Angie Windheim

We took Joe and Sam up skiing for the first time this past weekend. It was an awesome experience.  Bachelor is a great place to learn.  And, we learned a few things as well!

1. Friday is a great day to go. Crowds were small. No lines. Room in the lodge. Parking right by the lodge so no need for lockers. Only Joe and Sam were in their lesson so they got lots of attention.

2. A 2-hour lesson is plenty to get the kids ready for the lift and a long afternoon of fun.

3. The Sunrise Lodge is all you need for beginners. The lift is slow and the hill is gentle.

4. DO NOT have newbies get on a faster, more challenging lift the first day. It’s not worth the pain and they’ll have more fun on the bunny hill. Just say “no” even if they beg.

5. The rental process is pretty smooth, but still a lot of work to get the right sizes and all of that. Be sure you arrive  a good 45 minutes before your planned lesson. There is really no point in getting there earlier. The kids need the lesson first and will only get frustrated if they play around ahead of time.

Free and safe sledding locations are often hard to find. We’re not fans of the crazy busy tubing sites where you are required to rent their equipment. So, on Mt. Hood we go to White River. It’s fantastic. Lots of space to spread out and you can use whatever you choose to make your way down the hill.  We’ve been going their for years.

Last weekend we ventured to new territory at Mt. Bachelor.  The Wanoga Sno-park was an excellent, designated tubing and sledding hill developed by the community and the forest service. It had some super fast, sweet sledding. The kids loved it.

Some words of caution: helmets are a necessity even on safe sledding hills like White River and Wanoga. Accidents happen. Kids aren’t always looking out for each other and snow is not as soft as it looks!