When can my little person hit the slopes?

While the Kraken is way too young to ski, it has not stopped Chris and I from talking about when he'll be ready. Maybe next year, but lets be honest, they are the ones that let us know when they are ready. For those wondering how young you can start a child skiing, please read on.

The first thing you have to remember is that skiing in the beginning is about fun. Not the number of runs, not how steep the hill is, not if they are skiing by themselves, but that it is FUN! Without the fun factor they wont want to ski.

Before you can begin, you need to have ski gear. Many ski shops now offer junior packages. These packages come with skis, boots, and bindings and then offer you the ability to trade them in the following year, because chances are you will have to. I know our local shop has an offer where you can trade in junior gear and get 50% of the value to put towards the new gear within 2 years of original purchase. You can continue to do this swap until around the age of 12 years. What a great way to keep them in gear that fits.

Of course, you will need snow pants, jacket, mittens, etc, but please don't forget the helmet. When looking for a helmet make sure it fits properly. Don't buy a helmet thinking they can grow into it or that a certain price is too much to spend. This is your little persons brain after all. Can you really put a price on that? If you're not sure what to look for in fit, be sure to stop in at your local ski shop, they will talk you through it. I'll also try to post a helmet fitting blog soon.

Once you have them geared up, it's time to take them outside. This is not about giant steps, it's about making them comfortable and making it FUN! So take it slow. Let your little one walk around the house in their new boots. Take them for a walk, pulling them along in their skis. Let them play in the backyard with their skis on. Take them to the local park to experience a little hill in a safe setting. Anything you can do to encourage them to be comfortable in their gear and see skiing as fun.

When you feel they are ready for the real hill, we're talking bunny hill really, it's time for the real adventure to begin. With little ones just starting out, you will be physically supporting them and ensuring that they are maintaining a safe speed. Most of the time when kids start skiing, especially if they are at a very young age, they will not have the strength, or knowledge, to turn and slow themselves down. This is where you come in. In the beginning you will be skiing with them between your legs, helping them. You will help them slow down, stay upright and turn. At the same time you will be coaching them and providing words of encouragement.

Again, this is about maintaining fun. You might get one run in, you might get five. But take whatever you can get. Don't push, simply accept what your little one can give you. By remembering that this is a life long passion you are creating, you will remember to take the small steps and work to ensure that you make the whole thing fun. Notice that I keep coming back to the idea of “fun”?

You might be on the bunny hill for a long time. Be prepared for this. But you have to progress through all of this a the rate that you child is ready for. Don't push, but encourage.

With all of this you will notice I have yet to give you an number. That is because each child is different. Some are more daring than others, some are very active and athletic. A good rule of thumb for the lower limits of when a child is ready to ski is that they must be able to walk, run and jump with confidence. Another “rule” I've heard is that if a child can jump off a step, couch, etc. and land, supporting their own weight, then they have the strength to ski. But you know your child best and are the best determinate of what age they are ready to begin the adventure.

Have fun! I would love to hear stories of your first outing with your little one.

Conform-able boot liners make for comfortable feet

As mentioned before, I've had a great deal of problems finding a pair of ski boots to fit my tiny feet (still loving my Salomon X Max 110 W).  In the quest to get a pair of boots that fit well, I have tried many options, including a variety of liners.  One liner that I tried, and really enjoyed, was the Conform-able Custom Made for Me liner.

Here are some of the things I found wonderful about these liners. 

First off, they are fully heat mouldable.  What this means is that with heat, they reshape to fit your foot specifically.  The liners will shape to hold your heel well, accommodate width of foot, stretch to allow for a high instep, etc.  The liner will also shape to fit your boot shell as well.  So now you have a liner that is fitted to your foot and the shell, not just sitting within the shell.  All of this equals a more secure fit (no heel lifting, no foot shifting within the liner/boot) which in turn gives you more control in your turns.  What can be better than that?  

Remember that you can always add an insole to this liner – think Superfeet.  Just make sure that you insert it when you are heat fitting the liner.  This way the liner forms to allow for the insole and your foot giving a great fit.  

The other thing I loved about this liner was that there are laces along the tongue.  I found that by tying the liner, I gained an even better boot fit.  What worked best for me was to lace the boot across my foot – this really helped me to not move within the boot and feel like my heel was pocketed well.  I then skipped one of the lace holes at the bottom of the calf, allowing for my “shapely” active girl calf.  I finished the lacing by tying the liner tightly at the top to give a bit more fit to the whole setup.  In lacing the liner this way, I found that I had even better fit and turn control.  

Finally, I found this liner quiet warm.  So on top of being moulded to your foot, an added bonus was that the liner was warm.  As I've mentioned, having warm feet is super important to me (hello boot heaters).  And I enjoyed the warmth I felt with these liners.  Bonus...

