Image Courtesy of Dave Hamilton
Teens and older kids can be picky and difficult to deal with at home. Forget about a ski vacation. Here are some tips to make everyone in your family happy – even the unruly teen in your life.
Pick The Right Resort
Do you remember going into a cheap store with your teen to pick out budget clothes for the school year? You can probably still hear your kid moan and groan. Well, it’s like that with no-name ski resorts. So, you’re in for a battle – or are you?
Some resorts cater to families without being too stuffy or expensive. For example, if you book accommodations at Jackson Hole hotels and plan on taking a trip to Jackson Hole, then you’re in for a treat. Lift tickets are reasonably priced and the slopes, while mostly for intermediate skiers, are still challenging and fun enough for most teens.
Go To Ski School
The idea of “school” seems like a drag to most teenagers, but modern ski resorts make it fun. The instructors are getting better, have better social skills, and are teaching things that teens want to know, like cool tricks and snowboarding maneuvers.
The way these schools work is that you can book group lessons or private lessons with several teens in the group – effectively creating a group lesson.
As long as everyone gets along in the group, it should be fun and it lets your teens get away from you and other adults for the afternoon (except for perhaps the instructor).
How To Keep Your Teen Entertained
Choosing a ski resort that’s large enough to accommodate all tastes can be challenging, but it’s not impossible. Ideally, the resort will have both indoor and outdoor activities, including the actual slopes (of course), an ice skating rink, snowmobiling, floodlit skiing, tubing, an indoor movie theater, bowling alley, and other related activities.
For teens, they may want a reprieve from the cold, and these kinds of activities give it to them. Most ski resorts that feature non-skiing-related activities section off these areas so they’re safe for teens and younger kids to roam around in with little supervision. And, even if you don’t want to let them loose, alone, it will be safe to do so.
Going To A Snowpark
This is where things get interesting. A snowpark is probably the best thing that’s happened to skiing since the original concept of a ski resort. Freestyle skiing and snowboarding are very popular right now – especially among teenagers. Snowparks cater to this kind of thing, so it can take a huge load off your shoulders.
There’s no stuffy staff or formal organization for the slopes.
Most of them also play host to live music and other events so there’s more to do there than just ski. And, when the sun goes down, the nightlife starts. That doesn’t mean there’s no safety built into the park. Most of them do have strict safety standards and designated areas where individuals can go freestyle.
Some even have “teenager zones” with a half-pipe, freestyle areas, and a snow park for people of all skill and ability levels.
At the end of the day, what’s important is that everyone has fun and, if you take a little time to plan things out in advance, there’s no reason that can’t happen.
Bradley Tomlinson loves hitting the slopes. The best way to achieve this, he has found, is by working at a ski resort for the season, something he has been doing year after year since leaving school. He has recently taken to blogging about his ski experience and sharing tips and tricks for an enjoyable holiday on the slopes.