Out of curiosity, for next year my 8 year old son is interested in getting involved with racing. I've been looking at Crotched Mt and Pat's Peak racing programs, simply for ease of practice, etc. Any recommendations for either, or other ski areas which may be a better choice? Since it's a fairly big time commitment we don't want to have to drive 2-3 hours to get to practices every weekend Sat and Sunday.
-
Welcome to AlpineZone, the largest online community of skiers and snowboarders in the Northeast!
You may have to REGISTER before you can post. Registering is FREE, gets rid of the majority of advertisements, and lets you participate in giveaways and other AlpineZone events!
Best Kids Race Program
- Thread starter tcharron
- Start date
drjeff
Well-known member
For the vast majority of 8 year olds, especially for the first "fulltime" racing commitment, most mountains will be perfectly fine, and the closer the better is a good thing. Pats would be good since it has lights, so night time training time happens also.
In general,as your child, if interest remains with age, progresses up the USSA ranks, again for all but the most elite racers, most USSA affliated mountains are fine(granted bigger mountains tend to mean a longer training hill which has its advantages, but many really good racers come from small hills too). If your child becomes an elite racer in the J3-J1 ranks, then you can start thinking of ski academies, and the big 5 in New England (in terms of having people advance to national teams/elite college programs) year in and year out are (in no particular order) : Carabassett Valley academey (Sugarloaf), Burke Mtn Academy, Green Mountain Valley School (Sugarbush), Killington Mtn School, and Stratton Mtn School.
The key though is just to keep your having child fun, and for you as a parent, make sure you have a really, really warm pair of boots for the inevitable race where you'll get to be a gate keeper!
In general,as your child, if interest remains with age, progresses up the USSA ranks, again for all but the most elite racers, most USSA affliated mountains are fine(granted bigger mountains tend to mean a longer training hill which has its advantages, but many really good racers come from small hills too). If your child becomes an elite racer in the J3-J1 ranks, then you can start thinking of ski academies, and the big 5 in New England (in terms of having people advance to national teams/elite college programs) year in and year out are (in no particular order) : Carabassett Valley academey (Sugarloaf), Burke Mtn Academy, Green Mountain Valley School (Sugarbush), Killington Mtn School, and Stratton Mtn School.
The key though is just to keep your having child fun, and for you as a parent, make sure you have a really, really warm pair of boots for the inevitable race where you'll get to be a gate keeper!
I should add I'd also like to possibly do some NASTAR races next year, which both me and my son could possibly do together. Do they allow Juniors on all NASTAR race days, or are they limited to certain race days?
Just seemed like an awesome father/son thing to do.
Just seemed like an awesome father/son thing to do.
SkiDork
New member
Okemo seems to be excellent...
skibum9995
New member
All NASTAR races are for all ages. Some leagues have age restrictions but you won't find those on regular daily NASTAR.
Another program to keep in mind is Franconia Ski Club at Cannon, which is one of the better programs in the state although it might be a little further than you want to drive.
Another program to keep in mind is Franconia Ski Club at Cannon, which is one of the better programs in the state although it might be a little further than you want to drive.
tree_skier
New member
Stick with a close area because you will be there all the time. Either pats or crotched would be good. both have lights and offer midweek training later in the day during holidays. a couple of points.
go to a good bootfitter and listen to them. Your child needs to be able to flex the boot and at 8 the top of the line jr race boots are going to be to stiff. Fit, most kids want a boot that is too big, listen to the bootfitter. the toes should just barely touch the end of the boot.
Get them a pair of slalom jr race skis. I would go with fischer/volkl/head/rossi. a pair of last years models work fine and have them race tuned. If the shop doesn't know what that is go elsewhere, with a 1 deg base 3 deg side bevel.
invest in 4 pairs of ski socks, a good pair of mittens, waterproof pants and jacket, a "race type" helmet (or they could end up with a nickname like bob did Chrome Dome)
you can look for clothing now while it is on sale but wait for boots untill the fall, and don't plan on more then one season per boot.
Good luck
go to a good bootfitter and listen to them. Your child needs to be able to flex the boot and at 8 the top of the line jr race boots are going to be to stiff. Fit, most kids want a boot that is too big, listen to the bootfitter. the toes should just barely touch the end of the boot.
