Detroit Mountain hasn’t been in operation since 2003, meaning skiing has not yet been a significant part of their lives the way it was for many adults who grew up here. That’s about to change, and when mountain management began creating the master plan to re-open, they did so with the smallest skiers in mind. “For kids, we have quite an extensive learn-to-ski program,” said Shelly Stowman, who is heading up the Ski School programs. Stowman says children are the best students and tend to catch on quickly because they often lack the one thing that holds adults back. “They don’t have the fear factor,” said Stowman. “They’re up for anything.” On the mountain is a designated learning area, where ski instructors are continually holding lessons. “All day Saturday and Sunday they will be holding hour-and-a-half lessons that you can sign up for,” said Stowman, “or we’ll be having some ski sessions where students will come out the same day every week for five weeks to be with the same instructor every time.”
Stowman says instruction up on the mountain should be quite effective, as the instructor-student ratio will be held at one to four, giving children more interaction with the instructors. It doesn’t matter if the kids have skied before, in fact, instructors up on Detroit Mountain expect that. “In ski lessons you do a lot of fun games where kids don’t know necessarily that they’re learning how to ski,” said Stowman, who says the kids will start just by learning how to pick up their feet in skis. Children in these classes will all start on the bunny hill. “We’ll let them start to feel what it’s like to walk on skis, and then we’ll have them jump on the magic carpet ride,” said Stowman of the conveyor belt designed for human transportation up the hill. “And then we’ll have instructors guide them down,” she added. “Once they’re comfortable with things, they jump on the lifts when their parents think they’re ready - and the instructor will talk to the parent, too, to let them know that they think they’ve gotten to the level where they can probably do that.” But the fun doesn’t stop at skiing. A big tubing hill up in the recreation area is also going to be “totally tubular,” and is expected to be the “hot spot” for tubing birthday parties, which are already being planned. Hot Cocoa Clubs for three to five-year olds will also be available for little tykes just wanting to get used to the feeling of being on skies and having some fun outside. And because mountain staff knows how quickly these little skiers grow, there is a plethora of ski equipment of all sizes available for rent. “We rent skis, boards all the boots, helmets, and will eventually be holding swaps so that kids can swap for bigger equipment as they grow or upgrade if they want,” said Stowman, who says everybody up on the mountain is most excited to get the kids up there. “Getting them started young and showing them what great exercise and how fun the sport is, is key,” said Stowman, who says it can also give them a healthy pastime they can enjoy for a lifetime. Tweets by @DLNewspapersDetroit Mountain hasn’t been in operation since 2003, meaning skiing has not yet been a significant part of their lives the way it was for many adults who grew up here.That’s about to change, and when mountain management began creating the master plan to re-open, they did so with the smallest skiers in mind.“For kids, we have quite an extensive learn-to-ski program,” said Shelly Stowman, who is heading up the Ski School programs.Stowman says children are the best students and tend to catch on quickly because they often lack the one thing that holds adults back.“They don’t have the fear factor,” said Stowman. “They’re up for anything.”On the mountain is a designated learning area, where ski instructors are continually holding lessons.“All day Saturday and Sunday they will be holding hour-and-a-half lessons that you can sign up for,” said Stowman, “or we’ll be having some ski sessions where students will come out the same day every week for five weeks to be with the same instructor every time.”
Stowman says instruction up on the mountain should be quite effective, as the instructor-student ratio will be held at one to four, giving children more interaction with the instructors.It doesn’t matter if the kids have skied before, in fact, instructors up on Detroit Mountain expect that.“In ski lessons you do a lot of fun games where kids don’t know necessarily that they’re learning how to ski,” said Stowman, who says the kids will start just by learning how to pick up their feet in skis.Children in these classes will all start on the bunny hill.“We’ll let them start to feel what it’s like to walk on skis, and then we’ll have them jump on the magic carpet ride,” said Stowman of the conveyor belt designed for human transportation up the hill.“And then we’ll have instructors guide them down,” she added.“Once they’re comfortable with things, they jump on the lifts when their parents think they’re ready - and the instructor will talk to the parent, too, to let them know that they think they’ve gotten to the level where they can probably do that.”But the fun doesn’t stop at skiing.A big tubing hill up in the recreation area is also going to be “totally tubular,” and is expected to be the “hot spot” for tubing birthday parties, which are already being planned.Hot Cocoa Clubs for three to five-year olds will also be available for little tykes just wanting to get used to the feeling of being on skies and having some fun outside.And because mountain staff knows how quickly these little skiers grow, there is a plethora of ski equipment of all sizes available for rent.“We rent skis, boards all the boots, helmets, and will eventually be holding swaps so that kids can swap for bigger equipment as they grow or upgrade if they want,” said Stowman, who says everybody up on the mountain is most excited to get the kids up there.“Getting them started young and showing them what great exercise and how fun the sport is, is key,” said Stowman, who says it can also give them a healthy pastime they can enjoy for a lifetime.Tweets by @DLNewspapers
