To the OP: When I am filming, I usually dedicate that entire day to filming, or have a friend that knows how to fully operate my camera as I do (thankfully I have friends that can do this). I wouldn't want to be leaving my camera around ANYWHERE on the mountain unless its with a liftie, but other than that you really just have to dedicate the day to filming.
Also to the argument in this thread, the whole "that kid doesn't deserve a nice camera" thing is ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT. I broke my collarbone this year and needed something to do because I couldn't bear to sit around not skiing, so I decided to film my friends just with a little GoPro like the OP. I decided that I actually really quite enjoyed filming and editing, and almost immediately made the jump to Premiere Pro (granted the trial version) and filming with friends cameras, like an XF 100 and a Canon T3i, and started putting out edits that not only other people were stoked on, but that I was incredibly satisfied with.
My level of filming and editing improved tremendously because of this, all because I was pushing myself to learn how to fully operate the cameras and editing software I had access to, because I loved it, nothing more. Honestly if I hadn't made the jump to the better equipment I would never have progressed as much, as I would not have been pushing myself. From personal experience I know that any questions you may have with cameras or editing software can be answered because of the abundance of knowledge the internet and other resources hold.
We should be supporting this kid, you never know, maybe he will love it and became a fantastic filmer.