Get them a pair of slalom jr race skis. I would go with fischer/volkl/head/rossi. a pair of last years models work fine and have them race tuned. If the shop doesn't know what that is go elsewhere, with a 1 deg base 3 deg side bevel.
invest in 4 pairs of ski socks, a good pair of mittens, waterproof pants and jacket, a "race type" helmet (or they could end up with a nickname like bob did Chrome Dome)
you can look for clothing now while it is on sale but wait for boots untill the fall, and don't plan on more then one season per boot.
Good luck
Vortex
Member
Tree_skier wants to remain quiet about whom he really is, but his info is valid and he is an in the know active ski racing source.
That's why we where looking at them. Crotched is about 20 minutes from my house, about 45 to an hour from his moms. Pat's is about 45 minutes from mine, about 20 from hers.
It just makes it easy to go after school with both of them offering night skiing, and not too far so the 'Can we go skiing tonight?' is easy.
[/QUOTE]
Chances are sometime this fall we'll be hitting them up for new boots anyway. We figure at his age, it's probrably going to be another pair of boots each year, just from growth. We where planning on different sized skies probrably every other year, depending on growth. His current skies he absolutely loves, we got them for him at the start of the season, with recomendations from http://forums.alpinezone.com/11714-new-boys-first-skis.html?highlight=scratch when we found them used at a good price. If we get him Jr race skis next year, it means we can alternate years on skis, one year downhill, one year 'fun' skis.
Out of curiosity, what's the usual tuning schedule for race skis? His Ros Scratch skis we ended up getting waxed roughly once a month, which was about once every 6 (mostly half day) ski days, in some cases more often due to the crappy 'brown snow' we had in early January.
I'm really hoping he stays interested, he made incredible progress this year, his first year of 'regular' skiing. Last year he went for the first time, and loved it, which is what led us to get him his own skis for this year. He went from Bunny hill to, as of last week, going down his first black diamonds (admittedly at a very catious rate). He handled twister at Pat's pretty well, and best of all, doesn't get scared when he falls. Now if I can just get him to slow the hell down. :-D
hammer
Active member
You ever hear what the most dangerous words are that your kid can say?
"Follow me, Mom/Dad..."
tree_skier
New member
I tune my kids race skis about every 2 days and before every race. My race skis get tuned every time they are used but I tune the coaching skis about every 6 days.
The skis are much easier to tune the more often they are done.
if they get into racing the recreational skis don't cut it for them. My son refuses to ski on the rossi scratches he has for rock skis.
Mt Sunapee has a great race program
Heck my nephew is in it. They have the 9:30 to 12:00 session and then the 1:00 to 3:00 which gives you the parent plenty of time to ski. It's only 2 hrs from Boston and winter rentals are availible too. Your child is a smart kid.
I remember racing as an 8-12 year old. The snow was never whiter, nor sun brighter, it was so much fun. Comraderie was never so apparent!
Heck my nephew is in it. They have the 9:30 to 12:00 session and then the 1:00 to 3:00 which gives you the parent plenty of time to ski. It's only 2 hrs from Boston and winter rentals are availible too. Your child is a smart kid.
I remember racing as an 8-12 year old. The snow was never whiter, nor sun brighter, it was so much fun. Comraderie was never so apparent!
:lol: We ended up that Sunday River two weeks ago. I was taking nice wide turns down one hill, and he decided I was just going too slow. Next thing I know, he just turns his skis downhill and started accelerating at high speed...
There's nothing worse then glancing around and trying to see if anyone else noticed you just got left in the dust by your 8 year old. That was down one of the blacks.
Last edited:
Vortex
Member
Some of the folks whom I ski with on this board have seen me get dusted by my son all the time. Rite of passage.
Aw and get busted cause of it. I hope lots of people saw tcharon. Then I'm not alone.;-)
Aw and get busted cause of it. I hope lots of people saw tcharon. Then I'm not alone.;-)
Tyrolean_skier
New member
I've gotten used to being told by my son "I'm letting you get ahead of me so I don't have to wait at the bottom". It used to be that he would be yelling behind me that I was going too fast and that I was supposed to stay behind. Now my daughter says that at times but other times she is way ahead as well. I am sure that in the near future, neither one of them will want to ski with me anymore.
