This post may contain affiliate links where we earn from qualifying purchases from referring you to our favorite products and brands. As an amazon associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Find out more in our disclosure.
One of the most common questions that parents ask me about skiing with kids, is whether or not kids should use an Edgie Wedgie to learn to ski. There are some people who have very strong opinions on the matter, but after teaching hundreds of kids to ski as a professional ski instructor, in addition to teaching my own 5 children to ski, I’ve seen firsthand the best techniques to teach kids to ski. Using an Edgie Wedgie is one of the fastest ways to help kids learn how to ski.
We believe that Edgie Wedgies are the absolute best tool available for teaching kids to ski, especially on their first few times skiing. They are incredibly effective, super cheap (usually only $10-15), and you can throw one in your pocket just in case your child needs them. Personally, I’ve had an Edgie Wedgie in the pocket of my ski jacket for the last 17 years. They seem to last almost forever and have skyrocketed our kids’ ski ability while minimizing parent frustration.
I look at an Edgie Wedgie the same way that I view training wheels on a bike. You put training wheels on your child’s bike as a tool to teach them how to balance and to gain confidence. As soon as they can balance, you take them off so they don’t become dependent on them.
Still not sure if an Edgie Wedgie will help your child learn how to ski? Here’s everything you need to know!
Planning On Skiing With Little Kids?
Grab our Complete Guide to Skiing with Little Kids!
Designed to take the guesswork out of skiing with kids ages 5 and under so you can hit the slopes with confidence and get your child loving skiing from the very start!
What is an Edgie Wedgie?
An Edgie Wedgie (sometimes called an edgy wedgy or a ski tip connector) is a small bungee-like attachment that clamps onto the end of a child’s skis. They are about 6-8 inches long and stretch in the middle so that they are more gentle on a child’s legs.
What does an Edgie Wedgie for kids do?
The reason that ski Edgie Wedgies are popular for teaching young children to ski, is that they help them to make a wedge very easily. With beginners learning to ski, the easiest way to stop on skis is to put them into a wedge shape. This wedge is commonly called a snow plow or a pizza, and the bigger a wedge is, the more your skis stop when going downhill.
Since a ski wedgie holds the child’s ski tips close together, it makes it really easy for them to make a ski wedge. All they need to do is to spread their legs apart and the Edgie Wedgie does the rest of the work.
The goal of using one is to train a child’s muscles to know what to do to make a wedge shape. Once they can make the wedge on their own, take the Edgie Wedgie away.
How to get kids to stop using an Edgie Wedgie
Getting kids to stop by using an Edgie Wedgie is incredibly easy. It’s so easy in fact, knowing how to use an Edgie Wedgie to teach kids to ski has been the number one tool to our success of teaching toddlers how to ski (most of our kids started skiing at 18 months). All you need to do is to tell them to spread their legs apart. When they spread their legs apart they make a ‘pizza’ and stop by making a ski tip wedge. When they put their legs close together, they make ‘french fries’ with their skis and go faster. This makes how to stop on skis so much easier for young kids.
Who should use an Edgie Wedgie kids ski trainer?
Edgie Wedgies are ski training tools that are designed for young children who are just learning how to ski. These ski tip connectors are beginner ski training tools. Adults and older children should not use an Edgie Wedgie to learn to ski. I recommend that Edgie Wedgies only be used for children 6 and under. We’ve put all our best tips together to help you figure out the best age to start your kids on skis as well!
How long should kids wear an Edgie Wedgie?
Kids should wear an Edgie Wedgie to learn how to make a wedge to stop on skis independently. For very young children who start skiing at 2 or 3, this may take a couple of years (our kids typically wear them until they are 3 or 4). It can take quite a while for young kids to develop the muscle memory necessary to figure out how to stop properly, as well as the awareness of others around them.
Older children often only need to wear an Edgie Wedgie for their first day of skiing. As soon as your child doesn’t have any tension or pulling in their Edgie Wedgie, that’s a good sign that they are ready to try skiing without one. The overall goal of using an Edgie Wedgie is to get it off as soon as possible, while still making sure that your child can safely stop on the ski hill.
Are all ski-tip connectors the same?
No, an edgie ski tool isn’t the same as all ski tip connectors. For decades, Edgie Wedgies have been made with clamps that twist onto the tips of children’s skis to tighten. In the past several years, several ski tip connectors have come onto the market with just one clamp. DO NOT BUY THESE! We used the Launch Pad Ski Tip Connector for a few weeks with one of our children, only to learn that the ‘teeth’ on the bottom of it had been grinding into the base of the skis every time they moved. The damage to the bottom of the kids’ skis was irreparable!
Below is a photo of what NOT to get!
What Edgie Wedgie is the best?
We have used Edgie Wedgies for decades, and know that there are a lot of poor quality edgie wedgies on the market. So, to give our followers the best quality product, we actually created our own ski tip connector. It’s designed to clamp down tight on your kids skis and stay there as long as you need it to! This is the best edgie wedgie/ski tip connector for teaching kids to ski!
Do ski instructors use Edgie Wedgies to teach kids to ski?
Absolutely! After teaching hundreds of kids how to ski, I would guess that less than 10% of the young children I taught didn’t use an Edgie Wedgie. Ski instructors use Edgie Wedgies because they work SO WELL. If you’re considering teaching your own kids to ski, this is a must-have and makes teaching kids to ski so much easier.
What are the downsides of using an Edgie Wedgie to teach skiing?
The biggest downside of using an Edgie Wedgie to teach kids to ski is that it makes it very difficult for children to shuffle their skis and move across flat ground. I actually know many parents who don’t put one on their kids’ skis just for this reason. Our philosophy is that we’d much rather have to help our kids across a few flat spots than have them struggle the entire time they are skiing down the hill.
Considering that Edgie Wedgies have a large success rate in teaching kids to ski, and since they are incredibly affordable, we highly recommend that all ski parents buy one before they even get to the mountain. It’s one of the best ways that we know to get kids skiing and help both the child and parents have a more pleasant experience learning how to ski.
Problems that are corrected by using a ski tip connector
I often see parents teaching their kids to ski without an edgie wedgie, who are just trying to explain to their kids how to make a wedge shape and then demonstrate the movement. THhe problem is that for most kids, this is a movement that they rarely make in everyday life, so it’s often a challenge. Most parents solve that with more explaining and the ids get more and more confused.
As a former ski instructor it’s really easy for me to spot these kids. They’re often really tense, have their arms at unnatural positions and they’re either bowlegged or knocked kneed from overthinking the move. This is not the position you want your kids to ski in.
Edgie wedgies for ski tips solve this by making the ski shape for the kids. If your child is knock kneed or bow legged, try and edgie wedgie out. Put it on their skis and only tell them to spread their legs apart, not to make a wedge shape. Ski for at least a full day, and every time they need to stop of slow down, tell them to just spread their legs apart. This often gets kids to relax enough and let the muscle memory take over so they can ski more balanced and in control!