08 SKI PROGRAMS: TAHOE AREA: SODA SPRINGS:
Description
This article is from the Outdoor Activities for Young Children FAQ, by Gloria Logan glogan@atk.com with numerous contributions by others.
08 SKI PROGRAMS: TAHOE AREA: SODA SPRINGS:
phone: (916)426-3666 - shared with Boreal
I took my daughter to the Ski-with-me program at Soda Springs and
thought it was very good. It is designed to teach parents how to ski
with their own young kids (you, the parent, must be an intermediate-
level skier and must participate with the child). I found that, even
though I ski, I did not know what was appropriate to expect from a 4 or
5 year old: what can they do and what can they not do? The program
gave us (my almost-5 daughter and myself) a 1 hour private lesson
during which the teacher took us up the chair lift!! My daughter LOVED
that; it was her one goal in skiing to ride the chair lift. The
teacher then helped her ski down with a snowplow. For the youngest or
least adept, they have a plastic device that holds the tips of the skis
together so the child only has to worry about the heels. By the time
we reached the bottom (45 minutes later) my daughter was snowplowing.
As we came down, the teacher made comments to me to help me understand
how my daughter was doing and what I could do to help her. Once the
lesson was over, we got to use the plastic device the rest of the day.
I took my daughter up the lift several more times and the last time
down she only stopped a few times and was able to control in a
snowplow. My reaction: If you want to work with your child but are not
comfortable as a teacher or if your child is fearful of being left with
strangers in a group class, then this program works well. Its only
disadvantage is that you, the parent, must be able to ski and do not
get to ski the harder slopes on your own.
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