What’s the best age to learn?

Hey all.

Just seen I joined this site back in January 2010. The first time I ever put on a pair of skis and was asking all those beginner questions.

Glad to see the site is still going strong after all these years.

I've now not been skiing for 5 years since 2019, thanks to that Covid and my daughter being born in 2020.

Finally off again for a couple of days with the lads, back to the place I first put on a set of skis… Borovets Bulgaria. Fingers crossed it's improved abit since then, I always said I'd never go back.

Right let me get to the question. Sorry to go on.

My daughter is 3 in August. When age is the best to get children on the slopes learning to ski?

I don't think I can go much longer without my full week of skiing. 3 days next month will just make me realise how much I've missed being on the slopes.

Take care all.

Ash

Hi Ash, welcome back (to skiing!),

Whilst you will find plenty of online videos of tots skiing (and even boarding), I'd say they are the exceptions. It depends totally on the child, and their confidence, physical strength and determination (which, as you'll know, all develop at hugely different rates in the early years).

At 3, I'd be thinking more in terms of a creche/nursery that has an hour or so (tops) of "playing on skis" each day, rather than lessons. I don't know about Bulgaria, but most French resorts nowadays have small "snow playgrounds" ("Piou Piou"?), usually near a magic carpet, that will have cones and cartoon characters to ski around.

If you do go for it, just be prepared :lol: tots get tired/bored/cold/hungry much faster than we do, so any signs of any of those then take a break...

I get asked this question a lot (I raised my family skiing , I've been employed as a ski instructor)

From ages 1 to about 4, your main goal is to make being outside in the snow sliding around as fun as possible. Being in a sled, toboggan, skis, whatever . Making it fun ... for the little ones , trust me , the moment it stops being fun, change your activity... time to go inside for a hot chocolate. If fun gets imprinted on their brian , when they are physically strong enough to learn , they'll actually want to ! After that, my advice would mirror the comment from admin, so I won't repeat it ...