I don't wear the Conform-able with my X Max,
I just wanted you to see what it looks like.

This is defiantly a liner I would recommend for a variety of reasons.  One, if you are having boot fit issues.  This is a great step in helping to make a boot fit better.  It can hold the foot in place and provide a secure feeling.  Two, if you are looking for a liner that is warmer than your current liner.  If you have a liner that you are finding to be cold, this liner might be your ticket.  Third, if you are skiing in an older boot, but don't want to spend the money on a new pair or you like your boots, you could give this liner a try to give new life to an old pair of boots.  Consider it, I found them great.    

This ski “Lines" up

I recently had the chance to take the Line Soulmate 98 out for a day. And what a great day I had! Some details on the ski, before I go into all the things I loved about this ski. I skied the 158cm length, which has the dimensions of 132 tip, 98 underfoot and 123 tail. The ones I road had a demo binding on them, which means that the binding can be adjusted easily, but this also adds weight to the ski. Even with this binding I found the ski to be fairly light.

As always, I need to hit on the graphics. Again, another part of this ski that I loved. Very geometric, but with lots of great colours. This means you can have a good looking ensemble, without looking like Rainbow Brite.

So with those details out of the way, let me tell you what I loved about skiing the Soulmate. And that was pretty much everything. We had had a fair bit of snow a few days before we headed out, so there was lots of different snow to play in. I took these skis onto the more groomed runs, I didn't find any corduroy, but still found some well groomed areas. These skis were great in these areas. I had no problem getting them to carve some great turns. They were easy to turn, very responsive and I felt very in control. All great feelings. I would love to take these skis onto more groomed terrain to see everything I could do with them.

I also played a lot in the remains of the previous days snow. No real fresh to be found, but there were small pockets and lots of looser snow. I have to admit that I spent most of my day here. And these skis were wonderful! Again, they were super responsive and easy to turn. The light weight of these skis was evident in making quick turns in the bumps and chop. At one point I had to do some fancy skiing to avoid a huge rock. I was able to miss the rock while maintaining control of the ski, and this was defiantly related to the weight of the ski. The Soulmate cut through the snow really well and made skiing looser snow a lot of fun. I can't say enough good things about these skis in this terrain.

I would give this ski a strong recommendation to an intermediate to advanced skier that is looking for a good all mountain ski. I really enjoyed this ski and would be happy to ski it on a regular basis.   

What do all those numbers on skis mean?

If anyone has been looking at new skis they will see that there are many numbers on a ski.  Anyone remember when the only number we were really concerned with was the length?  Now with all the different skis out there, there are many more numbers to consider.  I will attempt to break these numbers down for you, let you know what they mean, and why you might care about them.

First off, lets tackle length.  The length is exactly what it seems to be, how long the ski is. This number is given in centimetres (cm).  The length of ski you buy will be determined by a combination of factors.  A quick rule of thumb is to buy a ski where the tip is between your nose and eyebrow.  The first factor in ski length is your ability.  If you are just starting out, you will want a ski on the short side for your height. This will allow you to turn the ski more easily. More advanced skiers will tend to ski longer lengths. Your weight might also come into play.  If you're light for your height, you might tend to go with a shorter ski or vice versa if you are heavier for your height.  If you are a slower skier, you might prefer a shorter ski as it will allow you to turn well at a slower speed.  If you want to move at a faster pace, then a longer ski is a better idea.  All of these factors work together in determining the length of ski you will ride.

Now lets focus on the number underfoot.  When looking at skis, this will be the middle number, and is what it seems, how wide the ski is under your foot or where the bindings attach.  An example is 132-98-123. The 98 means that the ski is 98mm wide under your foot.  This number affects two things, how much “float” a ski will have and it plays into the turning ability of the ski.  What I mean by “float” is that the larger the number, the more the ski will “float” through snow.  So if you are looking for a straight powder ski, you are going to want a ski with a larger measurement underfoot. We are talking a number around 115mm.  But if you are looking for a ski that is more all mountain, that allows you to do a bit of everything, you want a ski with a more middle of the road width underfoot.  In this range we are talking 80 - 102mm.  This width underfoot will allow you to carve great turns on more groomed runs, but also have some float in the more lose snow.  

As I said, the width underfoot also affects the skis ability to turn or turn radius.  The area underfoot works with the tip and tail numbers to determine the turn radius.  In my example (132-98-123), the tip would be 132mm wide, while the tail is 123mm wide.  Taking the relationship between these two and factoring in the area underfoot, the turn radius can be determined. (Message me if you want details.) But you should never have to figure this out for yourself, most skis will come with this number.  In my example the turn radius of the ski is 15m.  That means it takes 15m to complete a turn on the ski.  The smaller the turn radius the quicker the ski will turn, the bigger the turn radius the longer it will take you to complete a turn. 

