5 Tips for Skiing With Teens

This is a guest post from Tess Bradshaw who runs Little Skiers, a family business providing ski clothing and accessories.

Have your Little Skiers grown up now? Hotel kids club to young for them? Are you now too boring (or too slow) for them to be happy skiing with you all week? Well, with a little preparation you can have the skiing holiday you want AND keep them happy.

Tips For Skiing With Kids Of All Ages

1) Get Freestyle Training Before you Hit the Slopes

Freestyle snow sports training is held all over the UK in indoor snow slopes and outdoor dry ski slopes, all through the year. There is no age limit and the youngest was 5yrs old! They cater for all standards of skiers, even if they have never jumped before (as long as they can ski in a controlled manner).

They will be coached by professional skiers and it is a perfect opportunity for them to mix with experienced freestylers.

2) Look for Resorts with Dedicated Teen Tuition

Teens do not want to be mixed in with younger kids or adults that have started learning late in life, but it is often difficult to get around this.

Many teens fall into a middle ground where they still need ski school for the technical training and to ensure they are skiing in a controlled manner but you could balance it out with one or two private lessons after ski school. Ecole du Ski Francais offer one hour lessons (or more) in either Freeride (lessons concentrate on skiing or snowboarding outside the marked and prepared pistes) or Freestyle (combines the basics of snowsports with those of acrobatics and involves completing a series of aerial tricks on a snowboard or skis).

Some resorts are starting to offer week-long lessons or dedicated camps and clinics. But these tend to be more in America, your travel agent can be a great help here as many resorts are moving toward this type of lesson and so are constantly changing what is available.

Related: Skiing With Young Children

3) Check your Resort has a Terrain Park

These are must for them to try out new skills and just have a laugh, even for parents that aren’t interested in trying any tricks out, they are great places to watch them in action. They will be happy to hang out there most of the time!

Resorts with Terrain Parks worth considering:

France: Flaine, La Plagne’s Teenager Zone, Alpe H’uez, Meribel, Les Deux Alpes (one of the best parks in Europe suitable for beginners to pro freestylers), Les Arcs
Austria: Zell am See, Kaprun, Italy, Val di Fassa, Madonna di Campiglio
America: Breckenridge, Buttermilk, Aspen, Copper Mountain, Jackson Hole

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4) Choose Central Accommodation

As with younger children, it is worth trying to secure accommodation close to the slopes rather than relying on ski buses. This will allow a greater amount of freedom & independence. But these do book up early so try to get an early–bird package with discounts to offset the increased cost of close accommodation.

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5) Go Skiing at Half Term

Schools, by law, cannot now allow children absence during term time, but the upside is that during the school holidays resorts often have more activities geared to that age and ski school lessons often have more of that age group present.

As Sarah from Crystal said “ Skiing in school holidays don’t have to mean crowded slopes and queues for lifts. Consider a larger resort with a few gondolas going up to a large ski area and you should be fine”.