10 Things I Wish I’d Known Before
I Took My Kids Skiing For the First Time

Let me premise this by saying before I had kids, I had skied one time as an adult. So I never grew up as a ski bunny, nor did I have any snow experience. But we don’t live too far from a skifield and I wanted to give the kids the chance to learn when they were young (when it’s far less scary than learning as an adult)

So if you’re like me and want to give your kids a go for the first time, then here are a few things I wish I had known before heading up.

You have to get up so early

I had no idea that sometimes if the carparks get busy, they close access to the mountain. So if you are skiing in peak season on weekends or school holidays, you need to be on the ski access road (ie. the road to the mountain) early.

Even though the mountain may only open at 10 am, there are often people queuing from 6-8 am, waiting for the access road to open and go up and get a carpark.

You also need to factor in how long it will take you to drive to the mountain as well which may mean getting the kids up at the crack of dawn.

If you are not the crack of dawn people, you can also consider taking a shuttle. Most ski fields will have transport services to drop you off and pick you up. This means you won’t have to navigate the mountain roads, nor worry about putting chains on your car. So stress less and grab a shuttle

Tip #1: Seasoned families basically have tailgate parties in the carpark

Have you seen in American Football movies how they all bring amazing spreads and sit out the back of the boots of their car and eat amazing food. Well, seasoned families bring deck chairs, and cookers and have amazing hot meals from their cars. I had no idea.

While there are often cafes at the skifield, lines can be long and food is usually more expensive. Finding a seat can be hard too at busy times. So if I had known, I would have brought some camping chairs to sit on, a Jetboil to make quick coffee, and even my camping stove to cook hot sausages. I was very jealous of their amazing setups.

Either way, it's got to bring a good selection of food with you. The kids burn so much energy skiing, they always demolish our food supplies.

Tip #2: It takes a long time to hire gear

By the time you wait in line to purchase gear hire and a lift pass, as well as wait in line to try on and choose your gear, you could be looking at over an hour. Be aware that ski fields are often open from 10am - 4pm, so you don’t want to waste a lot of mountain time on getting your gear.

So you have a few options.
○ Get up early and get your gear hire before the mountain opens
○ Hire gear the night before from another ski hire location
○ Buy your own gear

Now I would have never considered buying my own gear for kids, however, Complete Outdoors has a unique point of difference that is perfect for families. They buy in top of the line ski and snowboard gear, that has been lightly used in some of the top European ski fields and offer it to you for a great family-friendly price.

Not only will you have gear fitted by professionals, but you also get top gear that is just not the right season's colours from the fashion-conscious European skiers.

On top of this, you can trade your gear in when you need a new size for the kids, reducing the cost of your next skis or boards.

So if you are considering taking the kids to the mountain more than a couple of times in the season, then buying your own skis can work out cheaper, save you so much time and you know the gear fits best for your child.

Tip #3: Your child will want to go to the toilet just minutes after hitting the snow

I’m not sure that I can stop this, but just know that it is inevitable. Even if they use the loo before you hire gear, know that it can take a lot of time in between then and actually getting on the mountain.

Kids will be wearing tons of layers, and then waterproof pants/overalls and jackets. So just make sure you ask. It's absolutely heartwrenching watching them do one run and then you have to spend 20-30 minutes hobbling to the toilet, undressing and return. Good luck! I hear you!

Tip #4: I’d feel like a bad parent because I never considered sunglasses or goggles for our youngest child

Now I knew that you could get sunburnt easily on the mountain. The reflections off the snow can be just as bad as that from the water (and we all sunblock up for swimming at the lake or beach)

But I never considered I would need sunglasses for my baby who was in a backpack the first time I headed out. I never thought how bad it would be for her, until a ski instructor gave me a serve. The instructor was well meaning I know, but made me feel like a terrible parent who was just trying to give her 3 and 5 year old their first ski experience.

So don’t forget to have sunglasses or goggles for all members of the family, whether they are skiing or not. Complete Outdoors even do goggles for infants.

Tip #5: There is so much ski jargon

Not wanting to seem like an idiot, I just nodded and smiled as the nice gear hire man asked me about using my hire skis on powder, and if I’d be going off-piste. I’m sorry…. What?

