Photo courtesy Aspen Snowmass
As a mom who taught two children to ski, I’m the first to admit that helping small kids learn the ropes isn’t much about skiing at all. It’s more about gear management, having very low expectations while maintaining a superhuman level of patience, and having a rock-hard lower back and quads. Oh, and dealing with potty accidents under a gazillion layers of clothing.
Parents—just make sure to do some preseason training by deadlifting 50-pound sacks of potatoes in awkward positions and you’ll be fine. The good news is that after you make it through those precious first few years, you graduate to the next phase: tree trails, aka squirrel trails, aka whoop-de-doos. All. Day. Long.
What is a tree trail?
Every ski area has tree trails, the meandering, signed, or un-signed routes tucked in between runs and, in the nooks and crannies of most every ski area. You can thank the forest elves, gnomes, and fairies that exist everywhere there’s skiing—they’re the ones who make them for kids to discover. Duh. You may never have noticed them before, probably because you were looking for marked runs and powder stashes, not a packed-out, closely spaced, knee-buckling series of speed bumps, banked turns, and sudden compressions down which you’ll need to power-wedge at speed. If you’re not sure where to find the trails, just follow the nearest kids—they can sniff them out like a squirrel after a stash of acorns.
Katy Garton (@katyrobinbird—filmmaker, parent, and content creator—says that her family’s favorite tree trails include Yogi Bear at Discovery Ski in Montana—because “it winds on forever and has all the unexpected surprises we love”—and also Lizette and Pomp at Big Sky. My family loves anything off Hogsback at Stevens Pass and Queens Run at Crystal Mountain, both in Washington. And ten out of ten tree trail enthusiasts recommend Dilly Dally Alley at Mt. Bachelor.
How to Tree Trail Like a Pro
Garton offers a helpful checklist for parents. “First time? Are they excited and asking to go? Check! Can they stop on their own quickly? Check! Are you good enough to keep up and psyched to join them? Check! Now just match the trail to their ability and go for it. And don’t forget to look uphill when you merge at the end!”
Here’s what kids have to say about tackling tree trails.
“I use airplane arms so I can glide and not fall down.” — Emi / age 3
“Keep your skis in pizza, and if you don’t know how to jump, go around the big jumps.” — Betty / age 7
“If a hill is too steep, and you feel like you’re maybe about to fall, look for a smaller part that doesn’t go down the hill.” — Clover / age 5
Unlocking the Tree Trail Magic
Tree trails are excellent for honing your skills and with any aspect of skiing with kids, treats are nonnegotiable. As Garton says, “Treats get us through it all—the bad falls, the energy lulls, the cold chairlift rides, and those fun bonding moments when you take it all in.” Stuff your pockets with trail mix, gummy worms, and creature-shaped crackers, then get ready to enter a magical porthole to another world. You might become an animal, a race car, or a unicorn. Tree trails, like all the best parts of skiing, have the ability to put you immediately in the moment. Says Garton, “Skiing through the trees brings that imaginative world to life, looking for forest friends while being challenged in a good way. It’s a little playground in the trees on skis—does it get any better than that?”