Overnight ski trip with my 5 year old

[Tjaard Breeuwer]

After our successful trips backpacking in fall and camping in winter, I figured my 5 year old daughter was ready for a real winter camping trip.
She was very excited to go, she has been asking for a while now.

On Saturday afternoon we drove to a nearby river trailhead, parked the car and loaded up the Chariot with gear and food. I brought the Chariot in case she got tired and needed to ride instead of ski.

We skied down river for about for a while and found a nice spot to camp. The weather was overcast, but mild, around 25 F (-4C). Kid's and snow are a great combo. She played in the snow while I selected the best site.

We gathered firewood and roasted hotdogs. By this time it had gotten dark, so I set up the tent. The sky was filled with stars, as the moon hadn't risen yet. It was cold, but there was little wind. It was wonderful to be out there in the woods. I had brought a stove and freeze dried meal, but we chose to eat cookies and hotdogs instead. Surprise surprise!

When we were snug inside our sleeping bags, I read her a story and she was asleep before I turned off my headlamp. We woke up a few times during the night, but we were nice and warm inside our bags, just not during a pee break!

We woke up to a cold, clear sunrise, about 8 F (-13C) After a quick cookie and some tea from the thermos, we packed up and headed home, to go to brunch at some friends.
Sunday lived up to it's name, and we had a great time ski back to the car. we stopped to play on some boulders and in a quinzee someone had made.

Skiing on the gorgeous river in the sun, with my daughter. It doesn't get much better than that!
My daughter had a good time and really enjoyed herself.

[Tjaard Breeuwer]

Here is a brief discussion of some of the gear we used:

For clothes she wore:

Smartwool Kids Ski socks
Midweight HH long underpants
Icebreaker longsleeve lightweight merino shirt
Fleece vest
Cioch Kids pants and jacket: These are made from Nikwax Analogy, the same fabric as Paramo.
Thin Balaclava
Wool hat
Thick mittens
While getting ready at the car, we put our down jackets over the top, and she never took hers off again.
Marmot Kids Amadablam Down Parka

Then in camp I added:
Fleece pants (under her shell pants)
Exchanged ski boots for snow boots(Keen)

At night, she removed the Cioch suit and down jacket and put on:

Dry socks (same as others)
My wife's Goosefeet down socks.

She slept in a regular size Marmot Col Dryloft, -20F (-29C) down bag, with a Gore Dryloft shell.

She started out on an old style Neoair on top of a 1/2"(12mm) closed cell foam pad, but ended up on just the foam pad, because the airmat was sliding around to much.
Next time I will just bring one pad for her, little kids just can't deal with stuff moving around at night.

We slept in a Hex3, a floorless tipi tent. This was alright with the cold, dry snow and consistently freezing temps we had. If it was any warmer I would bring the inner tent, as it is hard for me, let alone a small child, to keep snow off your sleeping pad and stay on the pad at night.

The floorless tent did have the benefit of being able to let her take a pee break without getting out of the tent, making that much quicker and easier.

[Jacob D]

Love it!

Great job getting her out there. I've been thinking about the feasibility of this for our kids recently. How does she handle the uphill sections (no poles?). The gear list was a thoughtful addition to your report, thanks for including that.

[Walter Carrington]

That is so cute! How old was she when she started skiing? What's available for xc skis for little kids? My granddaughter is 3 now and winter is over, but I may have figured out next years Christmas present for her.

[Tjaard Breeuwer]

I try and get her to herring bone on the ups(river skiing so the ups are short) but often I end up handing her the end of my pole and pulling her up.

She has regular waxless skis, with kids NNN bindings and boots. She skied last year when she had just turned 4.

Before this we had done several river ski trips with her. My friends got me into it. having other kids along was a great motivator.

We keep the distance short(less than 1 mi), and have fun things like hot chocolate and hotdog/marshmallow roasts.

We have also done a few overnights were we went out after dinner and camped in the woods behind our house, including in winter, so I knew she was ok with sleeping out in the snow.

I point out that the tracks are like train tracks, and she can be Thomas the train, skiing along.

[Walter Carrington]

Thanks. It should be a lot of fun next winter.

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