All moms are brave. For that matter, all parents are brave. The kids who end up in our families are also brave. Living life with other people takes bravery (and compassion…tolerance…love…). That said, ski moms are especially brave. Ski moms start out as moms. We give birth to our children, we bring them into our homes, we don’t take a formal vow as in a marriage, but we take mental vows that are almost as strong and solemn. We are there for our children for better or worse and until death do us part. We strive to nurture our children, to enrich their lives and to protect them.
So what do we do? We put them on skis the moment they can walk and push them down a hill. When they fall, we brush them off and, smiling broadly, encourage them to do it again. We endure their complaints of the cold. We clean hot chocolate off of their adorable parkas and we grit our teeth on the bunny slope thinking “Someday, we’ll all be able to ski as a family. This will pay off.”
And then it happens. You can ski as a family, only now your adorable powder pappoose is screaming down the mountain at Mach 10, weaving in and out of the trees and asking you to scout landings at the bottom of cliffs. This may be the pay-off you were hoping for, but it often comes with more drama than you may have expected. Now you, as a ski mom, have a choice. You can be the worrier, or you can take a deep breath and cheer them on. You can warn them off, fret and lecture, or you can simply join in. And that is how I got my name, the “Brave Ski Mom.” I joined in.
Mt Hood Ski Camp. My boys with US Olympic medalist Ted Ligety.
More specifically, I took my kids to ski-racing camp at Mount Hood, Oregon and, along with another mom, was invited to join in. We moms spent part of a morning running gates, doing drills and laughing our foolish heads off. As we took the chairlift back up to the top of the Palmer Snowfield, our riding companion, an older European man, asked us if we were ski moms.
We answered in the affirmative and he replied with a shake of his head, “you are brave ski moms.” I’ve worn this title with pride ever since. This is not to say that I don’t worry about my offspring when they are on the slopes.
braveskimom at Mt. Hood, Oregon, July 2008
But I love skiing, and I love skiing with my family. I love to see their skills improve and I am thrilled that they can ski anything and everything and enjoy every moment. They joined me in my passion for the sport, and I’ve joined them in pushing myself to match their enthusiasm for speed and human flight. One of the wonderful benefits of skiing is that it builds self-confidence …self-confidence and bravery.
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Week 1 is a success! Even though I think downhill skiing is too noisy and too crowded and requires too much waiting in line (especially in Colorado nowadays), there are great insights about parenting here. I wonder if you’ll include info about nordic skiing too?
Thanks for the kind words! You are right about the downsides of alpine skiing. I love nordic skiing, so I will definitely be covering that too. How can I not cover it, living in the shadow of the Grand Mesa?!
I love it that I happened upon your blog. I am also a Brave Ski Mom from Winter Park and spend every free minute on the slopes with my 8 year old son and and 5 year old daughter. We have just exited the ‘dark period’ of dragging them around the mountain and skiing the greens. Just this weekend I smiled from ear-to-ear when my son and I shared the morning skiing the trees and 6 inches of powder. Thanks for your blog and where can I get one of your stickers?
Congratulations on leaving the “dark” behind! I bet you were smiling! I would love to get a sticker to you! Thanks for asking. I will email you. Cheers!
And anyone else who would like a sticker, please leave a comment to that effect.
I too, consider myself a “Brave Ski Mom” — I have been a skier since I was 8 years old and love it more than any other sport. It is part of who I am, how I look at life, and a huge part of my spiritual life. “Skiing is a dance and the mountain always leads.” I introduced my children to the amazing sport of skiing when they were young, bravely enduring the many years of the kids whining, complaining, as well as laughing and crying to share my love of the sport with them and try to instill the same love of outdoors and skiing zen. My children are now 28 and 19; having switched over to what I call the “dark side” and have become snowboarders. More importantly then whether they ski or snowboard is the fact that they have a love for snow sports, the outdoors and have adventurous spirits! They are now at the stages in their lives and mine where we can all head up to the mountains of Colorado and enjoy a family day of skiing/snowboarding, taking in all the beauty of Colorado, the snow and have a great time together as a family! It was definitely worth all the hours and years of the tough years to get where we are now.
Thank you for sharing your insights and experiences for other moms to read and appreciate as well as getting some inspirational tidbits!
Thank you for such a kind and inspiring comment! I love how skiing and snowboarding can unite families for life. You make so many good points! Brave Ski Moms Unite!
This is awesome! I just found you c/o the Winter Park FB page. I have two tiny skiers, ages 2 and 3. I appreciate the encouragement, found here, to remember our goal of skiing as a family someday! This past season held some HARD days for us…I felt more like the Totally Insane-What Was I Thinking Ski Mom most of the time. Thanks for the perspective from down the road!!!
Oh, I hear you! Those days were fun, but definitely hard — especially when there was powder! You sound like you need a Brave Ski Mom sticker or two. If so, use the contact me tab and…contact me! Thanks and good luck!
I’d wondered about the brave part, although I must say I had an inkling. Now it all makes sense. Quite possible the best run of the year for me last year, was the first run my wife and my daughter (4.5 year old) and I took together off a lift. Neve led, I followed closely, and Zelda (my wife) did big sweeping turns to fend off hurtling snowboarders. Grin was bigger than a powder grin.
Keep grinning! I hope you and your family have a fun season!