I Couldn't Believe It, And I Still Don't

Some fantastic stoke here today and don't really want to dampen it. But...

If you are connected to me on Facebook, you've probably already seen my rant on this. Apologies.

X and I had a good day at Windham yesterday skiing with our girls who are both eight. This is not a TR as I will be posting that soon. It's about an incident we witnessed that stunned me. Us.

For most of the day we stayed primarily on blue runs. As the day came to a close I asked X if he would ski down with the girls while I hit some bumps on "The Wall" that I had been eyeing all day from the lift.  The plan was that they would take Warpath Chute (blue) to the bottom of The Wall and wait for me there.

The Wall is one of those half-groomed, half-bump runs. I saw a boy down on the groomed section. He was crying, afraid of the pitch. The guy I assumed to be his father was below looking up.

"Are you OK?" "No!"

I bailed on my line and skied over.  I dropped below him to try to make him less afraid. I took his poles and pulled him up. Honestly wasn't totally sure what to do. In the end what I did was probably half-right.

I asked him his name.

"Jack."

"OK Jack let's get down from here!"

I taught him to slideslip, and he picked it right up.  I held his downhill hand while we did it. Pretty cool really.

Here's the crazy part.  When we got down, I was expecting Dad to come over and sort of "take over."  But the guy books! Says something like "see you at the bottom." I was flabbergasted.

Jack calls out: "Daddy please wait for me" and tries to catch his dad who is long gone. A day later I can't type this with out welling up.

I should have gone after Jack and skied down with him. But I was in shock.

I turned to X: "What the hell just happened?" I was sure I must be confused.

X: "I believe we just saw an asshole in action."

I'm still in shock. I've never seen anything like it.

Harvey wrote

I turned to X: "What the hell just happened?" I was sure I must be confused.

X: "I believe we just saw an asshole in action."

I'm still in shock. I've never seen anything like it.

I have three girls so I don't really know whether I'd be tougher on a son.  I am tougher on my oldest than the other two, so probably.  Regardless, this seems like too much -- kind of like when my dad threw me in the deep end of the pool to teach me how to swim.  

You did the right thing skiing over.  Whenever I see a kid down and no adult nearby, I ask if they are okay or need help.

Petronio

Usually see that with a boyfriend trying to teach the girlfriend deal, not with a parent and child.

It's Windham. Douchebag daddy probably had a conference call down at the lodge or something to get to.

We throw around the words "asshole" and "dick" like candy on this forum, but words in a forum are nothing compared to behavior like that. That is a legitimate asshole.

On a side note, I don't have kids, but I always thought you should treat them the way you would want to be treated. Would that dad want me to take him down something way above his ability level, ski to the bottom, and then get pissed off at him and ski away when he reached me? I see stuff like that all the time and it's very strange. Why have kids if you don't want to treat them as human beings?

Disgusting behavior .. I can't tell you how many times I had to climb up hill to help my kids..
you need a license to drive a car, but nothing to have a kid..crazy

#1 mistake I see parents making is taking their kids on too steep terrain

If it makes them make a bigger wedge it' is too steep for them.  Doing this can long term stunt their skiing development.  With my own son I was super patient in slowly ramping up terrain.  Not until he could make good parallel turns on steeper blues did he get on a black.  And then it was a slow progression to WF's steeper trails making sure there was no regression before moving ahead. Ultimately that makes for a kid not afraid of pitch with a balanced stance.

Dug up this old blog post I wrote about this

http://nyskiblog.com/coach-z-ski-vacations-with-kids/

Sideslipping saved the day. Should be among  the first skills taught then mastered.

While I will now be careful in my usage of dick and asshole, along with epic , that guy truly was an ass.

At first I thought you were going to say the guy laid into you at the bottom for interrupting his 'teaching technique'.  To take off on the kid, who's begging daddy to wait.....unreal.

Now, I will say that there may have been a time or two I've 'been an ass', and been tough on the kids.  No, I've never left them alone and stranded on a slope above their ability, or took off on them, but we've had some tough, fearful moments.  Coach had good advice in that article.  Work your way up in terrain difficulty, test skills on shorter steep pitches.  But, at some point your kid is going to have to tackle the Skyward Headwall for the first time.  Even with good conditions that can be tough for a first timer who has worked their way up to it.  It's natural for people to freeze up in those moments sometimes.  Faced with that I never coddled the kids.  They had the skills, the time had come to trust in them, do what you know, use what you've learned.  I think the tough approach that led to a few tearful moments but forced them to SKI! was the right way to go.  Once they got over that hump, with me right there to support them, it was easy sailing.

