With nearly double the number of Kinder Kids this year, Sarah was well prepared to get all the children to the right tables. Six of the sorting hat’s results were here. Lauchlan was down with a fever. FLAIKs on, class card completed, lunch orders in and most of the parents paper work done, we were out the door at 9:15. The kids will learn quickly it’s “one-man-one-kit”: each child is responsible for her/his own gear. A couple of hands went up quickly to ride the gondola with “responsible adults”.

Kids got their skis on at Raven’s Nest with minimal help from me. Yeah! Thankfully, Expressway was open. About 50 meters down, we practiced our first behind-and-below stop. 1-2-3-4-5… uh oh! Lula was stranded at the top not too sure about going. A nice member of the public carried her down to us and I reassured her that all was OK. It’s tough getting back into skiing first day of the season. We stopped again just above the entrance to Dave Murray. No Evie! It took a while for him to get his skis on after a splat. I was a bit worried we weren’t going to make our lunch reservation at the pace we were going. Phewww! Better progress to the mid station gondola. All of us were in one car on the ride up. Taven got us into a game of “guess the animal”. Out at the top, skis on at the Olympic rings then a march to the Welcome Pole. We did a couple more behind-and-below drills and I had the children shout to me when it was safe to go. They’ll get it.

We did “Big S” turns to the Chic Pea trying to keep skis parallel through the turns then skated across the flats to the top of Orange Peel with our hands behind our backs. There was a couple of sit down splats on Orange Peel but a good performance by all for our first foray… and good at keeping speed up across flats to Pony Trail. We skied the left side of the pitch not slamming into the imaginary wall down the middle of the run. At the turn onto Highway 86, we tagged up with Amanda’s class an snaked our way to the Creekside gondola. Skis lined up against the rack, we were down for our 11:15 lunch reservation in the Minions building. It wasn’t too busy because Amanda and I missed the memo about lunch schedule change to 12:30. :)

Out after our allotted 45 minutes, it was impossible to find responsible adults to take kids up the gondola. Thanks to the liftie who rode up with Kiel and Taven! Skis on at Raven’s Nest, kids seemed happy we were going to do the same circuit we did this morning. Much better skiing on Expressway to the beaver bench where I introduced the “frog hop” drill. Usually by about week 6 I get a collective groan when we have to do this one. Taven then took the class to the mid station gondola. I watched kids stance and skis as the tail of the snake.

We had another round of the animal game on the gondola ride up and Jack stumped us with the bald eagle… sheesh! Skis on the rack, we went into the Roundhouse for some re-hydration, a story and the much anticipated gummies. Back outside everyone knew to regroup at the Welcome Pole. We repeated the morning route through Upper Whiskey Jack. Improvements in side slipping and faster skating from the Chic Pea to Orange Peel. I introduced the tactic of “squishing bananas” through turns on the steeper terrain. Kids confidence seemed to have improved. Ask your children … they may not remember it, but will have this seared into memory by the end of the season. We picked up the pace on Pony Trail doing 3 “Big S” turns followed by 6 “little s” turns, then non-stop on Highway 86 for our end of day download. We were a bit early … the kids are too fast!

All in all, a very successful Day 1.