BOMBING
DOWNTHE MOUNTAIN
Skiing With Grandkids Makes My Day
"NO BOMBING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN," I warned my granddaughter Angela. "I want you skiing in control."
A snowboarder relaxing nearby chuckled at my remarks. "Bombing down the mountain," he said, nudging a friend. The thought of this six-year-old skiing full-speed, pony tail flying, with Grandpa chasing, seemed funny to him. But that's Angela. She can carve smooth turns, but let her loose and she'll just point her skis straight down the hill. And you can't catch her! Picabo Smith couldn't catch her. She's so low to the ground, there's no wind resistance to slow her down.
Angela was one of five grandchildren my wife Rose and I had with us at Devil's Head Ski Resort in Central Wisconsin. We chose Devil's Head because it's conveniently located between one family branch and another. Our daughter Laura Sandall with two children works for Dayton-Hudson in Minneapolis. My son Kevin with three children lives near us in Long Beach, Indiana. It was convenient for all to meet in the middle. Devil's Head is four hours from Long Beach and about the same from the Twin Cities. Another son David with two children had just moved to Jacksonville, Florida and couldn't make the trip.
We have a pact with our grandkids: When they reach the age of five, we take them skiing. It's a rite of passage in the Higdon family, sort of an athletic Bar Mitzvah. Kevin's two boys, Kyle and Wesley, have been skiing with us for several years. Angela joined the ski gang last winter. Kevin's daughter Holly and Laura's son Nick at age 4 are still a season or two away. As for Jake and Sophie, David's children down in Florida, maybe we'll have to take up water skiing.
Skiing is a great family vacation--although it can be very expensive when you add up the cost of transportation, lodging, equipment and lift tickets. Rose and I didn't have much extra money when our three children were growing up, so never introduced them to the sport. Skiing skipped one generation, but we now feel free to indulge our grandchildren.
Over the past several years, we've taken Kyle (age 10) skiing in Park City, Utah and last winter brought him and younger brother Wesley (age 8) to Sun Valley, Idaho, but as the ranks of our family skiers have swelled we've begun to look more toward Midwest resorts.
Pile in the Car
Transportation is less expensive, since you can pile everyone into a single car. Many Midwest resorts offer bargain packages, particularly weekdays. Crystal Mountain in Michigan is one of our favorite destinations, because it caters to families; kids ski free during the week. Some of the best bargains can be found at resorts located on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, such as Indianhead and Porcupine, although you have to drive long hours to get there.
But Wisconsin? No sweat. We left Long Beach on a Wednesday afternoon, arriving at Devil's Head four hours later. The resort is 45 miles north of Madison, a dozen miles west of the expressway. Kevin's family arrived until late that evening. Laura's family pulled in the next day.
Devil's Head offers basic lodging. Not a lot of ambience, but the rooms are right at the foot of the hill, a major convenience. One negative factor: the resort's staff didn't always seem to know what it was doing. "This is only my second day," one waitress confessed. Later, I confided in Rose, "I think it's everybody's second day." Despite the presence of groomed cross-country trails at Devil's Lake State Park several miles down the road, if that's your sport of choice there's no information telling about them.
But the downhill slopes are fun to ski with Devil's Head making
the most of its 441 feet of vertical drop. The trails are long,
not steep. (In contrast, nearby Cascade Mountain on the expressway
provides steeper runs with 460 feet vertical.) After our first
day, during which we skied every trail on the mountain, Kyle
bragged to his non-skiing parents that Grandpa had taken him down
a double-black diamond (expert) trail. They were shocked, but the
winter before at Sun Valley, he and Wesley had skied blue
(intermediate) trails even tougher.
The Higdon Clan
The Ski Gang
Angela (age 6) joined the ski gang on Friday. Coming from the Twin Cities with more snow, she had been taking weekly ski lessons at a local hill. We started her on one of the green (beginner) trails, but soon Angela was skiing the blue and black slopes with the boys. Ten years from now, I feel sorry for any teenage boy who tries to keep up with her on his first day of skiing.
Angela's only disadvantage was being so short, she had to be lifted onto the chair lifts. Once on top the hill, however, it was bomb's away. Wesley usually gave chase, and sometimes I had to use my "teacher's voice" to keep the happy pair in line. Kyle seemed to enjoy the role of skiing from the back, particularly when his Uncle Pete and Aunt Laura joined the cast, meaning he could show them where to ski.
On our final day at the resort, the sun was bright, the temperatures were warm, the snow was soft. Skiing with my grandkids, I had more fun skiing than I can remember having in the last two decades. We had as much fun getting the family together, whether in the pool, playing cards or at dinner. (The Old Schoolhouse Restaurant just down the road, where we ordered pizza, offers an option to Devil's Head's gourmet Cornucopia Restaurant.) We're already making plans to gather the family for a ski vacation next winter when 5-year-old Holly gets to join us on the slopes.
Copyright © 1999 by Hal Higdon. All rights reserved. Requests to reprint will be considered.