At 20 months old!

Dang, I'm proud of my boy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2bwjATp ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UU4MU ... AC8zytNBfk

J.D.

Very cute, Gotta love them kids.

Better than I am.

Very cool to see the little ones on the slopes. I wish I had started at that age, but being from Ohio, it just wasn't going to happen.

Glad to see the helmet, I saw a little guy smack his head on a tree early this year, could have been ugly, but he was protected. Hope mom & dad are wearing one too. I always wonder when I see a kid with a helmet & a parent without (who's going to take care of the kid when dad is a vegetable?). I've been wearing more & more protection as the years pass. I started wearing a helmet 15 years ago, before it was cool. Now I have added knee pads, padded shorts (like a football girdle), and a padded top w/hard spine, shoulder & elbow pads. But I live in the steep terrain all winter, and I'm not getting any younger. I may just be getting smarter though.

Bad, bad, Dad...I don't wear a helmet. Not even riding my Mtn bike, but my skills limit me. No excuse, I know, but just haven't made the jump yet. Mainly because I get to ski 2-4 times a year and it's hard to justify the cost. But there are rentals...LOL, I am talking myself into getting one...

Thanks for the site!

+1 on steepandcheep.com

Regarding cost, I realized one day that I was wearing over $1000 in equipment while snowboarding (not to mention lift tickets, etc), so spending $100 to save my skull seemed like a reasonable price.

But helmets are like boots, I like to try on many to get the right size and shape. You'll find a big variance in shape between brands and even models. You don't want to have to use a bunch of extra padding to make the helmet fit, or have is fit sloppy, or pinch/hurt. Steepandcheep has a great return/exchange policy. If I'm in doubt, I'll order 2 sizes and ship one back, they will remove the UPS cost of return from your credit, super easy & no hassle.

The girl I moved to Colorado with hit her head 2x while learning to snowboard, and had to have emergency laser eye surgery because both her retinas were almost detached. After a retina detaches, you are blind, period.

I hit my head so hard on an icy intermediate run that the foam in the helmet compressed, and the helmet ended up 1 size larger. I ended up with a mild concussion, despite wearing a helmet. I know I'd be a different man today if I didn't have that helmet on. And that wasn't even on a run that was a challenge to me.

That's great! The coolest thing I found when living in steamboat was the promotion of skiing at a young age, even the schools have it as a pre-requisite in school and the class all goes to the hill for lessons/training.

one thing you can do to help the little guys with their leg strength and also helps immensely in skiing is to teach them to ice skate. As for helmets, you may look goofy, but like Gunni said, any thing to save the ole coconut.

I am attending a funeral today for a friend from work who died from a broken neck last week skiing at Keystone. Helmet or not you still have to be careful.

Awesome vids

I have similar vids with my daughter when she was about 4 years old.

She was having a blast intentionally crashing into the orange plastic retention fence on the bunny hill.

priceless

I was a lousy dad because I have never owned a video camera, and only the last 2 years have I owned a phone capable of taking video. But I do have increadible memories of my sons and I skiing and g when they were little. I will never forget the first time I took Andrew on an intermeadiate slope - one of the long cruiser runs at Winter park. Well he did not have the speed controll down, flew straight down the mountian and hit the rope at the bottom of the run, it caught him right across the chest and he did a complete back flip landing on his face in the soft snow on the other side of the rope. I was very glad there was no cross slope traffic and he did not hit a tree or lift pole. he was maybe 4.

Since they started playing travel hockey none of us have skied more than 1-2 times over the last 10 years. I actually took up snow g because I get tired of waiting for slow skiers in my party. I have worn a helmet ever since I started my kids skiing, riding bikes, or playing hockey.

And on that note - the helmet one that is. The rule of thumb for hockey helmets is replace them every 4 - 5 seasons. (for most competitive players this is after 2- 2.5 years) This is because of the sweat causing the pads to become hard. I do not know what the rule is for ski helmets because you probably do not sweat as much, but I would replace it every few years if I wore it more than 2-3 days a year.

Great videos! Thanks for shareing.

Chad - no problem man. IN fact I appreciate the info...

Its funny, because for as little as I ski now, and the amount I used to go, I never wore a helmet. All the crazy runs I ever did and should have. The worst was the SKY chutes on the back side of Breckenridge, anyone ever do those? I had a friend who took me to those, they were way above my ability and I never should have done them, but I did, survived and really should have worn a bucket, even thinking about it today. But don't feel too terribly bad that you don't wear one now JD, if I go skiing, which is maybe once every 5 years, I will only rent one or use my hockey helmet and then you'll see someone looking really deranged.

I did see a guy new to 'boarding who wore a full face motor-cross helmet. Use what ya got...

My problem is a grew up literally riding my bike and skiing and never wore a helmet, so it's a hard habit to break I guess. But it seems more and more folks are getting hurt on the slopes, so I guess I better consider helmets for the family next time...

J.D.

Oh the irony.

I ended up buying a new helmet today, not necessarily because of the age, but because I fell so hard. I had been thinking about it, and this sealed the deal. Charging a little hard for the conditions.

http://youtu.be/tuFOQd2kqxc

The video doesn't do it justice, from my point of view. I don't remember doing the flip/roll after the impact. Definitely, in my top 5 hardest falls, and top 10 scariest. My friend who was following, said it was terrible to watch. He thought I was going to smash my face into a tree. His comment made me 100% sure I wanted to upgrade to a full face helmet. I think I used every bit of padding I was wearing. My whole left side hurts, jaw, neck, shoulder, elbow. It also ripped my helmet cam mount off, I wasn't sure the camera had survived. It took me a few minutes gather myself. I'll be feeling it for a few days.

I did get a good deal on a new helmet. I found a full faced Boeri helmet at 50% off (not bad for midseason at the resort). I think it had been hanging on the wall for a few years. But because I have a gigantic melon, an XL fits the bill. Looks like a light weight MX helmet.

I'm not posting this for sympathy (I turn into an idiot when I strap on my snowboard- that is why I don't get a dirt bike or snowmobile), but to show that even a simple, not-so-steep run can jump out an bite anyone. I've ridden through this exact spot 10x in the last 2 weeks.

Ouch, that looks like it hurt! Glad you weren't seriously injured. That's some pretty hard snow for in the trees.

J.D.