Do You Let Your Young Kids Ski Alone?

This Martin Luther King holiday weekend will likely be one of the busiest ski weekends in New England.

If you’re planning on taking your kids skiing, will you ski with them or let them ski alone? Does your answer depend on their age? Their ability? The size of the ski resort? The price of an adult lift ticket?

When I first heard the news of the tragic death of 18-year-old Nipmuc High School Senior Jack Street last Tuesday after falling 30 feet from a chair lift at Ski Ward, I couldn’t believe it. Died? At Ski Ward? It didn’t seem possible. My 15-year-old son Joel is on the ski team at Westborough High School. Like Jack’s team, he practices and races at Ski Ward. My heart goes out to Jack’s family and friends. According to reports, he had a seizure while on the lift, causing his fall. It was one of those isolated accidents for which no one can be prepared.

Then yesterday, I read about the seven-year-old girl who fell nearly 20 feet off a chair lift at Nashoba Valley Ski Area, when her friend apparently opened the safety bar too soon, and according to theWestford Patch “waved, slightly skewing the balance of the lift and sending the girl into two feet of packed powder below.”

She was very fortunate not to have been seriously hurt.

This second incident got me thinking about young kids skiing unsupervised. (For the record, the girl was skiing with the Concord Recreational Ski Program, not alone.)

Kids skiing solo are not uncommon. Recently I got a phone call from a mom inviting my ten-year-old son Caleb to ski with her son and his twelve-year-old brother at Wachusett Mountain. Caleb is a strong intermediate skier; the boys are beginners.

“Sure! He’d love to go,” I responded. I had assumed the mom or dad would be skiing with them. Just to be sure, I called back to check. I was surprised to learn the dad wouldn’t be skiing; instead, he was going to wait in the lodge or at the bottom of the hill.

These are great parents. They’re just not experienced skiers. I don’t think they realized what could happen to their boys on a ski mountain, even a relatively small one like Wachusett. So I told them, in great detail. Their child could be hurt getting on or off the chair lift, or —God forbid —fall mid-air. He could be hit by an out-of-control snowboarder or skier. His 60-pound body would be no match for a 180-pound adult. He could lose a ski and not be able to get it back on. He could lose control and hit another skier, or worse, a tree.

I’ve skied long enough to know that all these things can and do happen. Before you say, “Well, my kid’s an excellent skier who can ski any run on the mountain,” that’s exactly what the parents ofseven-year-old John Henderson said. He died from a fall off a chair lift three weeks ago.

In the end, I took the day off and skied with Caleb and his friends. The dad stayed outside to watch, and was grateful for my willingness to accompany the boys on the runs (he doesn’t ski). One boy had a near-fall getting off the chairlift, but I was there to help. The brother lost a ski mid-mountain and I showed him how to release the binding and get it back on. All in all, we had a lot of fun.

I have other friends who let their young kids ski alone. They think it’s fine. Nothing has ever happened. But what if something did? Is giving your kid a helmet and a cell phone and reminding him/her to ski defensively good enough?

How would you feel if you were in the lodge when the ski patrol went out to rescue your injured child? I know how I would feel, and for me it’s just not worth the risk.