HRM Parent Blog

This has been the most enjoyable winter I can remember since my son was born.

We fully embraced winter sports this year, he both learned to skate on the oval and learned to ski on our NS hills. I've always been a fan of skiing and think that it's a great winter family sport. Many a spring break in my family was spent on a mountain or hill and I learned first-hand this winter that the more activities you can do out in the snow the more you don't want it to ever go away! I also learned that a child that skis all day sleeps like a log all night.

 I had no idea how my son would like skiing and I didn't want to push the envelope if he wasn't interested. So we headed out to Martock one weekend to try it out. They have a great package for little beginners, $75.00 gets you a lift ticket for the day, a one-hour private lesson and full rental (helmet included). I highly recommend Jimmy as an instructor, he was phenomenal. The patience of a saint, great with kids, and he intuitively knew when to plop down in the snow for a bit of a break. After a one-hour lesson O was sold and we haven't looked back.

We've done a few more private lessons, the rest of the time we just wing it on our own. We've tried both Martock and Wentworth and I can honestly say that we are very lucky in HRM to have pretty easy access (by car) to both.

Martock is a good place to start, simply because it's the closest at about 50-60 minutes from downtown. There's a nice bunny hill with a rope tow, it's strong so beginners definitely need help with it. There are lots of great runs on the rest of the hill but the easiest skiing is from half way down the hill so you need to get off the t-bar half way up. The chairlift will only take you to the top where your only choices are intermediate runs. 

Wentworth is a great place, a much bigger hill overall with a vertical of 815! They have a brand new magic carpet on the bunny hill which is really easy for a 4-year-old to get on and off on their own. But it is a longer drive, about 1.5 hours from downtown. Their beginner package is $47.00 for a full lift ticket and rental (helmets also included here) and a one-hour private lesson is $55.00. If you choose to teach your children yourself it's just $15.00 each for a magic carpet pass for the day (same price for both adult & kids). One of the best things about Wentworth is that there are really easy runs right from the top of the chairlift. Chickadee is a gentle, fun ride for a new skier and will take you about a half hour to get down. And a word to the wise, once they try the chairlift they ALWAYS want to take the chairlift. Anyone at Wentworth hearing cries of "Wooowee look out below" from a small child on the chairlift, ummm, that wasn't us!

If skiing is something your family has been thinking of trying, this might be a good time to do so! The weather is warmer and there's still lots of snow on the hills. So head out and carve it up!