whiskaz

So yesterday was pretty much awesome. The private lesson may not have been worth the money I paid for it but it gave my daughter and I both a little more confidence I think. I'm not sure if the instructor had worked a lot with little kids. Another instructor in the lodge offered up several hints/tips post-private lesson. He'd had some more formal training with munchkins apparently.

Anyway, after the lesson, she insisted she was done with the bunny slope, but I wanted to make sure I could handle her with the harness on, so we went down it once more. Very smooth. I should have maybe worked with her more on the falling leaf and so forth (the instructor said she was doing it for him) but she just wanted to cruise and get on the chairlift! Since I figured it was all about her having fun, we went for it. Especially since the bunny run went smoothly.

The first run was a little disastrous between me keeping speed in check (without coming to a complete stop in places) and her being cold/tired/hungry. There were some tears but we made it down! She went into the lodge with her mom for some hot cocoa and lunch. After that she was ready to go. We headed back out and made it down pretty clean- no tears or anything. The run had a couple of steeper/faster sections which she really enjoyed. I was able to steer her some with the harness. We made another 3 or 4 runs before she got too cold and was done for the day. She didn't want to leave though and can't wait to go back! Sounds like a win to me!

On a side note, I have a difficult time keeping my speed in check, even on mellow stuff, when I have a very narrow area to work with (e.g. right beside my kid). Guess I need to read up on some tips for that (cattracks, etc).

Some pics!

With her instructor:



Ready to shred:


Cruising with the harness:

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Jeremy, WV

init

That's just awesome But dude, lose the harness and let her go by herself. When I started as 6 year old, harnesses didn't even excist

wrathfuldeity

Cute...get her off the leash...wide open groomed...play racing and follow the leader games...she will be blowing past you very soon. Its been at least 4 years since being able to keep up with my daughter.

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Toecutter

Cool!!! Good times ahead!

whiskaz

Oh man...if I let her off leash she'd kill herself. I know because it happened a couple of times. Even on a relatively flat area at the end of the run, I let go of the ropes and she just started cooking it (I guess it was a little steeper than I thought). She has no concept of turning or stopping so she would have slammed into the lift but for the fact that she sort of went toeside and fell down.

Soon enough...

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Jeremy, WV

firstx1017

OMG - that is the cutest board for her! I love seeing little kids on the mountain and wish I had gotten my kids into this when they were her age. Since I just learned at 50 I can't wait to get a grandchild to take with us since my kids have no desire to board.

gjsnowboarder

At that age childeren progress vary differently. It is easy as an instructor to doubt a lesson given by anyone but them. But until you are out there with the same student it is just a bunch or WAG(wild ass guessing) if the lesson would have gone differently. If she doesn't have the concept of speed control yet and stopping I would keep her on the harness. a hoola-hoop can work better, but it sounds like this might be a little to close for your ability level right now. Just keep getting her out on the slope and lessons every once in awhile and as long as she keeps having fun that is all that matters. If you are concerned about the level of instructor you can always ask if a snowboard instructor with a "children's accreditation" is hired by the mountain and could go out with her. The accreditation is even more specific knowledge for working wiht younger children like your daughter.

P.S. great pics

linvillegorge

Holy shit! You daughter is a zombie?!

whiskaz

Ha! I think it would have read more like:

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Jeremy, WV

herzogone

I can relate to the concern, I took my almost 5YO son out twice now and had similar concerns about just letting him go, but he has been good at following my instructions to lift his toes and sit on his butt if necessary. He seems to grasp going heelside pretty readily, although he struggles much more with toeside. I think this is common for a lot of people. I'm sure the instructors on here can provide better insight, but in my case getting my son to the point where he could follow my instructions to do a heelside turn (even if he falls on his butt) has allowed him to have fun going down the gentle greens with me following. He is totally stoked! I was really skeptical about even starting him at first since he gets frustrated easily, but he kept begging to go and now I can't believe how much he loves it!

Anyhow, congrats, I think it's awesome you got your daughter into it already!

Here's some video from his third or fourth run down the beginner trail (apologies for the quality and length, it was really aimed at family members viewing).