The Canyons Resort: On The Slopes

Last week, before we headed to Alt Summit (which I haven’t reported on but promise I will soon!), Jared and Henry and I had the opportunity to spend a couple days skiing up at The Canyons in Park City, Utah and stayed at the beautiful Grand Summit Resort right at the bottom of the tram.  In all honesty, I was really nervous for this trip. See, Jared and I both love to ski and Henry had never been! The Canyons offered to host us and bent over backwards to make sure Henry had a great first experience. Today I’ll be telling you just about our experience skiing, and then next week I’ll share more about all the other awesome stuff.
First off. It was kind of amazing. Let me show you how they took the whiniest 3 yr old who refuses to wear sweaters (let alone coats and gloves) and somehow churned out the happiest little skier who giggles when he falls down and demanded more at 4pm. He totally wore us out.

So ski school. It’s expensive, sure. And believe you me, I don’t like to spend money if I don’t have to. But let me tell you about this amazing thing they have called Canyon Cubs. It’s designed for 2 and 3 yr olds. Fickle toddlers, just like Henry, that hate putting on gloves and throw tantrums at the drop of a hat. Here’s the genius of it: It’s a full day daycare (art projects, snow hikes, snacks, he even napped!) that takes the kids out for a 2 hr private lesson in the middle of the day. So think about that for a second. You drop your 2 or 3 yr old off in street clothes, with the snowsuit and snow gear in bag all ready for someone else to dress your kid. I’m not kidding here. They dress your kid in the gear. They walk them over to pick up the mini boots and skis. They put those on the kid and bring them over to the bunny hill. In a sled. That whole sequence right there?  The   hardest part of skiing with your toddler, I imagine. Am I wrong?
But you don’t have to do it! You are either hiding behind bushes in complete awe of the system or sailing down the slopes without a care in the world. Hallelujah!

We, of course, were the kind of parents that were hiding behind bushes because I was in complete disbelief. But it totally worked! They know what they’re doing with those toddlers. He had this super nice instructor who just wanted to make sure he was having a good first experience. He was giggling the whole time (as far as we could tell from our secret hideout spot). I decided then and there ski school really was the way to go. Sure, you might have to save up a bit. But to guarantee your kid has a good experience? I really think it’s worth it.

We did go off skiing eventually. And what a luxury it was to be on our own! I had actually never skied at The Canyons. Compared to a lot of other Utah ski resort, it’s really new. And like a lot of new things, every part about it was really well thought out. A heated chair lift (No joke! First in the US!).  Gourmet food stands like bbq pork, gourmet hot dogs or hot chocolate bars at the bottom of random lifts throughout the resort. So genius. And the place is huge. We skied two days and still didn’t get to every part of the mountain. It is ginormous. They have bunch other activities for the family like snowshoe tours, horse drawn sleigh rides, dog sledding, etc that looked like a lot of fun and we’d totally do next time. 

 The second day Henry was in a private ski school lesson with another equally sweet instructor who told him adorable things like ‘your ski tips want to be close, like best friends!’ and called the moving walkway up the kiddie slope a ‘magic carpet’. I kind of want her to be my life coach. She made everything sound of rainbows and unicorns. Plus they took him up on the gondola, which I’m pretty sure was the funnest thing he had ever done. Jared took Henry skiing on the lifts afterward and he just giggled and laughed the whole way. Check out this short and adorable movie Jared took of Henry. Jared was exhausted but Henry wanted more and so they skied until the lift closed. According to Jared it was the best day ever :).
I was thinking the same thing as I was getting a hot stone massage that afternoon. But more on that later…
A huge thanks to The Canyons Resort for hosting us and making Henry’s first time skiing such a great experience. Our trip was a media visit for The Canyons Resort. While they sponsored our trip, the review and  opinions expressed are my own. Photos are mine unless noted otherwise.

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