- 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
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