Squaw Kids Snowsports School
add photosSquaw Valley's Squaw Kids Snowsports School has 12,000 square feet of space for kids between the ages of 3 and 12 to enjoy. Located at the base of the mountain, the Center is adjacent to six lifts, a state-of-the-art Funitel, and a 110 passenger aerial Cable Car. Squaw Kids provides several full day and half day programs tailored to the age and ability of each child. Squaw Kids is a ONE-STOP center for families, where all of the children's needs are taken care of (rentals, lift tickets and lessons).
3 Reviews for Squaw Kids Snowsports School
5
93 families found this helpful
"In Theory..."
In theory, Squaw Kids is great.
In theory.
We went over Christmas weekend, and it was PACKED. It took a long time to check the kids in, and with the special holiday rate, it was about $300, (or was it $400, I tried to pour brain bleach on that fact,) each morning for both of my kids to be in ski school.
Was it worth the money and hassle? Perhaps.
In exchange for the money, we did get to just check the kids in, without having to fit them for boots and skis, which was very nice.
My 3 year old was with one other child for her lessons. The first day of her lesson, she refused to put on her skis. They called us and we had to pick her up. (Our instructor from the adult school though, offered to just take her along. She LOVED that! He just guided her and taught us how to ski.) The second day, I heard she went out on the slopes. I didn't actually see her ski.
My 6 year old really enjoyed his time, but he had enough after the 2 1/2 hours and did not want to stay for lunch and continue for the afternoon.
The instructors were energetic, kind, and sweet.
The ski school was pretty far from the other areas, which made it hard to check in to see if the kids are doing well.
We were late to picking them up both times, because, the kiddie lessons ended BEFORE the adult lessons, and it always took longer to get to them than planned. The coordinator was kinda mad at us...
Anyway, I would do it again, but not over holiday weekends when they charge peak rates and when everyone else is also there.
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'10, '11
1 family found this helpful
"Kid Loved It"
I have to preface that our trip was partially compensated by Squaw Valley and arranged by Trekaroo in exchange for an honest, un-biased review by yours truly. Our lodgings, lift tickets, lessons and rentals were comped. The rest of the $$$ squandered is something that we did of our own volition, but believe me, totally worth it regardless of the free diggs! In fact we had such a good time (again, un-biased) we're thinking about buying a time share...nice work Squaw Valley!
I feel bad leaving such a glowing review since our experience was very much the opposite of the previous poster :0(
While we were not there during peak season everything from drop-off to pick-up was great for our son and he said he couldn't wait to go back.
Our son was very connected to his second instructor, but found no qualms with the first, and made significant progress in just two days after being off the board for most of the season last year. The instructor realized his current board (the one his Uncle had just gifted him) was still a bit too big and resized him to the right size. This made his turning much easier, and helped with his stopping skills, too. While we opted for half days, since our son wanted to do runs with his dad in the afternoon, ski school started on time, and he was on the slopes immediately. I followed our kid up so I could see him off, and he looked pretty happy and came out even happier. While I agree the instructors are laid back, I did not feel that the kid's best interest or safety was at anytime not considered a top priority.
In all, we had a great time, and we are already eagerly looking forward to enrolling our kids back into the program this winter.
1 family found this helpful
"Poorly trained and unorganized program"
We had both our kids in squaw kids ski school (3 and 6). They had fun riding up the carpet and chair rail and skiing down the bunny hills. But unfortunately, that's as much credit I can give. Since this is a seasonal activity, the ski Instructors are poorly trained when it comes to working with and supervising our children. I know this is for ski instruction and not for childcare, but the reality is that these Instructors are responsible for our children for at least half a day and much of that day is NOT spent on skis. Sadly, I found my 6 yr old sequestered upstairs with a dozen other sweating kids watching television fully dressed in their snow gear. 2 of them were crying and 3 out of the 4 Instructors up there sitting away from the kids having their own conversation. When I asked the trio about the kids schedule and why they were watching tv in full snowgear, one of them told me to 'chill out' and that they were just waiting for their ski instructors.
We were told to bring kids to ski school at 8am, but no later than 8:30am. Unfortunately, they did not tell us that they would not be skiing until 9.30am. They also did not tell us that our kids would be sent upstairs to watch tv for an entire hour while dehydrating and minimally supervised.
This ski school didn't have their act together. I did speak with the Director and she was pleasant and tried to keep everything running smoothly but there are inherent challenges to work with when you are running a seasonal activity with temporary and under qualified staff.
If you are considering having your kids learn to ski with them, don't forget to pack them a snack for break time. They also failed to tell us this on Day One, so our 6 yr-old didn't have anything to eat during break.
Overall, the ski instructors are good but not as patient with the older kids as you might want. The staff that work at squaw kids are not so good. I understand it's difficult to staff with proper qualifications but they must be trained. I saw one too many kid crying, walking around aimlessly, not being attended to or soothed. So many of these kids (the "teachers") are young and unresponsive to the needs of children.
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