\
West Yellowstone Daily Schedule
The days on the WY Ski trip are scheduled as follows. The times may vary slightly due to weather and temperatures.
7-8:30 breakfast
9:30 meet in the lobby ready to Ski for 1.5 - 3 hrs depending on age/ fitness level. The skiers are skiing in groups on their own. I think skier directed skiing - instead of adult directed skiing- is very important. The skiers choose their route and their pace. They are told to ski long slow distance. Everyone is checked out/signed out and must ski with a partner. If they don't have a Ski partner/group, I will assign one.
Lunch – on their own. There are two grocery stores in WY where they can get lunch stuff and we do stop at Walmart in Boseman before we head up the valley to WY.
2:00 meet in the Lobby ready to Ski in assigned groups with Coaches for technique work. Skiers are rotated thru the Coaches, so they all get the same technique sessions during the week. Coaches have attendance lists to make sure all skiers are with them.
6:00 Dinner (Each Coaching group is assigned to help with dinner set up and clean up once during the week). Dinners are provided on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and a Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings on Thursday. Saturday and Wednesday dinners are on their own. There are a couple of restaurants open and a great pizza place. Also, each hotel room comes with a small refrigerator and a microwave oven.
8:30 Team meeting (the whole group of skiers is considered the Team.) Attendance is taken. No one can leave the hotel after this meeting.
10:00 room check (trip leaders knock on each door and make sure all the skiers are in the room)
10:30 Lights out
​
Wednesday is an easy day with an easy morning group tour into Yellowstone Park to a river where we take lots of pictures and then ski back. The afternoon is off and time for homework.
The skiers walk from the hotel to the Ski trails and back. The town is about 6sq blocks and most stores/restaurants are closed at this time. Snowmobiles aren't allowed in the park until the middle of Dec so the town is very quiet. The only tourists are the XC skiers.
The trip is very structured with the attendance taken 4 times during the day. Our group are the only people staying in our hotel. It is not open to other guests. The trip leaders don't allow our skiers to have guests in our hotel unless it is okay-ed by trip leaders. If that happens it is usually a sibling skiing with another group. Anytime a skier leaves the hotel, they must be with at least one other person and must sign out, indicate where they are going and sign in when they return.
This trip has had the same leadership since 1999 (Bonnie and Dave). The skiers are great, so the hotel welcomes us back every year. The Minnesota Coaches drivers request to drive us, and the lead driver has been driving us for many years. This reflects on what great people our young skiers are. I hope it also gives you confidence that this trip is well run, and the skiers' days are structured in a way that we are checking on them multiple times every day.
It's a great trip!
I hope your skiers want to join us.