If you haven’t already heard,  January is Learn to Ski and Snowboard month in Utah.

If you click through this link, you’ll see the incredible ski deals for locals who are new to skiing. This post is dedicated to the adventure my cute little kiddies had taking advantage of an awesome deal offered by Canyons resort. 

This deal is for brand new skiers of any age (4 and up).  They offered rentals, an all-day lesson and lunch for $39. Anyone familiar with skiing at all will know what kind of INCREDIBLE value this is.  Any other time this package would probably cost hundreds of dollars.

I wrote an article for the Deseret News this week about how it’s never to late to learn to ski.  In it I confess that my husband and I are absolute ski junkies who frequent Alta’s Ski after 3 program.  We’ve wanted our kids to learn to ski so they can come with us.

I found these cute Bolle helmets and matching goggles at Costco on clearance the day before their lesson.  They were both THRILLED to have them.  They’re the same brand helmet my husband and I love to use.

With new helmets and kids in tow, we set off early on a seriously FREEZING, snowy Saturday morning.  We doubled up riding with our cute neighbors who had a 4-wheel drive vehicle. We also met some other friends at the resort.  Everything is funner with friends.

We arrived a few minutes early for our 8:15 drop off time.  Canyons has a fun open-air gondola to ride from the parking lot up to the resort base. 

After the nice Canyons gentleman outfitted the girls with their rentals and we took them to their appointed areas.  They couldn’t have been more excited!

Even Sunny was thrilled.  She had been nervous about it all week, but after being outfitted with her very own helmet, she was ready and willing!

I was surprised at how seamless the drop off went.  They literally had and army of ski instructors ready to take the parental reigns. There were no crying kids anywhere to be found, just happy kids shuffling off together into ski school.

I was especially nervous about dropping off Sunny, but she had no problem leaving me.  She waved good-bye and went off with one of the instructors who gave me instructions to pick her up at 3:30 that afternoon.  I was worried.  That seemed like such a long time for my 4-year-old to be doing any one thing, let alone learning to ski in 5 degree weather.

We only caught one glimpse of the kids all-day as they boarded the gondola to take them up the mountain. I thought we’d see them for lunch, but the ski school fed the kids lunch and a snack during the day. We felt a little like chumps not bringing our skis.  We spent a very un-adventourous day at the Tanger Outlets shopping and taking a very long lunch which was actually nice except it was so FREEZING.

At the end of the day, we finally spotted the kids coming off the upper mountain gondola.  They looked like they were in good spirits.  Sunny walked up to me and stared at me silently for about five seconds before excitedly blurting out… “I LOVED IT!”  I was so thrilled and scooped her up and gave her a big hug.  Then she uttered her next phrase. “But I really, really, really missed you.”  She delivered the exact two things I wanted to hear. Good girl.

Alyssa and her friends had a great time too and LOVED Canyons Ski School.  I felt pretty good about their progress when the instructor told me they were almost Lift ready.

As an admitted helicopter parent, I was frustrated by the fact that I couldn’t see the kids in action so I made them demo their newly acquired ski skill for me at the end of the day. I understand that their skill-set is more advanced than this video shows, but it’s all I got.

I must say, I am almost more impressed at the way they are able to walk up the hill then the way they come down.

In all, Canyons ski school gets 4 stars from this Adventure Mom. Exhausted by the end of the day, all these girls had a great time and can now call themselves skiers!

I also posted about this fun adventure as a special correspondent with AdventureMomTV.  If you haven’t seen the AdventrueMomTV site yet, check it out or find them on facebook you’ll love it.