VAIL Like nothing on earth.™

You Wont Believe What These Kids Said at Ski School

As we ride the lifts and ski with our youngest guests in ski school we meander into some priceless conversations.  Here are a few gems:

1) Instructor:  “Do you have brothers or sisters?”

Skier: “Yes”

Instructor:  “How many brothers and sisters do you have?”

Skier: “All of them”

2) One of my instructors had two little students from Alabama with her. They were beginners and had progressed well and gotten to ride the Gondola up to the “big hill”.  When they reached the top and took their first look around, their eyes got huge and one threw her arms out and exclaimed “This is better than Disney World!!”

3) At the end of one day during Christmas week, I was walking out to the parking lot alongside a dad carrying his little skier in his arms. The little girl pointed up at the Gore Range in front of us that was bathed in beautiful orange and pink alpenglow and said “I want to go there!” The Dad said “Where do you mean and why do you want to go there? “.  The little girl pointed again and said, “I want to go there, to the North Pole!” Who wouldn’t want to go there ?

4) Instructor: “So, you’re riding this big chairlift, you must be a good skier. How long have you been skiing?”

Skier: “All day”

Instructor: “Ok, and I meant how many years have you been skiing?”

Skier: “8 years.”

Instructor: “ Wow, really? How old are you ?”

Skier:” Six”

5) Thursdays are Race Day at Ski School and we set up a little race course for the beginner and intermediate level skiers at the base of Golden Peak. Most kids can finish this course in about 30 seconds. One very cautious little girl crawled through it in about 3 and a half minutes. It was like watching a slow motion video. You just can’t ski that slowly without tipping over.  She was absolutely pushing her boundaries and doing a great job.  She was going as fast as she was comfortable and all the parents and staff in the finish area were loving it. Just adorable. Everyone was cheering for her surpassing her own expectations. It was awesome. She crossed the line, threw her arms up in the air in victory and flashed a huge smile. She was a ski racer and felt great and that’s what it’s all about!

6) This girl didn’t need to SAY anything.  She was an 11 year old girl, Portuguese speaker, with no English. She got very intimidated on the big hill, so I took her from her class and skied her down to the base. On the way I wanted to show her this cool tree on the side of the trail that has scars running up it from where a bear had climbed and cut the bark with his claws. His paw marks are clear as day running all the way up the tree. I pointed at the marks on the tree and did my best bear imitation holding up my ”paws”, and gave it a good bear growl, hoping to tell the story without scaring her or making her think I had lost my marbles. She got it. She had the biggest look of astonishment and wonder. Her face lit up like she’d just discovered the coolest thing ever!   Who needs language!

7) Instructor: “Do you have brothers and sisters?”

Skier:” Yes, I have a brother and a sister”

Instructor:” Great, do they both ski like you?”

Skier:”My sister skis but my brother doesn’t like it”

Instructor:” Huh, why doesn’t your brother like to ski?”

Skier: (Looking at me like I have three heads) “He can’t ski! They don’t make ski boots for dogs!”

8) I was helping a little 5 year old down the hill this week. She was toast and had a meltdown earlier. So, lacking great conversation, I started to sing Christmas songs for a distraction as we skied. She gave me no sign of being entertained at all. I was beginning to think I was more annoying to her than comforting, so I stopped…until I heard her little tiny voice in front of me… “Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way”.  Precious!

9) Ever since coming here for my first season I have been impressed with the views from all over Vail mountain. In one of my first classes I had to stop my group of kids to admire the vista. We decided that I would stop the group if I saw something spectacular, shout out “View Check” and, like we were watching 4^th of July fireworks, we would all shout out “ oooooh and ahhhhh!” together. The best moment came the first time I heard one of the kids from the back of our class yell out, “ VIEW CHECK”.  It wasn’t me who had noticed the gorgeous view, it was one of them! The whole group stopped to see what he was looking at and “oooh and ahhh” together.

By: Janet Lawrence