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GOTCHAkids, a new range of safety vests designed to keep hold of excitable, young skiers and snowboarders to steer them, help them safely on and off chair lifts and pick them up when they fall down, is now available on-line.
Mother-of-three Jo Marro came up with the idea for GOTCHAkids living in Tignes with her ski-instructor husband. Jo, originally from Wales, found she was always holding onto an arm or a coat hood when she was trying to help her children onto chair lifts, or picking them up when they fell down. She wanted an easier and safer way to guide them.
Riding on chairlifts is probably the most daunting part of learning to ski. Each year there are hundreds of occasions when ski lifts are momentarily stopped due to inexperienced skiers or snowboarders loading or unloading. GOTCHAkids provides an easy way to assist children on and off, without the discomfort of having to wear more bulky contraptions.
The simple design of GOTCHAkids with the vertical strap on the back not only provides help with ski lifts; the vests can be used for steering down (and up) slopes, picking up children when they fall, carrying skis, reducing backache for adults teaching children, giving a helping hand on the ski bus as well as other winter related activities like ice skating.
And GOTCHAkids has already attracted some high profile praise. Emma Carrick-Anderson, four times British Olympic Ski Racer and Director of Snoworks Ski Courses, wishes there had been something like GOTCHAkids around when she was teaching her children to ski. “GOTCHAkids activity vests are a fantastic idea. I was surprised how many uses they have, not only for skiing and snowboarding, but the back strap is handy in any situation where kids need a bit of a guiding hand. I wish they’d been around when I taught my twins to ski. They certainly would have been useful keeping tabs on two exuberant boys when they’re zooming off down the slopes, and of course chairlifts are always a bit of a worry with kids, so the added reassurance the vests provide would have made life much easier.”
