We took Riley to Copper Mountain to try snowboarding for the very first time today. I thought five was a little young to start snowboarding but after doing a little research, most people said 5-6 is a good age if the kid seems interested. We asked Riley if he wanted to start out on skis but he said no way...he wanted to board like mommy and daddy. He was super excited to go...especially after I gave him an early Christmas present -- a fire helmet, matching gloves and his own goggles!
He started out walking half way up the bunny hill and Cody would help strap him in and hold his hand down. We taught him the basics of how to "skate" on his board with one foot out of the bindings, how to stop on his heel side and how to stop on his toe side.
He was scared to go on the lift the first half of the day so this was his lift to get half way up the bunny hill...Cody got his workout for the day, that's for sure!
After teaching him the basics, it's all about muscle memory and practice. So that's what we did, let him practice as much as he wanted.
Around lunch time we stopped and ate and got some yummy hot chocolate. After that, we let Riley watch Cody ride the lift up and board down. After watching Cody, Riley was ready to try the lift!
So up he went to the top of the bunny hill, and down he went with Cody holding his hand a few times.
Once he felt more confident, he let go of Cody and started doing it himself!
And by the end of the day he was riding down with Cody and I close by to help if he needed it.
It was awesome to watch him catch on throughout the day...and he did so much better than Cody and I did our very first day. I didn't know what to expect...I kind of thought he might be too young and not interested enough. But we stayed until the lifts closed at 4PM and he wanted to keep going! It was a great day on the slopes and many more to come in the future, I'm sure!
