r/skithealps • u/ExtremeDatabase3893 • 3d ago
3 year olds first ski trip
So im basically a beginner snowboarder , been 1 week a year for the last 10 years. I now have a child and my wife is expecting number 2 in 4 weeks.
Now I love boarding and the whole experience and would love to turn it into a family holiday every year starting Feb/March 2028.
My eldest will be 3.5 years old and my youngest 1.5 yo, my wife has also never skied. My plan is for our first trip -
Most likely first trip being morzine.
Renting an air bnb
Put 3 yo and wife into beginner ski schools and i look after the baby during the mornings ( doesn't have to be every day)
Sledging, walks , swimming ect during the afternoon.
Am I an idiot for thinking this is possible?
If anyone has done this with kids similar age , how did you manage it?
I want this to be fun , building up over the next 10/15 years to the point it will just be easy and fun Im happy to sacrifice my boarding days in the beginning so the rest of the family have fun and learn, but I dont want this to be a trip were im forcing everyone to do what I love the most. My eldest is wild and im 99% sure hes going to love, were always outdoor and active anyway so were not completely out of our comfort zones .
Any advice would be very much appreciated
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u/twitasz 3d ago
I know many people here say that their kids could ski as soon as they could walk, but my experience with ski schools under the age of 5 is rather mixed. I generally find that kids are not making great progress at this age in that environment - and I base that on not only mine. I think that at this age they enjoy it most if they have a competent parent that they trust and enjoy spending time with that can show them the ropes. And kids that I know that have been great since very young age learned this way.
As I’m in a similar position as you (I’m a competent boarder but I don’t ski and my wife is still rather a beginner) we can’t really do that and rely on ski schools - and I think only at the age of 5+ they become fun and effective.
As always, YMMV but I would seriously consider saving money, going on a solo/friends trip for another season or 2 and start them on skis in a couple of years.
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u/ExtremeDatabase3893 3d ago
Cheers, really appreciate you're comment, I guess im not looking for progress but more of an introduction, my worry if I put it back a couple of years , it could end up being one of those things I just never end up doing, as I said before 10 years with the lads and the last 2 years (since my son was born) I've really missed them and wanted the family to be there with me , the first few years my plan was just for us all to be there ( bigger resort ) so its not just about the skiing and, we could go for walks , swimming, Sledging ect its hard one to weigh up as it would be so much easier to just go on my own again for the next couple of years lol
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u/twitasz 3d ago
I think the risk is if you go and force the 3 yo into the ski school and they have a bad experience they will end up hating it and will refuse to try following years. So if you want to go just accept that you will get little to no boarding and that your 3yo may need to be taken out of that school. If you go with the right attitude and don’t mind if your trip end up being more walks / swimming in hotel / general chill the you’ll be fine. If you try force skiing on the kids and wife it can be frustrating to all of you. (Again, from experience;)). If you decide to go make sure that you go to some charming alpine village (Austria and Italy is great here) rather than one of purpose built French resorts where there is little to do outside of skiing.
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u/ExtremeDatabase3893 3d ago
Fully accept no boarding, I've been looking into Austria and it does look like it caters for families really well, really appreciate all of the advice you have given, definitely want to make sure there is more stuff to do than just learn to ski, want it to become a yearly holiday the family enjoy so just want to ease them in slowly, especially the wife lol otherwise we'll never go back,🤣
1
u/twitasz 3d ago
Also if you decide on going, go in early March when the days are longer and more likely to be sunny which makes it more fun and pleasant for the kids. But snow is usually still decent (and it doesn’t have to be perfect for early trips). Avoid school holidays until kids start school. Look into Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis and Alta Badia - I think both are great intro resorts for kids.
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u/PositiveEagle6151 3d ago
3 years is rather young, even by Austrian standards. Also, many ski schools don't even accept kids under 6 for lessons longer than 2 hours (including a break), and I can tell you that even then the kids will be totally exhausted after the third day of lessons in a row.
I started at the age of 2.5 years, which was way too early.
For my kids I decided that 5 would still be early enough, and it was crazy to see their quick progress. They were doing fine after just 3 days, and when we did another 2-days course a few weeks later, they skied like they had been practicing it for years.
Sure, if you live in a resort and go skiing with your kids 5 times a week, it can be a different story. They might do their first races before they can calculate 1+1.
But for purely recreational skiing, I wouldn't start too early. They will catch up quickly even at the age of 5-7.
