Babies/Toddlers on Destination Ski Trips

[rfarren]

But yes, the Dolomites should be on Rob and Nikki's short list, especially since Rob is fluent in one of the local languages.

We’ll see, Nikki and I just had a baby, so it may be a while before we take a destination ski trip, particularly one overseas.

[jamesdeluxe]

We’ll see, Nikki and I just had a baby, so it may be a while before we take a destination ski trip, particularly one overseas.

We brought our ten-month-old son with us to the Arlberg. Nice in theory, less so in practice.

[rfarren]

We’ll see, Nikki and I just had a baby, so it may be a while before we take a destination ski trip, particularly one overseas.

We brought our ten-month-old son with us to the Arlberg. Nice in theory, less so in practice.

How did that work out?

[Tony Crocker]

Convenience, price and quality of day care, just another addition to ski trip planning! I remember those days from the 1980's and 1990's. It generally worked OK for us, but sure it's extra logistics and at least the equivalent of another lift ticket. Most of it was weekends at Mammoth for us. But there were 3 destination trips when Adam was 12-15 months old. The last of those was the infamous Jackson spring break when we had to relocate since the snow there was so bad. We had to find and reserve daycare in SLC for the days we skied Alta and Snowbird.

[jamesdeluxe]

How did that work out?

The skiing itself was great; bringing our son along wasn't the lovely family experience we'd hoped for -- dealing with babysitters, he had serious asthma issues/a trip to the ER/follow-up with a doctor, a frantic wife. Should've never let myself be talked into it.

[Tony Crocker]

There were only two health issues that I recall.

One of those 1 year old trips was to Vail. We took a day trip to Copper Mt. and Adam was a little fussy and uncomfortable probably with the 9,600 altitude there.

The Christmas Adam was 2 we spent a week at the Alta Peruvian Lodge. He got an ear infection, so we had to go to the doctor at Snowbird and get antibiotics. We had to keep him out of the Peruvian's pool for the rest of that trip.

We skied a day at Brian Head on the way to Alta. That was the time Adam complained that the 4 year olds could ski so why couldn't he? During his 3 year old season Adam was generally out for half a day skiing either with us or in Mammoth's Funland program.

[rfarren]

How did that work out?

The skiing itself was great; bringing our son along wasn't the lovely family experience we'd hoped for -- dealing with babysitters, he had serious asthma issues/a trip to the ER/follow-up with a doctor, a frantic wife. Should've never let myself be talked into it.

Yeah, seems sort of a waste to go someplace like that with an infant, let alone a young kid. Maybe when they’re teenagers we can do Europe, but as kids I think out west will be as far as we go... I just don’t want to ruin my kid’s ski life by spoiling them with western conditions. Great skiers learn on ice, and that’s where my daughter will learn.

[Tony Crocker]

The first choice is obviously to leave an infant or small child at home with grandparents or other trusted family. But if push comes to shove, it's better to take the kid with you than not have a destination ski vacation.

As far as logistics are concerned for easterners going west vs. the Alps, I'll defer to James on that.

For taking a kid skiing at a big/diverse mountain either west or in the Alps, that to me is a function of ski interest and skills just as for an adult. Adam was certainly at that level at age 7 when he skied some of Crested Butte's North Face and most of Telluride. For that matter, perhaps half of Vail was within his reach at age 5, and he progressed well with two days of excellent lessons and skiing with us the rest of that week.

Great skiers get started at an early age based upon:
1) The kid's interest, not something you can control. I had one kid very driven to ski and one not so much.
2) Accessibility for a large number of short sessions per season, as most very young kids don't have the strength or attention span to put in full days. JSpin in both Montana and Vermont had that easy accessibility. NYC is not the worst location in this regard, but it's definitely a challenging one. The New Jersey contingent of our Iron Blosam group lives 20 minutes from Mountain Creek. I rarely hear much positive about Mountain Creek as a ski area, but it has been effective in getting those kids making ski progress at an early age.

[jamesdeluxe]

seems sort of a waste to go someplace like that with an infant, let alone a young kid.

if push comes to shove, it's better to take the kid with you than not have a destination ski vacation.

What Tony says ^^ was our logic and for the record, we skied every day bell to bell, which was fantastic -- see pix in the resulting article/for the second straight year at Lech, I hit paydirt with conditions. It was the non-skiing part dealing with our sick son (in an unmistakable harbinger of coming attractions for us ) that made it a very mixed bag enjoyment-wise. I'm not saying that other people shouldn't bring their baby along on a destination trip; i.e. your mileage may vary.

Looks like we should split this thread.

[Tony Crocker]

Obviously having a child get sick is the worst case scenario. Overall we were quite lucky in that regard considering we had at least 7 destination trips with a kid exclusively in the daycare stage plus 2-3 Mammoth weekends per season over those same years.

[jasoncapecod]

You roll the dice when traveling with little ones..Plan for the worse and hope for the best..
I have visited Dr's in Fla and in Geneva..
Also age doesn't matter, I had a 16yr old vomit all across France..

[socal]

Just got home from 3 days in Mammoth with a almost 2 yr old and almost 4 yr old. First, it's shocking how much lessons cost. 3hrs in the morning was $200+/day for the 3 yr old plus the babysitter for the 1 yr old. It was fun but exhausting and very expensive. My 3 yr old loved the skiing and spent the afternoon with me and loved it. He did cry and not do well at ski school though.

All that said, I would never think of doing a long destination trip with a toddler/infant. You miss a lot of skiing, miss out on other fun activities, and spend more money. Until they're at least 5 I would think you'd be better finding care at home and going without. Local/short trips with a 3+ yr old makes sense since you can get them on the slopes.

[berkshireskier]

You roll the dice when traveling with little ones..Plan for the worse and hope for the best..
I have visited Dr's in Fla and in Geneva..
Also age doesn't matter, I had a 16yr old vomit all across France..

Yea, it seems like my daughter, who is now 21, was sick on almost every vacation we ever took, including ski trips. I spent many "vacation" hours looking for drugstores to buy her medicine. LOL.

[jasoncapecod]

jasoncapecod wrote:
You roll the dice when traveling with little ones..Plan for the worse and hope for the best..
I have visited Dr's in Fla and in Geneva..
Also age doesn't matter, I had a 16yr old vomit all across France..


Yea, it seems like my daughter, who is now 21, was sick on almost every vacation we ever took, including ski trips. I spent many "vacation" hours looking for drugstores to buy her medicine. LOL.

Funny..My daughter just turned 21...Different experience buy med's in Europe...

[mikkelkasper]

Just got home from 3 days in Mammoth with a almost 2 yr old and almost 4 yr old. First, it's shocking how much lessons cost. 3hrs in the morning was $200+/day for the 3 yr old plus the babysitter for the 1 yr old. It was fun but exhausting and very expensive. My 3 yr old loved the skiing and spent the afternoon with me and loved it. He did cry and not do well at ski school though.

All that said, I would never think of doing a long destination trip with a toddler/infant. You miss a lot of skiing, miss out on other fun activities, and spend more money. Until they're at least 5 I would think you'd be better finding care at home and going without. Local/short trips with a 3+ yr old makes sense since you can get them on the slopes.

I do concur with the above.. Pregnant women are not allowed to go to certain places even as early as a month in the pregnancy.
if that is the case, taking toddlers to ski trips is quite dangerous, their immune systems may not be as strong enough to keep up
with the weather change. it might end up being a costly trip full of worries.