So there you have it.  A brief, and hopefully helpful, break down of the numbers found on skis these days. There are obviously other factors to consider when selecting a ski, but a pro at your local shop will surely be able to help and now you can go in with some knowledge of your own.        

Tag Team Parenting

Chris and I have been working on our Tag Team parenting skills. The Kraken is too young to be placed in day care at the ski hill and still needs me for most of his meals during the day. So we are necessitated in taking him with us to the ski hill and trading off parenting. We have a great system going right now, that seems to work for us and for the Kraken. We have tried our method with friends around and when skiing on own our – true tag team parenting.

The gist of our system is that we load the little man into his Ergo carrier (I love it!).  I tend to use it as a side sling when schlepping all my gear and his gear for the day. Our home hill tends to be Sunshine Village in Banff, Alberta. So we take a short trip in the gondola – the boy loves watching the sights go by, or staring at others that we share the ride with. I then head into the hotel restaurant and get settled. They have great sofas in front of a fire place and make a wonderful home base. Chris takes a few runs while I get things settled. He then comes in and gives me the opportunity to head out. Since the lifts are very accessible to the hotel it makes trading off in this manner work really well. We each tend to take 3-4 runs and then relieve the other and parent for a short period. At lunch I feed the Kraken while Chris takes a few runs and then we take a brief break to eat together and continue the afternoon in a similar manner.

The only issue we've run into is nap time. But so far we've been lucky, Chris seems to have some magical skills that can get the boy to sleep in the middle of a busy restaurant. Don't ask me how, but he does it!

This method only alters slightly when others are around since we have kind friends that will often take a shift of care giving, thus allowing Chris and I to ski together.

The best thing is that the other day we had the chance to spend the day with another set of parents who were tag team parenting. They were trying a different method – they traded half days. In their case, the dad skied for the morning, came in for a late lunch together and then the mum headed out for a chunk of the afternoon. I can totally see the benefit of this method as well. It would work much better at hills where a home base is not as accessible to the runs that one is wanting to ski. But could also make for very tired legs or a very tired parent from trying to entertain an active child for so long.

Later that same day we met parents who had spent the day tag team skiing as well. Twice in one day! They even took it one step further and were sharing skis! We really liked meeting and chatting with others taking their little one to the hill so early.

I think the best part is the support and encouragement that we've received from everyone around us. Here's to maintaining a passion while raising a young one. If you have another method or ways to make ours better please let me know, I would love to hear ways to tweak my method to make the day even better for everyone.

Test drive of the Atomic Affinity Storm

I had the chance to take the Atomic Affinity Storm out for a test drive today.  This is an all mountain ski with rocker from Atomic that has dimensions of 127.5, 84, 107 on the 159cm length, which is what I skied.  This ski has an Atomic system binding.  This means that this is a binding produced by Atomic that comes with the ski.  It's a good binding that is easy to adjust for different boot sizes.  I wouldn't be a true chick if I didn't take a moment to comment on the graphic of these skis. I quiet liked the overall look of them, plenty of colour and good details (it will match almost any outfit).  And the binding matched them well.  A good looking set-up for sure.

This ski has a 15.2m turn radius, meaning that it takes about 15.2m to carve an optimal turn.  This is quick, but not too tight of a radius.  It made some great turns on the more groomed runs I made. There wasn't really any true groomers today, as there was some snow over night (lucky me).  But there were areas where there was limited loose snow, so I took a rip there. They were reactive and I had a great deal of fun playing in this type of snow.  They responded quickly and carved some great turns.  I really just needed to engage in the turn a bit to have the ski respond.  Always fun to play on a pair of skis that respond this quickly.   

I also took the Affinity Storm into the bumpier areas.  The chutes were littered with rocks, so I spent limited time in there, but there were many runs on the face that had some great snow.  These skis were fun in the bumps, but I did find that I needed to use a fair bit of power to get them to respond when there was more snow.  They responded quickly when I did put power in.  I also felt that I was being bounced around a bit in the choppier snow.  Nothing I couldn't handle, but it defiantly required me to stay active and inputting energy.  I think a person who is larger than me would find that these skis moved quite well through this type of snow.  Overall, the Affinity Storm is a light ski that allows for quick turns.  But again, these quick transitions required a fair bit of power to make happen in looser snow.  Not too bad when the ski is light, but it can get tiring, especially at the end of the day. 

Overall, I found these to be a good all mountain ski.  I would recommend them for a powerful skier or a person bigger than me.  They would be a fun purchase for an advanced skier looking for something that can allow them to do a bit of everything.  Consider taking these for a test drive if this describes you.