When you are twenty-something, single, and skiing every weekend, you pick
ski resorts with swift lifts, snowmaking amps, and après ski bars. Once you
have kids, the fall line formula changes to daycare ratios, learn to ski
programs, and condos with kitchens and washing machines.
Resorts around New England are dialing into the powder-loving parent dilemma
– more ski areas are focusing on families, building new childcare centers
and organizing well run ski camps. If you are a diaper carrying downhiller,
or a snow trail lover with trying teens, here are a few of our favorite
“family ski resorts” we’ve enjoyed with our kids in tow:
Smugglers' Notch in Vermont
hoards the family ski resort awards every season and there’s a reason.
Smugglers’ has a beautiful slopeside daycare, “Treasures,” for your baby
starting at 6-weeks, so you can make some turns then check in on your child.
Your little tyke can learn to ski as early as 2 ½ at Smuggs’ Snow Sports
University. This Vermont resort rocks when it comes to kids of all ages,
even the tough to please teens can “chill at Smuggs’ two teen night clubs.
Parents will like the three interconnected ski mountains and the convenient
village accommodations.
Okemo in Vermont is a family owned
and operated resort and you sense that when you bring your kids to Penguin
Daycare, or SnowStars ski school starting at age 3. Diane Mueller, mom and
resort co-owner, has tips on www.Okemo.com on what to pack, and what to
expect when visiting her family’s resort. That’s what I call personal
service. Okemo makes tons of snow, and their service from friendly liftees
to exceptional on-mountain cuisine makes it a very pleasant mountain to ski
and stay at.
Bretton Woods in New
Hampshire has spectacularly scenery, well-
groomed slopes, and their Babes in
the Woods Daycare and Hobbit Ski and Snowboard Camps are well-oiled (and all
under one roof) for young families. If mom & dad can splurge and stay at the
century old, elegant Mount Washington Hotel, this makes for a grand ski
getaway for the entire family.
Maine’s Sugarloaf and
Sunday River – now sisters
under Boyne, both have slopeside daycare for tots and exceptional daily ski
camps for youngsters to teens. Sunday River is a good choice early season,
they make monstrous quantities of snow. The lift system is very efficient,
and the two Grand Resort Hotels are convenient to the slopes, the outdoor
heated pool, and family après ski including snow tubing and entertainment.
Sugarloaf is worth the trip mid to late winter, your kids will love the
Maine mascots, Amos the Moose, Blueberry the Bear and Pierre the Logger.
Parents will love the culture of this northern Maine ski resort, good après
ski pubs and good hearted people.
In Massachusetts,
Jiminy Peak has a custom built
Children’s Center with daycare, ski and snowboard programs, and rental
equipment all in one building – one stop family shopping and dropping (well,
you know what I mean). Slopeside lodging and a manageable-size ski area with
a speedy six-pack lift make Jiminy a good jaunt for flatland families.
Now that your ski unit includes ankle biters, ask the parents on you block
where they take their posse skiing. Be a choosey mom or dad, do your
research to find the best fit for your family. Ski areas are catering to the
littlest consumer in your clan – knowing that is the key to a great day or a
fantastic family week on the slopes.
