My husband and I have been wanting to take a ski trip with our son for a couple years. Since it would be our first, we were hesitant mostly due to the cost. This year our son turned five and we decided to take the plunge. First, we know it’s best to go around March. Unless you are an avid and well-seasoned skier, going during the winter months out west is too much. March still has snow, the weather is milder, and it’s better when traveling with children. However, we decided we would go the week before peak season. This is when the slopes first open up. There wasn’t snowfall yet but the ski resorts will make snow for their slopes.

It ended up to be the perfect trip. We stayed at the Marriott’s MountainSide Park City Resort, which we booked on AirBnB. Our host was the best! She was so responsive and even helped with a few things when planning the trip. The resort itself was great because all the amenities were right there and we were literally steps from the ski lifts. We had a 2 bedroom with full kitchen and I cannot imagine any other set up. The biggest thing was the fact that we were right at the ski resort, so going skiing was such a breeze. We didn’t have to pack up our gear and drive each day, find parking, have to eat at the cafe or restaurants there. Although all good food, but being able to take a break when you’re with children was a huge bonus.

There also weren’t a ton of people there. It was still enough of a crowd that you didn’t feel alone, but not so many people you had to wait long in the lift lines. During the peak season they would have all their slopes open so the crowds would be spread out along the mountain anyway, but it was perfect. Park City Mountain had one slope open where the bottom half was for the less experienced crowd and the upper half was more challenging and leading to a longer ride.

Both my husband and I grew up skiing so we didn’t think we needed to put our son in ski school. Although we considered it, we just decided we wanted to be together. I will give a shout out to the ski instructors though. I watched them and they were doing an amazing job with the little ones. I saw three year olds out there doing the pizza and coming down a hill that would definitely not be considered a bunny slope. That was actually another thing I liked about this trip, because the bunny slopes weren’t open we ended up teaching our son on a more challenging slope. It wasn’t too challenging, but it was enough for him to really grasp the speed and length of skiing. Let me tell you, this child LOVED it. He wasn’t scared, he didn’t complain, nothing. He hopped on the lift with us like he’d done it a hundred times before, got to the top, didn’t hesitate when it was time to go down. When he did fall he was just as happy because he’d take a moment to steal a few bites of snow!

My husband did a great job taking the reins on teaching our son, but I felt like we needed some tools. So the second day I sent him out to get a hula hoop. One of the dads, who had a little one on the slopes, had said it was the best because that’s how he would catch his child when they started getting away from him. However, while husband was out looking for a hula hoop I came across this training harness. This harness was nice because while we were teaching you attach the straps to each side, so you can actually guide the child by pulling on one side and they feel the pull. Then once they find their balance you can attach a single strap to the back, let them take over and you have the security of them not getting away from you. Needless to say, we ended up not using the hula hoop at all and stuck with the harness. It gave my husband some distance from our son so if he fell he could pivot quickly, and gave our son the freedom to really use his own body to ski. By the third day our son was on his own and we were all three skiing down the mountain.

On the fourth day of our trip it snowed the night before, so we had about six inches of powder and it continued to snow throughout the day. I’m glad we got to experience it, and I’m glad it was on our forth day because it was definitely harder for our little one to ski in, and much colder and wet. We still had a great time, but we didn’t last as long on the slopes that day. We opted for the heated pool and hot tubs instead.

The last day of our skiventure was sunny with lots of fresh snowfall. Although it was more difficult to ski in, we ended up spending the entire day on the slopes.

On our last day of the trip we found an area to throw snowballs and eat snow. We went out exploring the town, going out to a nice lunch/dinner, and retired back to our suite to play games and pack up. We checked out the next morning and it was an easy 45 minute drive to the airport.

I will admit, although I considered a ride service, I think it’s best to have your own vehicle. For a lot of our meals we ate at home and ate out when we wanted. I don’t think I would have liked eating out for ever meal for an entire week. It also gave us the freedom to go grocery shopping, or find restaurants away from the resort. Which I would be remiss if I didn’t mention breakfast at Haven and dinner at Versante Hearth + Bar. If you even remotely like brussel sprouts you have to try theirs. YUMM!