Powder? Do you just mean snow? So here are a few terms to make you feel like a pro out there.

On-piste: This means groomed trails. A machine comes through and makes it all nice and smooth. These are the main trails of a skifield
Off-piste: Ungroomed trails. Think of it as off-road skiing
Powder: Fresh loose snow. That beautiful fluffy snow after a very recent snow, this is powder. (Not all snow is powder, you can get patches of ice when its gets really cold, and even slush later on, on a hot winters day) If you want to ski in fresh powder, get on the mountain as early as you can.
Run: Going from the top of a trail to the bottom. “I had 4 runs before lunch”
Apres Ski: Evening activities, socialising and entertainment “after ski”.
First tracks: At some ski fields, you can buy a pass for first tracks. This means you will be able to get up the chairlift before the general public and be the first to ski down the trails for the day. Why? Skiing in fresh powder are the best conditions you can ask for, before the hundreds of people compact it as the day goes on.

Tip #6: There are a ton of ski accessories to make life SO MUCH EASIER

• Here are a few that I was jealous of seeing others use
• You can buy disposable hand warmers that can keep your hands warm all day. Great for when a child wets their gloves and their fingers are frozen. It's such an easy fix
• You can buy a small tool called a ski teacher. These will help young kids keep the toes of their ski’s together much easier.
• You can buy a waterproofing solution to sponge on to protect your down, gloves or even your fleece. That extra water repellency is extremely handy for kids

Tip #7: Kids can get bored and/or tired easily

I read beforehand that some kids will just give it an hour or two and then to leave, however that wasn’t my experience with all of my kids

My 5 year old was really determined and got better as the day went on. The improvement helped motivate him and he skied all day except for the lunchbreak

My 3 year old was good for the first 2 hours, then got tired and hungry and sat and ate snow. So here are my extra tips if you want to keep your kids on the mountain

• Take snacks in your pockets so they can get an energy boost without having to leave the snow (this takes ages)
• Have other activities available such as a toboggan to mix it up, or a bucket and spade. Do you kids love a sandpit? Then bring those toys to make snow castles
• Line a toboggan with a picnic blanket and they can sit in it without getting cold bums. Great for toddlers too. Then they can play and eat snow (sorry theres no way around it) to their hearts content.
• Take a good lunch break. At Mt Hutt they often have a table with colouring for the kids, which is great way to mix up the day, and head back out for an afternoon session
• Book kids into ski school or ski preschool. Being around other kids, learning from others, or even hanging out a ski preschool will be great for the younger ones, and help the older kids stay on the mountain longer. (even you can ski too)
• If kids are going to sit in and play in the snow, they will get wetter than usual, so bring some extra changes of gear.

Tip #8: Gumboots will not cut it for adults

I foolishly thought I could get away with a few pairs of warm socks and my gumboots for chasing the kids around the beginners area. Wrong move. They are not insulated enough and my toes froze. Grab a pair of snow boots, or hire a pair of snowboarding boots if you aren’t going to ski with the kids and keep your feet from going numb.

Rookie move

Tip #9: You will need a lot of gear on the mountain

Here’s my must have list
• Waterproof Jacket
• Waterproof pants/overalls (love overalls for younger kids!)
• Warm layers such as merino, thermal etc. Avoid cotton as its freezing if it gets wet)
• Waterproof Gloves (an absolute must, frozen fingers = game over)
• Warm hat
• Sunglasses or goggles
• Sunscreen

You will also want to consider how you will carry all this gear. You might not want to go back to the carpark all the time if it's far, so consider a big duffle bag or backpacks to transport it.

Tip #10: Watching the kids learn and succeed will make your heart explode

There will be a lot of helping the kids up and navigating tears of frustration, but that time when they finally get it, and do it for themselves… be ready for happy tears.

Kids have a low centre of gravity meaning it's easier for them to balance and not as far when they fall. They generally don’t worry about too much or overthink things like we do as adults, so they seem to learn quickly.

It will be one of the best things you will do so don’t forget our camera!