Winter Bliss

Winter sports is hard work and expensive and risky. Any number of things could affect your trip to the mountains. Having a good time and making lasting memories all depends on your attitude.

Here on some thoughts on marital bliss and parenting paradise in winter downhill style:

Embrace the unexpected and find humor in snafu’s.
Embrace the yin and the yang: planning, labor and discomfort leads to fun and joy.
Plan but embrace the financial risk: most lift tickets are non-refundable even if the snow is non-existent or the weather is a raging blizzard. Plan ahead to not lose your cool.
Have a long view: winter sports are a life style choice and families acquire skills by sticking with it year after year and learning from mistakes. Take notes for next year’s trip.
Make sure each person in your family or group has an appropriate sized boots, boards and skis with bindings that are in good condition. If the equipment you own is not working, rent or buy what you need. Make safety your priority. Take notes on all the boot and ski and board sizes of you and your family so that you can easily make decisions what they need next year.
Communicate with your spouse (and when applicable, your kids) practice clean hand offs of intel such as dates, times, driving directions, parking, plans, key fobs and passes. Be patient and commit to kindness. Don’t assume you’ll have good cell service.
Give each other the benefit of the doubt, no toxic jabs.
Be practical about your energy level. Plan a rest break or a massage or a nap based on your needs for restoration. For example, my husband needs decompression time at the outset of a family trip. He needs time and space to first pack away work stress in order to be present with the family and also get restorative travel experience. We try our best to give him that space on the very first full day of the trip. Then he hits the slopes hard with the kids. For me, I tend to move at an overall slow pace to conserve energy so that I can do mom things and also so I can drive safely home. So I don’t hit the slopes hard everyday. I may ski for just an hour or two each day.
Beware of your bewitching hour: lots of parents tend to yell at kids on the slopes around 3pm bc they are tired, cold and hungry. Avoid this with proper clothes, snack breaks, hot chocolate breaks, no substances, no alcohol. If it happens, don’t beat up yourself. Take it as a data point for better planning for next trip.
Consider and/or prepare for the possibility of flu or illness or injury. Ski season is also flu season.
Expect assholes on the slopes, but commit to kindness and politeness for fellow skiers.
Ignore your kids’ bickering with each other. Eventually they will be laughing and joking about the times they had on the slopes.
Respect your loved ones’ ability on the slope and encourage meeting up with friends who match up in ability. Make time to ski and board with the slow pokes on the green runs even if it’s just a couple of hours and even if you are bored. If you are the slow poke, give your hot shot skiers and boarders a chance to slide at their level. Give them space to hit the blues and blacks.
Make comfort and warmth a priority. If someone complains of pain, hunger or cold, stop and address it. Adjust the boot, clip the hang nail, buy better gloves, do whatever is necessary. Over time each person will know how to meet his or her own needs.
When it comes to worrying about kids, the possibility of physical injury is real and it should hold a serious place in your mind but you can’t let it control you. Invest in high quality instruction each trip, each year and insist on helmets. Talk about speed control, awareness and choosing appropriate trails with your kids. Have confidence that when an injury happens, you’ll seek care for your child and cross the bridge as it comes. I have found that speaking with ski patrol and asking about how local responders treat the injured, for example, what ER do they go to, helps me feel at ease because I have an idea of how things will go down if someone is injured. I even collect phone numbers for local ER, convenient care and pharmacies just in case I need them.
Ask local folks about road clearing services or check your resort’s webpage or main phone line to get information on road conditions.