#MKReview: Family Fun at Mt High Ski Resort #MtHigh

​
I jumped for joy when we received an offer to spend a family fun day of snow play at Mountain High Ski Resort. Mountain High Ski Resort is just about 1.5 hours away from the San Gabriel Valley, it's very convenient to head up to the mountain on any given weekend. 

If you live in SoCal long enough, you know not to go visit a local mountain on a weekend after a storm of fresh powder by Mother Nature. The crowd up in the mountain will be greater than normal. But the beautiful white blanket of white powder up in the mountains had been teasing.  I can't resist the temptation and made the decision to head to Mountain High on Saturday, the busiest day of the week. My husband wasn't happy but he's a great sport. I made sure we were well prepared for our day trip. We even prepared for any unforeseen scenarios to alleviate any melt-downs or whining from our kids. The night before the trip, our kids were send to bed earlier than their usually bed time wearing the clothing they’ll be wearing for the morning car ride and underneath their ski clothes. We left our home extra early (kids were still asleep) to arrive early and to give ourselves plenty of time for check-in and registration. I packed extra clothing, extra gloves, extra socks, extra googles, and extra snacks.  A light breakfast is prepared for the commute.

We left our house about 6:30am and arrived Mountain High at 8:00am. When we arrived to the West Resort, the parking lot was already filling up. We were lucky we got a parking space at the West Resort parking lot. If you’re late, you’ll have to park at the overflow parking lot and get shuttle to the West Resort. The ticket booth and ski rental area were already forming crowds. It looked chaotic but honestly, the ticket booth agents handled the crowd really well. The ticket lines were moving smoothly. We got our lessons and lift tickets pretty fast.

The Children's Sports Center where we checked-in for kid ski lessons and equipment rentals is up the pathway riding the moving magic carpet. My kids loved the ride on the moving magic carpet. At the Children’s Sport Center, you’ll find several computers for equipment rental registrations. This is one of the reason you should arrive early because everyone that needs a rental needs to be registered. It was a bit tedious as I entered my family of 5's information. I can see crazy lines forming if there should be a computer problem. It would have been nice if registration can be done at home. After registration, my kids got ski boots fitting, ski lesson setup with waiver signed, and skis picked up. We were done by 9:45am, exactly 15 minutes prior to the lesson starting time. Ski lessons start promptly at 10am.

My kids are taking their first full day ski lessons (ages 7-9 group). The full day lesson is from 10am-3pm. It includes morning and afternoon lessons, 8-hour lift ticket, rentals, lunch, and progress card. There is also a half-day lesson available with either 10am or 1pm start option. My husband and I were a bit nervous about putting our kids in a full day lesson but the kids were excited and didn't mind. The kids met their group lesson instructor, Alex. Alex introduced himself to each kid and shook their hands. He was very friendly to the kids. After going through some few rules, Alex advised the kids to speak up at any time if they are getting bore at their lesson or would want to learn something new. It was pretty cool he is making it clear to the kids to speak up and to express their feelings. So important to allow the kids to have fun.

My husband and I spent about 30-40 mins observing our kids and other kids at their lessons, we were very pleased to see how competent the Mt. High instructors are and how well they handled all the kids in their groups. Every kids in their lessons were having fun because the instructors were making it fun for them to learn. In that short period of time, we saw our sons skiing down on the slope on their own. It was an amazing sight!

After we seeing our sons are having a great time at their first ski lessons, my husband and I both set off to rekindle our passions for snowboarding (after a 10 years hiatus). Yes, we haven’t snowboard since I gotten pregnant with my first child, he is 9 now. Although, there are lessons available for adult, we decided to opt out. We’re about to test thel theory that getting back to snowboarding is like riding a bike. Luckily, Mt. High has many different trails that makes it easy for skiers and snowboarders in all levels. Their wide-open beginner areas were perfect for us to tame our inner fear and to refresh our snowboarding skills. Our first couple of runs down the slope were a bit rusty, but the adrenaline kept us trying. Toward the end, we were hitting the intermediate slopes.

Our first family time to Mt. High was a great success. My husband and I both successfully regained our confidence to snowboard again. We’re thankful our kids enjoyed their first skiing experience, thanks to their instructor, Alex. They liked so much that they’ve been asking to return for more skiing ever since. I think we’ll be going to the mountains more often than we have planned for this winter. The progress report we received after the kids’ lessons will come in handy when we put them on their next lesson. Thanks for a great time Mt. High!

Here is a video of my proud moment witnessing my son getting off the lift without any problem and it was his first time on skis.  Amazing instructions at Mountain High.

*I received tickets for the purposes of experiencing the event and writing this review. The thoughts and opinions are my own.