Nancy H.
Yelp
This is a review of the ski school primarily, but our experience at this school has colored my impression of the entire ski experience in an extremely negative light.
We signed up our daughters, ages 4 and 6, with the Mountain Rippers full day group lesson program. I was worried that my 4 year old would not participate without knowing a familiar face, so I asked beforehand if I could also include my 6 year old in the program, which is normally up to age 5 (my daughter turned 6 just 2 weeks ago, so she was pretty close). I was told that as long as we paid the higher rate, and paid for lift tickets, that would be fine. Done. When we went to drop them off, someone (Brandi?), in quite a hostile tone, told us that the 6 year old would be held back if she participated in the Mountain Rippers program, but we confirmed that was ok, and that it would be more important that the two of them be together, at least for the first day. I assumed her hostile tone was just more due to stress of checking in a ton of kids at the beginning of the day. Fine. No problem. At that, my husband and I left, eager to finally have some vacation time after many long years of having the kids tethered to us on all of our trips.
About 2 hours later around lunchtime, I was called by the school, saying that everyone was ok, but that my 4 year old was "very sad" and that I needed to come pick her up. I found this strange, but it was fine, she could get emotional, whatever. She's 4. However, when I arrived, I found both of my kids were separated from the other children, and from each other, and crying. I was then told (by Brandi?) that they had gotten into a disagreement, and my younger one bit my older kid, and then my older one bonked her on the head. I was then informed that the school had a zero tolerance policy for violence, and that both kids had to leave the school immediately, and that "they are no longer welcome to come back to the school." No other children were involved, and the lesson in the morning went ok otherwise. They repeated that they were "not welcome" about 3 more times in the span of 20 seconds, while I was trying to process this new information, and thinking how I was going to salvage this trip.
First of all, I get it, they don't want 30+ kids fighting each other; it's a nightmare for liability. Second, if kids are so upset that they are fighting, it's perfectly reasonable to have the parent pick up the kid for the rest of the day; they need the time off to debrief and calm down. Third, they don't do child care. Ok. However, it is completely unreasonable to expect that there will be no disagreements ever in a roomful of 3.5-5 years old, and between siblings, no less. Not only that, to then label my kids as "violent children" and to then ban them coming back? They never had any violence complaints at their schools, and sure, they'll whack at each other at home while playing, but after some conflict resolution, they work it out, apologize and continue playing, until they fight again! They are 4 and 6! Of course, punishment was meted out and privileges revoked, but that's about all you can do. They are 4 and 6! Apparently, things escalated because their feet were bumping into each other during lunch! For the next few days, of course, they continued acting like their normal selves, and looking for each other to play "house" with their stuffed animals, etc.
Not only was it humiliating to be labeled the parent of "violent children," our plans for the trip were ruined. Since they were were "no longer welcome back," my husband and I had to try to teach them instead. Although we are enthusiastic skiers, we are mediocre skiers, and are, by no means, equipped with the language or patience to teach a 4 and 6 year old how to ski. This is why we wanted to put them in ski classes in the first place.
We had originally paid for 4 full day lift tickets for 2 adults and my 6 year old, and then 3 day of lessons for both kids. Because of the ban, we were confined to 2 hours per day on the bunny hill (this was all we, and the kids, could endure). Most of that time was spent physically lifting children, clipping and unclipping skis, cajoling, and untangling kids, poles, mittens, hats, and goggles. This trip was a colossal waste of money, effort, and time.
I'm not sure what the ski school was trying to accomplish. Was this supposed to be punishment for the kids or for the parents (for our poor parenting skills, obviously.) Whatever it was, we will never return here for a trip because of our miserable experience. We are also fairly well connected in the SF Bay Area medical community, and will ensure that no one in our social or professional circles will patronize the Mt. Bachelor resort area or businesses.