However, there may be someone out there with a horror story about how some asshole father was yelling at his kid on the Skyward Headwall as the kid was crying in fear!

Snowballs wrote

Sideslipping saved the day. Should be among  the first skills taught then mastered.

Not only can it save your ass in a tough spot, it's a great way to learn how to engage an edge.   Engage, release......crucial to turning.

JTG4eva! wrote

Snowballs wrote

Sideslipping saved the day. Should be among  the first skills taught then mastered.

Not only can it save your ass in a tough spot, it's a great way to learn how to engage an edge.   Engage, release......crucial to turning.

Exactly. Wedging sucks. Even more important than turning, sideslipping also teaches the most important yet hardly ever taught skill. That being how to STOP.

That and putting your skis back on when they come off on a trail with any sort of pitch.

I've seen at least 3 dads yelling angrily at kids that were in over their head terrain wise this year. Like little kids. I'm not sure what those Dads are thinking, but that's the fastest way for your child to hate skiing and not want to do it anymore. Build up gradually and make sure they have fun, even if the highlight of their day is hot cocoa in the lodge. A little patience and restraint will pay off in the long run.

Were I the dictator of the world, you would need a license for children.      Try to adopt a dog....1000 times harder than what you need to have a kid.   Shameful.    


I teach kids 85% of my time.    My focus is blue/black.    


I have tests for pole use--hands in front for 3 consecutive runs---90%.   Great motivation.

I have tests for black slopes:   1) hocky stops.  2) side slips.  3) 7 short R turns down a particular steeper pitch on a blue slope that is akin to black.   Great motivation to learn the addition/subtraction fountations of skiing.   Kids want black on their belt.    And to spray dad/mom with snow.    

Now and again I will yell.....stop wedging, that is for 5 year olds.     Once a kid has hockey stops, he/she is never, ever allowed to stop in a wedge (not lift) again.    Muscle memory is my goal.    

Parents:   Please consider adopting these tools before you enter steeps.    You put your kid in a car seat;  dont allow him to eat chicken nuggets from McD's but allow him to hit a mogul run without the skills.    

I have seen enough of these asshole dads and moms for a lifetime. Not surprisingly, they act like this on and off the slopes.

Here is the thing, don't you want your kid to remember the fun they had with you? My wife will recollect in an instant how her dad was super competitive and ruined every physical activity she tried with him.  

I:)skiing wrote

Were I the dictator of the world, you would need a license for children.      Try to adopt a dog....1000 times harder than what you need to have a kid.   Shameful.    

 

IMO those of us without kids should be rewarded. Instead we're penalized.

Too many damn people in this world anyway

I had a front row seat to this sad scene. My initial impression was that the dad was not a competent skier and had somehow made a wrong turn and the boy slipped and got stuck on his side. The father had his skis off and was walking to the base of the pitch. Walking up that pitch in ski boots would not be easy. This added to my impression that he was not an experienced skier. The only way to get up there would have been to side step up. He was yelling for the kid to just slide down and the boy was yelling I can't. He went back and forth with the boy until he said you know how to get to the lodge and I will see you down there. The boy was in full panic mode screaming don't leave me. The father then fell while trying to put on his skis - maintaining the impression that he was a new skier.

I knew Harvey was coming and I knew he would help the boy. Without this knowledge I would have climbed up to help him, figuring the father did not know how to help. Harvey skied right over, took charge of the situation and safely side slipped down the pitch with the boy side slipping just above Harvey. The father said nothing to Harvey and took off down the slope once he saw the boy get off the pitch. Now I could see that he was actually a decent skier. What an ahole.

I have had my kids freeze up on trails. It happens. The key is not getting too far ahead so you can get back up to help and maintain a good attitude while trying to 'unfreeze' your child. This father was going full on tough love, but it was not working and he did not change his plan. There was no lesson to be learned at this point. I wonder if he figured somebody else would help.

The boy was so shaken that he was having trouble with the blue pitch (Upper Whistler) we were on. He eventually headed down an easier blue and seemed to be skiing ok.



Stuck on The Wall


Harv to the rescue


Side slipping



It was a nice save by Harvey. He was calm and easily took the boy down the pitch. Watching a guy leave his boy stuck on a pitch was disgusting. Watching the guy say nothing to Harvey and then taking off without his shaken child was horrifying.

That guy is a dunce and shouldn't be allowed on the hill alone much less with kids.  Bringing newbies along gradually is key, whether nordic or alpine.  You have to ski the terrain everyone is able to ski.  +1 Yukon Cornelius and Coach Z.

Nice save Harv

I'm pretty sure that was Snoloco.