Tween & Teen Ski Camps At Cypress Mountain

Looking for kids' ski camps at one of our local mountains? We can't recommend Cypress Mountain enough!

Our daughters started Skooter Kinder Ski Camps at Cypress Mountain in 2016 at the ages of 4 and 6, and they've since progressed through all 5 levels of Raven Riders Kids Camps for kids aged 7-12. Looking back at older photos & videos is quite nostalgic, as they were eager little ones when they started and now they're truly amazing skiers! You can check out videos of their early days at Cypress in 2017 & 2018 to see how it all started.

For this winter season, our youngest (Rachel) is now 9 years old and skillfully blasting down blue runs with her Level 5 Raven Riders Kids Camp group, and our oldest (Lilah) has moved up to the Ravens Freestyle Camp for kids and tweens/teens aged 7-18. Between camp days, we're able to have SO much fun skiing as a family - they humour me as I comfortably ride the easiest blue runs with them, and then they ditch me to ride the harder blue and black runs with their dad the rest of the time! As parents, we really appreciate this at a time when our girls' interest in some of their usual activities is starting to decline as they hit the tween/teen years. Having something physical for them like skiing to keep doing outside in the fresh air that they still find fun is amazing.

At age 9, Rachel is a bit of a worrier, just like me! So the night before this season's lessons started at Cypress Mountain, she asked me to talk her through what would happen the next day. Here was the plan we went over:

• Make sure we pack a portable snack, tissues, lip balm, and two masks for ski coat pockets
• Park quickly & easily right next to the Cypress Creek Lodge for free while checking kids into their camps
• Find the camp check-in table under cover outside the Lodge and let them know we've arrived
• Pick up coloured ribbons to tie around the kids' arms so instructors can easily identify their ski levels
• Choose their preferred lunch options from the Lodge menu, and pick up their lift tickets for the day
• Find out their instructors' names and head over to assigned areas to meet the other kids in their groups
• Bring photo ID & vaccine card for anyone 12+ who needs access to the upstairs floors of the Cypress Creek Lodge (e.g. to buy food or drop off extra ski stuff for your kids, like a second pair of gloves/socks as I do)

I am happy to report that all of this has gone off without a hitch for the first two of Rachel's four lessons for this season. Both of her instructors have been so kind, outgoing, and talented - all of the things you can hope for in a kid's ski instructor. At level 5 of Raven Riders (called "Cruise The Blues"), kids already need to know how to ski in a parallel stance and ski comfortably on Collins (Lions Express) or Panorama (Eagle Express), and are meant to learn improved skiing technique and increase their confidence on Blue terrain. This camp is probably a bit too easy for Rachel this year, but she's having a blast being one of the best skiers in her group, and with her increased confidence she'll likely transition to the Ravens Freestyle Camp to ski with her big sister next season!

After years of progressing through ski camp levels at Cypress, Lilah is now 11 and is two weeks into the 10-week Raven Rider Freestyle Camp that's designed specifically for developing terrain park and free-skiing/free-riding skills. She's learning jumps, tricks, rails, boxes, and cliffs, and she couldn't be more thrilled to be learning new things her sister hasn't tried yet! To do this camp, she didn't need any previous park experience, but she did need to be able to parallel ski with confidence on blue runs. Her instructors have been super fun and motivational so far, and they did a great job dividing the kids up into groups by skill level. Lilah can't wait for the mini-competition at the end of the 10-week camp to show off her new skills!

After so many years of driving our girls up to Cypress Mountain for ski lessons and also skiing it as a family, a highlight for me every winter season is picking our kids up from the end of a day of ski camps and them babbling endlessly about their adventures and what new things they can't wait to try at camp the next weekend. It makes my mama heart so happy. Find out more about kids camps & lessons on the Cypress Mountain website!