Skiing With a Baby & Toddler

Hey, thank you for reading. We are currently in Melbourne at the Mount Buller Ski fields.

I have been looking around the net and haven’t found much help on going to the ski fields with toddlers or babies. I am very glad that a good friend of mine had been the weekend before and gave me the reality check that it’s not like going to the beach, it’s a lot harder and tiring but still worth it. I have learned a lot this week and wanted to share some points that would have made our trip that little bit easier. We went with another family and between us, we had our two boys (5mo & 2yo), another 3yo, and 4 teenagers. We had three adults two dads and myself. So quite full on.

Stay on the Mountain
BIG ONE: If you can book early and spend that little extra money (even if it means that you lose out on a day or two to afford it) to stay on the mountain and have a ski in – ski out room. This not only saves on having to drive up and down the mountain each day (half hour each way) but mainly, it allows you to have a play with the toddler in the snow and still be able to go back to the room at will and let the children have their much-needed naps. From what I have seen on the net, not many places have nice indoor play areas for babies or toddlers. Yes, they are family friendly, but that normally means kids 3yo and up. Which doesn’t help for a toddler who can’t ski but you still want to enjoy the snow. In theory, the kids should be able to cope but because you don’t really have anywhere comfortable to go when they (and you) need a break, it makes it very difficult. The food courts aren’t exactly the best ‘break’. If you do end up finding a good ski field that has a great indoor playground with a cafe then please message or comment down below and let me know!!

If you don’t stay on the mountain. Then I would suggest having two bags. One really small comfortable backpack with essentials and a bigger bag in the locker with extras and spare clothes etc. I would also suggest that you buy the locker for the duration of your stay so that you can keep your skis and snow boards on the mountain instead of carting it up and down every day. This reduces the effort of getting up and back a while taking some of the stress off.

We took our Yoyo pram up with us and the baby carrier. We actually used the baby carrier which we don’t normally use. It was great for the 5mo. He was in a snowsuit and fitted better facing forwards and he loved seeing everyone. We then used it to carry our very tired (No nap all day) toddler to the car because he refused to get in the pram (as he felt like he was missing out). Yes, the pram was an effort I will admit, as the snow and ski fields are in no way pram friendly. My husband and I both agreed it was worth it because the baby actually slept in it most of the day. He would not have been able to have such solid periods of sleep if he was in the carrier or in our arms and would probably been a lot more unsettled.
###When the pram didn’t go well in the snow we put the front wheels on a toboggan and hubby pulled the toboggan and I pushed the pram. This worked AMAZINGLY####

Speaking of the toboggan, it was such a great idea. The two toddlers had one each and they loved it. It made it really easy to transport them through the snow and they had a ball going down the toboggan run. We also used it to build a snowman on, which the boy’s thought was great.

OK, this is where I need to be a little blunt and honest. Do not expect that you will be able to go on a nice romantic ski with the hubby. If you are bringing the kids and don’t have family with you then be prepared to tag team your ski time. What we ended up doing was the boys all took it in turns to stay with me with the three little boys while the others skied (I had already decided before we came that I wouldn’t ski at all). At the start, I did have all three of the little boys but as we were just kind of playing awkwardly in the middle of the town centre it didn’t really work on my own.
So, know in your mind that you won’t be skiing all day and unless you have support won’t be skiing together. This is still ok. Next time we will just take it in turns and I will get some lessons (hopefully a hot instructor) and then swap with hubby after a little while. What when he got to the bottom every time he would phone to check in. Most of the time everything was fine, and he went again.  Sometimes I needed help so he would pop in or stay for a while.

Before going you need to get your toddler ok with wearing gloves, goggles and something on their head. We did not do this and our boy point blank refused to put gloves on all day, he wouldn’t wear goggles and would not wear a beanie. Fortunately, we had beautiful blue skies and no wind so it wasn’t a big deal this time. However, as it was so sunny the glare from the ice was really strong and it would have helped him a lot to have his goggles on to stop his eyes from hurting from the brightness. As we had a very sunny day we got a little bit burnt so make sure you have sunscreen with you and some lip balm. I would also suggest pant and jacket outfit for the toddler because when we were inside he got really hot but wasn’t ok with just taking his arms out of the full suit, as he didn’t like the outfit hanging down by his waist. It was also too hard to keep taking his shoes off to get the suit on or off. For the baby the one piece was great, but we made sure he had warm clothes on for when he was asleep in the pram or inside as the suit was really hot.

We had really nice fresh snow so the boys loved getting scoops of snow and eating it. We said that it would have been great to have a little cordial to flavour the ice and make snow cones!

I hope that some of this has helped. We will still go to the snow again with little kids. Just be more prepared next time as we now know how unfriendly they are to kids under 3.

Thanks, if you have anything to add please drop me a comment. I would love to know how everyone else manages with little ones on the slopes.

Thanks Sarah