The kids have been asking to ski for quite a while and now that they are a little older, 7 and 4.5, we decided to invest in youth ski helmets, goggles, and gear. There is a ski hill about 45 minutes from where we live, Cascade Mountain and their ski school had amazing reviews online, so we tried it.

Cascade Mountain is a ski area that I grew up loving in my teens and early twenties and it holds many great family memories. Showing my littles how to ski and enjoy this outdoor sport has filled me with utter joy.
We chose to register online for Cascade Kids Ski School since their website is easy to use. Just make sure you click all the boxes to “check out” once your cart is filled. Each lesson is about 3 hours long with one 30 minutes snack break, snack provided.
Of course, it’s winter, SOMEBODY was sick, my little buddy Carter woke up not feeling well. The hubs and I decided who would say + go. It was deemed “Girls Day” and Chloe and I headed out with the truck (fresh snow!) to Cascade.
When we arrived, I was pleasantly surprised with how ORGANIZED ski school was for my daughter. There was a separate entrance for Cascade Kids Ski School, which we did not know about, so we stood in a line and wasted a little time, but we figured it out 😉 After we checked into school, we headed over to the rentals building. We grabbed our size ski boots and checked out her skis. Chloe snapped into her bindings like a pro and met up with her ski instructors outside the Cascade Kids Ski School door. This took about 15 minutes to do, so plan ahead 🙂
There were about 7 kids in her class with many instructors present. They used a small “magic carpet” bunny hill with an escalator rather than rope tow for easier access on the hill. I remember using the rope tow as a kid, and barely had enough upper body strength to get myself up. So I’m glad Cascade makes it easy for kids to learn.
Chloe got a special vest to wear to identify her rental ski number, name, and age. It helped her stand out on a busy ski day. Her instructors asked if there was anything special they needed to know about Chloe and of course SHE HAS NUT ALLERGIES came gushing out of my mouth. The instructors were cool and immediately gave me the name and brand of the snack they were about to offer for snack time. Unfortunately Goldfish Graham Crackers are the only Goldfish product not safe for Chloe. They are made in a facility with tree-nuts, so we passed on the Cascade snack and gave our Lemon Zest Luna Bar to the Cascade instructor. She kept it in a special place until snack time.

Chloe learned a lot at ski school.

• handling your equipment
• pizza (snow plowing)
• using the escalator
• walking/skiing somewhere
• slaloming.

She was laughing and smiling every time I checked in on her + I could see her from the chairlift I was using. Very cute.
It was just the two of us. A girls day. And I still needed to figure out what to do with myself while Chloe was enjoying ski school. I found a locker inside the main building to store my things and decided to ski as well since I brought my equipment, “just in case.” The last time I skied was March of 2007 at Breckenridge & Keystone, two of my favorites. That’s a long time to go without skiing. Admittedly, I was nervous. What if I suck? What if I couldn’t do the ski lift? What if I fell? What if I got hurt and couldn’t drive us home?
That’s silly thinking right? Chloe needs a confident Mommy who leads by example. Mental pep talk, and I was out there with here in 15 minutes. Anything that you love and spend a significant amount of time on usually comes RIGHT back the next time you pick it up. And I did.  It went great. Actually, it was fun. More fun than I remember. Usually I ski with a group and the lift is never an issue. This time I rode with several strangers and made small talk up the hill. It was different and not my usual style (I’m shy on the ski hill, usually just listen to music) but all of the people I met, mostly moms, were in the same boat as me….hadn’t skied in a long time, kids were on the hill and they were also a little nervous to try this winter sport again. We had a lot of laughs and high fives, it was great.
Overall, we’ll be back, on February 24. Cascade was kind enough to just reschedule Carter without a fee due to his illness. He’s fine and he’s VERY excited to try ski school. I just hope the weather is as beautiful as it was this past weekend 🙂
Nothing at Cascade is “nut-free” so friends, pack a lunch. Most people that we saw did have their own lunches, so it’s easy to bring things. The coffee shop is very cute, so if you’re not a skiier yourself, you can snuggle in with a cute view, a fireplace, cozy chair and Starbucks!
Thanks Cascade Kids!