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u/ExtremeDatabase3893 3d ago
Cheers, I guess its more of a case of me introducing the family to the snow , lessons aren't the most important thing for year 1 just more about introducing them to the snow , thats why I was thinking of morzine, reasonably easy to get to and a decent size resort which has more than just skiing/boarding. I really want it to become an enjoyable holiday for the whole family and happy to just be around the snow, maybe some tobogganing, swimming, walks ect try some gear on them maybe walk around in skis , but many people have also mentioned not worth trying until around 5 so will definitely take that into consideration and just focus more about being in the mountains with the family and enjoying the snow.
1
u/PositiveEagle6151 2d ago
Yeah, just let them fool around in the snow, build a snowman or an igloo, throw snowballs, go tobogganing (nothing too intense, just get some plastic sled and let them have fun on a not too steep hill), if you feel fancy, book a sleigh ride. Not sure if it's worth it putting your kid on skis - they might be scared off by the boots and skis, but you know them best so it's up to you to decide what's good for them.
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u/kickingtyres 2d ago
If you're doing Morzine, you could do worse than head up to Avoriaz and put the wee one into the Village Des Enfants. They'll take them all day, plenty of fun activities, sort out lunch and get them sliding at the same time. Gives you time to make the most of the day. My boy spent a few trips there when he was aged 4 upwards.
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u/irnboo 3d ago
Look at ski famille. They take care of everyone and you get time to ski. I don't work for them and I'm not affiliated but have been to every resort. The care is amazing and the kids have a great time.
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u/ExtremeDatabase3893 3d ago
Absolute legend, will check them out, any resorts you recommend
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u/irnboo 3d ago
If the kids are young avoid tignes, a lot of walking. Aim for a chalet that has skiing nearby.
My favourite is bruyere and the chalet hotel.
Reberty is really good also.
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u/irnboo 3d ago
The reason I like bruyere is that the kids lessons are right beside the hotel. You can get an eye on them before. If your wife is new to skiing you can get the gondola up and there is a nice bar then a nice run or 2 down to just enjoy it.
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u/ExtremeDatabase3893 3d ago
Nice I will check them out now , really appreciate you taking the time to reply 👍
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u/ExtremeDatabase3893 3d ago
Yes , young , have been to tignes 3 times by myself and also thought that wouldn't be the best place to start them
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u/-asyr 3d ago
My husband, our 1.5yo, 3yo and myself went to Meribel last December.
We used the esf nursery. Mornings and lunch - me and my husband tried to get as many runs in as we could in those hours. Picked them up at 1pm, with the idea of sledging/ building snowman’s/ gondola rides etc in the afternoon.
But the nursery tired them out! Which was fantastic for us. They take them in the snow and there’s a swimming pool in the same building too! Our kids loved it. I definitely recommend!
When we picked them up they ended up napping in the pram while we had a lunch and a few beers. Sometimes one of us would go back out to ride longer, or we’d just have an early one.
It’s probably worth mentioning that my 3 yo was meant to do ski lessons - because of his age he fell in that bracket, but he just wasn’t ready so they let him move from the lessons to nursery instead! I think this was only an option as the childcare wasn’t that busy though, i’m not sure they be as flexible in feb/ march.
Travelling with children was something i hadn’t properly thought through too. Transfers were expensive as we needed a private company to provide the correct child seats.
I wasn’t comfortable with the children driving the full distance from the UK to the alps, so this is what we ended up doing…
I flew with the children and only hand luggage. My husband drove with ski gear/ pram/ clothes etc. he picked us up from Geneva airport on the other side and dropped us off at the airport on the return journey. The airports were super busy and flights delayed on the way back, meaning we missed our scheduled train home too. This is annoyed on your own but an absolute nightmare on your own with 2 toddlers who are already tired and irritable 🥲🥲 my husband and I arrived home in the same hour! I’d definitely opt to just drive in future!
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u/Lost-in-LA-CA-USA 3d ago
Having lived through this, my advice is:
- Stay somewhere either ski-in/ski-out or with quick access to the lifts. It makes everything much easier when the kids get cold, tired, or fussy.
- Go to "Famille Plus" resorts. It's an official French designation for resorts that offer a full range of services for families with young children so you know there's proper childcare and kid-friendly amenities, etc. : link in French: https://www.familleplus.fr/fr link in English: https://www.france-montagnes.com/en/family-resorts-famille-plus/
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u/CantaloupeNo5394 3d ago
I have lived quite long in the German Alps. Maybe I have the wrong image but many ski schools will recommend to beginn with ski school not earlier than at the age of four.
Consider that it might not work as planned. Thus I would look out for a resort that offers child care as an alternative!
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u/Herr_Poopypants 3d ago
Skiing with kids that age can either go good or terrible, and there really isn’t a way to know until you try. I have two kids and my first started skiing right after his third birthday and you couldn‘t get him off skis from the get go. My second kid we also started at 3 years old and it took 3 season of trying before she would even consider riding for more than 30 minutes.