If you’ve been to the ski hill before, then you’ve most likely seen parents teaching their kids how to ski or snowboard with the assistance of ropes. It seems easy enough, but let me tell you, it isn’t! We are snowboard parents, and our kids are on skis. This wasn’t an issue for us as we’d send the kids to ski school, they would learn how to ski, and we’d all carve down the hill without a care in the world. Well, covid happened, and everything changed. No more ski school means that our 4 year old still needed a lot of assistance in learning how to control his ability. When you’re on a snowboard, it’s REALLY not easy to teach your child how to ski.
That was until we got a hold some Slope Ropes!
Slope Ropes Review – With a Snowboard
During the holiday break, we felt defeated. Our son was unable to control himself, our current ropes set up was impossible to manage while we were on our snowboard. We had almost given up completely, until I gave Slope Ropes a try.
So before I jump into our experience with Slope Ropes, you’re probably wonder what Slope Ropes are.
“Slope Ropes, are the easiest way kids learn to ski. With a simple design that is both fun to use and focused on teaching proper posture, Slope Ropes can make learning to ski fun for everyone from the very first run! Because it’s time to have fun teaching your kids to ski. No more sore backs, stressful days, complicated harnesses, cumbersome reigns, and demeaning leashes. Developed by a certified CSIA ski instructor (and dad), Slope Ropes are a colorful, fun and elegantly simple piece of gear that keeps your child safe, happy and in-control down the steepest of slopes. And then it helps you easily whisk them across the flats and back to the lift for another run. Slope Ropes. By far, hands down, the easiest way kids learn to ski.”
The first things I noticed when we started bringing our Slope Ropes to the hill is how easy they are to manage. I would often just wrap the ropes over my body and would easily be able to manage the gear and the ropes with ease. (think of it like wearing a cross body purse). These are also a dream to ride the chair lift with. The other harnesses that we tried had a lot to them, and made for a tricky lift ride (we always had to carry all those pieces in a separate bag). With the Slope Ropes, we just popped them over our body like a cross body purse, or wrapped them in our hands, and enjoy the lift.
Then came the introduction of the Slope Ropes to my son. Well, he LOVED THEM. He calls them “my ropes”. So selling the concept wasn’t a hard deal to do, now it was time to test them out. I first started with walking behind him on the bunny hill while he got used to the rope. After 1 run on the bunny hill, it was clear that the we were ready for the board. Having him hold on to the ropes vs. being set up with a harness, means he was learning how to carry his own weight and getting stronger with his balance.
What I love about the Slope Ropes is that I can hold them with 1 hand. The other versions of ski harnesses usually have two parent ropes, which yes could be held with 1 hand but it’s a lot to manage. (Trust me, I’ve tried it).
At first I was going down on my edges (stop position) but was quickly able to ride regularly and carve and turn as he did his “pizza” from side to side as seen below:
The fact of the matter is, you absolutely need to have some kind of leash when your child is unable to stop themselves or are still learning how to ski. By using Slope Ropes, you’re able to help them gain control and ski with ease as a family!
You can get more info at sloperopes.com. Slope Ropes go for $34.99 and can be purchased on sloperopes.com or on Amazon.ca They do sell out quickly, so if you’re reading this and you see them available online, purchase them now!
Thanks for reading, and happy riding!
*Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are our own. Slope Ropes gave me a pair of Slope Ropes to review for this blog. My opinion is 100% authentic.
Additionally, this post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission.
The Snowboard Mom 