Ineedsnow ski holidays blog » family

Now officially a family skier – time to learn rather than advise

mat — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:57:02 +0000

Not a Photoshop edit, maybe a dream but genuine all the same – image © ineedsnow.com

Even in my wildly optimistic predictions my son is unlikely to join me glacier skiing this summer. At 37 days old, I am not 100% sure his balance is there yet; the heart and the head yes, but the finer, peripheral details might take a little longer. Equipment is certainly an issue – with my wife on the cusp of labour 38 / 39 days ago I detoured to the local ski shop in Innsbruck in search of skis. I left the shop with the smallest ski goggles you can imagine – the owner of the shop it seems was unable to kit out a child with skis (of indeterminate gender) who was approximately minus 2 days old ????? I left confused but clutching hope and the goggles.

But as of May 3rd 2009, I am now officially a family skier. For years I have offered the best advice I can to families, albeit without first hand knowledge. I always drew a mental picture of what a client and their family needed from a family ski holiday. No resort is perfect but generally ski buses, resort road traffic, après ski, tough slopes, long transfers, treeless slopes and language barriers are generally negatives. Over the past 30 or so years I have learnt to ski, have skied out of season, chased down après ski, taken on some tough skiing and gradually built up a reasonable knowledge base of the ski options that are dotted across the world. I would be mortified if I had ever wrongly sold a ski holiday but until now family skiing was always something based on consideration and judgement rather than experience. That is all set to change now, my next overnight ski holiday is sure to include a son and a wholly new set of values for me. Bring it on! But in many respects I am back to the basics on this one – 39 years old maybe and able to ski the range of terrain here in Innsbruck but in every family aspect I am an absolute novice – it seems I can’t even provide the right equipment. Maybe another trip to the specialist ski shop in Innsbruck is now in order at 37 days (positive) old?

Ischgl for families – try See and Kappl

mat — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 10:51:25 +0000

Kappl in great conditions - image © ineedsnow.com

For families and those wanting a slower pace of things but also wanting to access the superb ski region of Ischgl then the neighbouring ski holiday resorts of See and Kappl are great options. I skied them for the first time this season, yesterday and conditions were superb. Cold and clear conditions that followed several days of heavy snow – you can get the idea

Both See and Kappl offer accommodation that is close to the skiing and much of the accommodation is in fact ski-in, ski-out. Lifts leave each resort from a central location and both See and Kappl offer a ski piste back to the resort that winds through large sections of the resort. Within the ski areas the emphasis is very much on families with dedicated kids ski areas at the mid stations and the skiing in both See and Kappl tends to favour the intermediate or beginner. For parents wanting to pop over to Ischgl and ski in one of the top ski areas in the Alps then one ski pass covers the Paznaun valley and all the resorts are linked by regular ski buses. See and Kappl are attractive and welcoming ski holiday resorts but lack the full-on après that Ischgl is a world beater for. Bars and restaurants are numerous but the pace of life in both See and Kappl are very much slower than Ischgl. I think they are both great options for families.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSDUVQOhsOk

Grace – 2 today but skiing before 3

mat — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:55:35 +0000

With my wife around mid term pregnancy then this is my last winter where there is likely to be the prevailing weather conditions governing my decision to ski. Spending the majority of the winter in the Austrian Alps, I often chose to ski the least at the most popular times. The upcoming changes that we face are starting to put holiday choices into perspective. Education is the greatest thing that you can give your child, a skiing (or snowboarding) background the next. So how to balance them? My brother and sister in law are outstanding parents but bend the rules of my (fairly rigid) test of parenting test on the basis that their daughter is today 2 and has still not slid across snow. Their issue has been that to get time off from their teaching roles coincides with peak demand for flights and hotels and with that prices. I know well that they dream each hour of the time that Grace can ski, hopefully it comes soon. School holidays are when most kids ski. The February half term usually sees really great conditions with longer days and almost always good snow depths. Christmas in Austria is an option but New Year is a time when I personally rarely ski as there are far better times in the winter to ski. For parents then the October half term is one time that I think is really underused, October the 5^th this year we had sensational skiing on the Stubai Glacier, that followed really great powder skiing on the Pitztal Glacier last May. The point is that when demand is high and prices reflect that then there are better options for parents of school aged kids who seek the ‘education / ski balance’ than New Year. Today I took the 3 year, 3 month old son of friend skiing to Kuhtai. Before our lunch break he was totally enthusiastic, after lunch all he wanted to do was hand me lumps of ice to skid down the moving carpet. At least he was in the mountains though with skis on the end of his legs and he loved the skiing and watching me make work for the lifties. I write it here officially that Grace will ski before 3, next May she can ski the Pitztal Glacier with us, maybe her first day will be a powder day, I am sure if I am with her on a moving carpet it will be a powder day for her devoted parents.