as backup.

 

[dean_spirito]

There is no shortage of great child care specialists in resort towns who will work with you to create an ideal arrangement for your family. One hassle for many parents is dropping off/picking up kids from resort run daycare. Many times the kids center is located in a place that is a logistical nightmare for parents trying to enjoy quality time on the snow. A babysitter that you hire privately can come to your condo/house/hotel/etc. It can make things much easier and will probably cost you less than what a resort would charge. If you ever plan a trip to CO, give me a shout. I know plenty of reliable people that would love to help you out!

 

[scott43]

There is no shortage of great child care specialists in resort towns who will work with you to create an ideal arrangement for your family. One hassle for many parents is dropping off/picking up kids from resort run daycare. Many times the kids center is located in a place that is a logistical nightmare for parents trying to enjoy quality time on the snow. A babysitter that you hire privately can come to your condo/house/hotel/etc. It can make things much easier and will probably cost you less than what a resort would charge. If you ever plan a trip to CO, give me a shout. I know plenty of reliable people that would love to help you out!

Well, our big things are low density in skiers, fairly advanced terrain but not necessarily expert terrain, minimize our car time because of kid issue, and ski in/ski out, preferably with a town setting. We loved Telluride, staying in town, but it's a hike to get there. I was thinking Aspen works but obviously it's not cheap. So I'm really undecided. And the US dollar is up at the moment. Should have bought more 5 years ago!! Dang!! Any suggestions appreciated.