Keen to hear from anyone who has tried this, the trials and tribulations. I have all the gear for my young lad, and we are heading up the mountain this winter. Would you recommend one of those edgy-wedgy thingamajigs for keeping the tips together, or best to start off without it?
How young is too young?

our youngest was six when we started him,just put him straight in a lesson and he was away after that.get all the kids another lesson every year for a refresh saved us the hassle of trying to teach them ourselves(I cant ski anyway)you can get good deals on hire/lesson/ski pass for them too.
we did make the mistake of getting him skis that were a bit long for him and made it harder than it should have been,tired his legs out a bit too.

Took our boy up for one day when he was 4 1/2, but it was more the Creche-with a little bit of skiing thing. Not too successful, 5 1/2 was better. 6 1/2 (last year) was much better. Did 3 days of lessons for him. He's not yet ready to venture outside the learner slopes, but maybe this year? Not sure if it is related, but did get him up on water skis this summer as well. You do see kids bombing around the mountain who can't be much more than 4-5, but they obviously belong to committed ski families!

Took Jessie for a day at Cadrona when she was about 4.

Was excited to be going, getting hire skis etc.

Enjoyed the playing in a snow and sliding down slopes on her bottom. And tried the skis for wee while.

Put her in a lesson (as much so I could go for a ski). She pulled the pin when I checked back 60 mins into a 90 min private lesson.

Hire a sled and she was happy as. She gave the skis another try at the end of the day but nah, still not so much fun.

Jessie wasn't such an adventurous wee tacker - too much listening to her mothers 'don't do that or you will hurt yourself' How that f are they supposed to learn about life if they don't crash from time to time.

Some kids the skiing isn't the most fun part of being in snow. Keeping it fun is important to stopping Mr Whingy joining the party (but you will know that part already).

Get them a decent lesson (and get some good skiing in yourself while they have it ), then apply a lot of patience to spending the rest of the day encouraging them and helping them out. Don't be surprised if the young fella wants to bail out early, but don't panic mine did this but were still keen to go back next time for another go.

All good stuff, thanks guys.

My fella is under 3, so it will be steady as she goes. Im hoping to put in the hard yards over the next 2-3 seasons, so in time we will all be able to enjoy ourselves together on the snow. We have had a few practice sessions in the lounge, showing him how to bend his knees, and the wedge thing.
Looking forward to seeing how it goes, we are going to explore Ohakune over Queens Birthday weekend (and check the local schools, and a couple of houses, just quietly ), so with any luck there is a bit of snow on the ground somewhere so we can go and throw some around, and maybe have a wee slide.
Season passes should have arrived by then too with any luck.

Maybe some photos to follow as the season progresses.

It may be stating the obvious but I reckon an important ingredient is not letting the littlies get cold and wet - I don't think you want to be going out in windy or sleety conditions. If they do get cold and wet then bail - don't perservere as it will just put them off the whole idea - they may never want to go back. Nice sunny days later in the season are the go when the sun can do it's best to make it warmish and fun.
I went with my parents and siblings to Whakapapa every year from an early age and it's one of the bestest things we ever did - thanks Ma and Pa Regret not doing same for my kids but circumstances were against it

Depends on the kid, my mates kid was ski-ing at 2 1/2, but he was a freakishly brave and co-ordinated 2 yo. I'm gunna try Isla next year. Edgy wedgies and the reindeer harness idea (2 straps which you use to steer) seem to work really well as does the retractable dog lead method. Im gonna do what my mate did with his nippa, put the crotchgoblin between your tips and steer them and see if that works when we give it a whirl with Isla...

Given that you probably don't want to wait until they're 25 - most kids can handle a days skiing at 5 or 6 - any younger and you might end up doing lots of half days. Highly recommend a season pass to lower the stress levels.

We used a very basic Learn to ski video at home, kids on the carpet learning to get in & out of skis, snow plough basics and walking sideways. Geta rope & pull them along as well.
Our 3 were all on the ski fields 3-4yrs. Lesson early in the day - you ski and then take turns with them in the afternoon.
Keep them warm, well fed and help them up or they will be exhausted too quickly.
Spend the time early in their skiing life & you will reap the rewards - it doesn't take long for them to be up with you! Good Luck!

dented wrote:My fella is under 3, so it will be steady as she goes. Im hoping to put in the hard yards over the next 2-3 seasons, so in time we will all be able to enjoy ourselves together on the snow.

My folks taught my siblings and I how to ski at a young age, my bro would have started at 3 and now we're older we all really appreciate the opportunities that brought about. Good on you for giving your little guy the opportunity. Skiing is fucking cool

I started to teach my daughter to ski when she was three....man it was (physically) hard work!!! I skiied with her between my skis just to keep her stable. So you are effectively skiing in a bent over snowplow all day.

One thing a wish I had taken was a broomstick (I had seen it on the Internet) so my daughter could hold onto that at one end and I could hold it on the other. From what I have seen it keeps the child stable and you can pull them along when needed. It also means you don't have to bend over all day.

We has a little taster in snowy Mt Maunganui last week....

Awesome Dented. The more you can achieve before hitting the skifield the quicker you will get back to your skiing.
All the best.

Well, we had to start somewhere, so start we did, yesterday. Went down to Turoa for opening day at Alpine Meadow. An absolutely mint day, which meant the road was really icey so they didnt lift the restrictions until after midday. We took the bus up there from Ohakune at 9am though, to find 5 cars in the carpark, and the same number of people on Alpine Meadow, which I was very relieved about for the learning. The snow coverage was fantastic, and I was looking forward to being able to use the carpet lift (for Blake).
Wow...a bit different trying to ferry around your 2 year old in Ski boots, plus 2 sets of skis, and the inevitable gear bag, Dad felt like a packhorse.
Anyways, I didnt put my skis on to do the teaching, I suck at skiing anyway so will be a while before I try with him between my feet, both skiing.
I found that as soon as he was clipped in, and movement started, he wanted to lean back so the skis were taking off ahead of him, and I was just holding his upper body weight. But after a little perserverence on both our parts, by the time we got to the flatter stuff at the bottom, he was going along with me just holding 1 hand, and I limited my instructions to just 2 things, "Stand up straight" (to stop him leaning back), and "Feet together", and he responded to both those pretty well. We will get onto more instructions as time goes by. I didnt force things too much, he spent about an hour after we got the ski boots off, clumbing snow banks, and banging icicles off the metal fence, and had a ball. About halfway home, I was rapt to hear him say, "I wanna go skiing again", so maybe in another few weeks.
No photos, there was enough other stuff to remember other than a camera (or sunblock for that matter ). Next time.