Skiing and the Family Bond

The best thing I ever did in my life...taught my wife (while engaged) and three boys at ages 3-3 1/2 to ski at WF, Gore, and Belleayre. Have maintained tight family unit all these years..oldest son is 28. We've traveled thousands of miles on the NYS Thruway, Northway, and the stretches from Warrensburg to Gore and Northway Exit 30 to LP/WF. All great times, lots of great skiing, riding, and lots of love. I hope others out there are as fortunate as we've been while pursuing winter sports enjoyment and family bonding. We've enjoyed every trip ever taken to these promised destinations, (as in promised lands).

Have others experienced the same?

My dad and I ski together most of the time.  Sometimes my mom is there as well.

Snoloco,

Sweet...keep it going!

   My three sons and I got together last season and skied Greek Peak together , we drove 100 miles each way together , skied hard all day and  enjoyed a fine dinner together on the way home. That's the last time we got together , due to work and College. We plan on skiing together somewhere this season together.
    My daughter skis and boards and we have shared unbelievable times on the slopes , that if not for snow sports , I am sure we would not have spent those days together.
    My youngest son is just a ski fanatic and my favorite ski partner, this year's gonna be tuff for him, my osteoarthrit us has hampered me in all aspects of life ,not just skiing.

I had girlfriends that didn't ski or skied but we're not into it.  That never was going to work for me.

Met my wife in an Instructor training clinic 26 years ago. Started our son skiing at 20 months old.  Redshirted kindergarten in favor of ski school every day at age 5.  We raised a kid that can rip.  He could pass Psia L3 skiing exam at age 11 I'm certain of.  Next year he is going to train 6 days a week with Nysef.

He is my best and favorite skiing partner.  The best week of the year for me is the week we go out west to ski.  Mom can't hope to keep up.  Steeps, bumps, pow, corn, or ripping groomers it's all good with him.  Love the conversation we have on the lifts.  That is something that only skiing can deliver.


My son at the top of the Cirque  at Snowbird

As he gets older racing will shorten the time we get to ski together which is a bummer for me but he has his own big ski dreams to fulfill.

Awesome picture Coach.  I cannot put into words how much I want to get out west to ski.

Funny you mention this. My dad was an immigrant from the Dominican Republic so, skiing was out of his vocabulary growing up. Then one day as an adult, he decided to give it a shot and became hooked.  We were 6 years old and I remember my dad just renting us skis and letting my brother get on a lift, on our own and figure it out all by ourselves.

Having started to bike ride and skate and at an early age in addition to having a low center of gravity we picked it up very fast and those days on the mountain with my dad were very special. Other than skiing with him, my other precious moments are the days we rode our bikes together, given that he was a bike racer and so was I up until a couple of years ago.

I must say that I proudly have passed on the passion for both skiing and riding bicycles to my kids, even to my oldest son who is sadly now on the other side and would have been 17 this past summer.  I remember for him, his doctors telling us we could never get him on skis, and so we proved them wrong. Albeit the skis were adaptive and ones that my wife and I rigged up for him.

All this skiing and precious family time has lead us to keep a video blog which some of you have seen. I can't tell you how often I just go back to those videos and watch and enjoy those moments with them.

Our latest video is here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRbvOKkbihU&feature=youtu.be  -

I hope to see your videos too and most of all, one day on the mountain making turns.

sno
That is much steeper in person than it looks on the photo
Also no grooming there ever and you have to stand on the Tram with about 60 of your closest friends and there are no seat cushions

When you get 400+ inches a year and no r*in, who needs grooming?  Snowmaking and grooming are the way to go in the east, but it is different out west.  Wouldn't there be a way to access that or something similar without riding in the tram (cattle car)?

I believe that getting a firm foundation of outdoor activities like skiing and hiking with your kids at an early age, before they are 13, will help to build bonds that will carry through the dark years. Being able to say, "If you keep your nose to the grind stone we can go skiing" may get you good results but then when you are there and sharing an adventure you can get some pretty good dialogue going. A lot more then "Huh", "Uh" & "I don't know". The key is you actually have to ski with them and not just dump them off to an instructor.

Coach Z,

Have a pic of my now 18 yo on top of the Circ. Will post shortly. Knew I'd hear from many folks with great things to say regarding their family experiences. Will be at WF with at least two of my sons on Sat and Sun 12/13 & 12/14. Here's what I look like in real life. See you there!

We will look out for you this season for sure!

Coach,

Here is my son, now 18 yo, then 15 getting ready to ski the Circ. Btw, I was sick as a dog on this trip and chasing my wife (a double blue skier), for the first 2 days I was there. My best friend lives in Park City. Been to UT many times. Thank goodness my older son Mike took Troy the day this shot was taken. Day three my wife and I skied with him, then with me still sick, I was able to have him go off with the ski patrol to do his thing at the Canyons. One of the patrollers took him to all the sweet spots. I met back up with him in their facility up top, and left them a handsome tip to fuel their end of the season party. They were very nice to relieve me of skiing the crazy stuff, as there was no way I could do it...from a physical and safety perspective. Here's the shot:

A couple more shots..happy Hour in Truckee, CA with wife, two sons, and son's GF. Bluebird day at WF

My father and I skied together when I was young...we stopped in my teens due to money and four younger siblings....but my brother and youngest sister and I bonded over skiing...my wife and I went on several ski safari's in northern VT while dating before I popped the questions...and since my son was 2 we have been on the slopes.   Almost each weekend we drive to exit 30 and turn left...the kids are 18 and 16, both teach at the mountain and i look forward to those drives, the dinners together and skiing with them and their mom.

skiing....

Thanks for that photo Jon.  Hope to meet you at the Mt.  I Know I'll be teaching but I usually am in the lounge Saturday after skiing for awhile.

Like I told Sno it's way steeper than my photo shows

He was just on the other side of the cornice

loco I think maybe the first person to ever try to compare Hunter to Snowbird.  If you can't ski steep bumps , powder or crud in the east the cirque is not the place to learn.  sno they are not even on the same planet.  You fall there you will slide a long long way.

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Woops - guess my dad (Jon951) beat me to it!

Didn't ski the Cirque, but my grand daughter dropped into Great Scott when she was 12. She skied it smoothly top to bottom, I did a bit of sliding. The next day we jump into Gunsight at Alta. That was a fantastic trip. At the end we hiked Patsy Marley. We left Baldy for a later trip as I was running out of steam.

I remember skiing with my family when I was young, but they gradually lost interest over time. Now they're more into golf, which is cool, too (in that it's also a sport that we can do together as a group).

Great family pics! Nice to see some of the fathers (and grandfathers) still ripping tough terrain.