I've been skiing for decades, but my wife hates it. We have to get a little creative on our winter vacations.
Mont Sutton
- I've been skiing and snowboarding for nearly four decades, but my wife hates the sports.
- She gave up after one snowboarding trip, and I've tried to get her back on the slopes ever since.
- I try to book vacations at ski villages so my wife has more to do when the kids and I are skiing.
In the early days of our relationship, my wife and I took a ski trip with another couple. My friend and I had been skiing and snowboarding our entire lives, but both of our then-girlfriends were novices.
As we tackled some of the mountain's more intense terrain, our partners took turns on the bunny hill.
Later that day, when we met up for lunch, we remarked that their progress was impressive. Both women were naturals, and I pictured my wife and I tackling fresh powder for many years to come.
However, by après-ski, my wife announced her untimely retirement from the slopes.
We've been together for nearly half of our lives and went on to raise two daughters who ski and snowboard. My wife, however, has stayed true to her word.
Every winter, when I plan our family's trips, I have to get creative to appeal to my non-skiing and non-snowboarding wife.
My wife still travels with us, so I make sure there's something for her to do
Pernelle Voyage/Shutterstock
When I was growing up, a similar dynamic existed in my family. My mother, my brother, and I skied while my father spent days in some sweaty ski lodge reading through a week's worth of newspapers.
Understandably, my wife wouldn't enjoy that arrangement. So, to keep her entertained while the kids and I cruise the trails, we often plan ski trips to places that offer lots of activities and amenities.
Resorts like The Lodge at Spruce Peak in Stowe and Mont-Tremblant in Quebec have ski-in/ski-out villages that offer great dining, fun bars, fine spas, and endless entertainment.
A few hours at the spa, a nice lunch, and a couple of drinks might run my wife about $200, but a mediocre lunch and a wonderful day on the slopes can cost me just as much.
I also get extra creative to come up with family activities
Alyson Gendron-Gallet
One of the biggest elements of skiing that keeps my wife off the mountain is her fear of the chairlift.
However, even after she conquered that fear in order to get dinner at a mid-mountain fine-dining Italian restaurant in New York, my wife still is opposed to trying snowboarding again or putting on skis for the first time.
Later that same winter, however, I mentioned an activity for which she didn't have a definition. Yoonering was a foreign word, and as such, she didn't know how to feel about it.
When we arrived at Mont Sutton in Canada, I suggested that we use Yooners, a sit-on-top single ski that can be ridden down the mountain. Surprisingly, she agreed to do that as a family.
Maybe she wanted to shock the children or liked that she wasn't strapped into a plank. Perhaps all the French signs clouded her judgment. Whatever the case, we successfully took the lift as a family for the first time ever.
Yoonering Sutton felt riskier than skiing or snowboarding to me. We had less control, the trail was heaps steeper than any bunny hill, and by sitting down, we weren't much bigger than a small mogul.
But it got my wife on the mountain, and the kids loved doing an adrenaline-pumping sport with their mother.
One day, I still hope to get my wife back on a snowboard
Although I respect her decisions, I always have hopes of convincing my wife to break out those snowboard skills one more time so we can ride as a family.
As this year's ski season approaches, I'm still seeking out appealing ski villages, elevated dining options, and strange devices that might convince my wife to forgo her hesitancies and ride with the family.
However, I'm also looking for ways to potentially get her back on a snowboard or into skis. If I'm creative enough, I think it just might happen.