I grew up skiing here, and at Keystone resort. This is known around Summit County as the resort for locals, evidenced by its consistent first place rank among Summit County...
I learned to ski at Kirkwood as a kid. Every time I go back I have a great time, and remember why I miss living nearby. You gotta love the bluebird powder days available in the...
There are no Starbucks here, no condos, no village complex, PERFECT for powderhounds. Sierra-at-Tahoe is most loved by day skiers due to their wind-protected acres and 46 runs. Enough powder for...
I'll be taking my family (4 and 6 year old) on a skiing vacation for the first week in April. I'm looking for a destination in the West (CO, UT, WY, ID) that has good beginner runs and instruction for young ones skiing for the first time. It would also be nice to have fun off-the-mountain things to do as well. Any suggestions for the perefect young family destination in April?
Being a father of a young family myself, here are a few selections. I am partial to Breckenridge, as I have chosen to bring up my family here.
Here is my short list for the April time frame:
Breckenridge, CO - high base elevation can keep the snow in good condition. Spring Massive Festival in April. Good beginner terrain, ski school, and family friendly town.
Copper Mtn and Keystone, CO - High elevations, villages adjacent to mtn, good ski schools.
Park City, UT - lower elevation, town adjacent to mtn. Not sure about the snow in April.
Mammoth, CA - High elevation, great spring skiing, may be difficult for travel plans. Good ski school and excellent terrain
I'm no expert on the various areas, but I can vouch for Copper. My wife and daughter both learned to ski there, and we continue to ski there regularly. It's relatively easy to get around, great ski school, and the beginner terrain is segregated from most of the blues and blacks, so the beginners have their own area. For my wife and daughter, this made it much less intimidating.
If you come to Colorado, you can stay in Frisco (about 10 minutes away from Copper) which is a nice little town for after ski activities, decent restaurants, etc. We're not into the nightlife much, so I'm referring more to activities for the family. And, if you decide to try other ski areas like Breck, Keystone or Vail, they're all within a reasonable drive from Frisco.
PM me for some great Frisco condo rental referrals if you're interested. I'm not in the business, just have stayed at a few good places that I can recommend.
I can say we have been very pleased with Deer Valley and the Park City area This will be our 3rd year with our family for good reason. Besides the top notch ski school for the kids, it's just an easy place to get to. Easy to fly into and easy driving from the airport. With young kids that is a huge plus.
I have never been in April but from what I understand about DV, they really bank the snow during the winter. I know last winter even when it had snowed like crazy, they continued to make it and push it to the side so they would have it late in the season. I was told, true or not that this was so that they could extend into April. I know a few Wasatch regulars linger around the forum and could answer that.
There are a ton of things to do like tubing, the Olympic Park, Ice Skating, sledding. Just be aware that after a day of sking, the little ones won't want to do anything else but come home and crash! Good luck and have fun!
Echo the recommendation of Park City. IT's all there, and you won't have the altitude problems of Summit in CO. The tubing and stuff are very popular with famililes; also there's evening sleigh rides and other nice things laid on for entertainment.
steamboat comes in at 2, snowmass at three.
because both are a little out of the way, they dont typically have crowds. snowmass bus system works very well if you want to stay at snowmass (quieter) but stil be able drop down to the town of aspen.
the base of snowmass has recently been re-done
with a goal of "having fun" (as opposed to learning skiing), you really cant go wrong out west...
Hey, just because I live here do not discount my recomendation.... I have skied at all the spots on your list, I am a father of 5 kids... Take JETBLUE to Salt Lake City, then drive to Park City with in 40 min.... (Jet Blue has Sat TV for your kids to watch, they will not cry or get upset the whole flight" ) driving to Summit County in Colorado where I lived for 10 years is TOURTURE... both ways...
A lot to do here besides ski, snow is good in early April, many moderate places to stay and eat as well... can not beat it...
ROCK in Park City, Utah over looking the hill from my office...
Twin 9yr old and one 12 yr old boys, three trips out west, all early april. Our expereinces have been with both cottonwood canyons and Frisco (summit county). For us airfare is slightly cheeper to denver vs. SLC. Generally speaking the kids were too pooped after a day on the slopes for anything but the pool/hot tub, TV & bed. couple Notes on each
Cottonwood canyons, virtually nothing to do outside skiing. We found canyon transport cheeper than renting a car ($230 or so covered getting to / from moutain with a grocery stop). Solitude has a very nice village, we thought. "slope side" (read 50-100 yard walk to put on skis) 1bedrm condo (you+wife=bedroom kids=sopha bed) can be had for $175-$225 a night. The rates drop april 4 or so, be sure you ask. Huge plus for snow, we had something like 40 inches one year. Very, very good all day programs at $75 or so a kid incl lifty.
Frisco - renting a car is way cheeper than the transport services. Minivan +-$350 a week. I70 + all roads to resorts very, very good, didn't need 4wd. Much more schrapling of skis and kids vs. cottowoods, particuarly accross parking lots. Snow not nearly as good. Stayed in frisco with lots to do, short walk to main st. of town. Kids had a blast just exploring the lake one day, throwing rocks on the ice. beleive our two bedroom condo was $105 a night. By this point the boys could get around just fine so no expereince with ski school.
We were there last year around the 3rd and last week of April, its a 2.5 HR drive from Calgary Airport (direct flights out of NY and other US gateways). My son loved it, he had just turned 5, and qualified as a Black Diamond Runner by his 4th day of skiing. For the expert skiier, there are steep double blacks and cliffs, for tree skiiers there are glades and there are high, long alpine runs. Each chair has a green run to get you down. The Sunshine Inn is the place to stay on the mountain (its 7k ft up) or one can stay in Banff, a 15 to 20min drive, or Lake Louise Village 25 mins north. Skiing Louise is a whole big deal in itself.
Anyway, www.skibanff.com will get you the info, and here are some links to videos etc..
will try to post pics in follow up msg, having a hard time
It wasn't on your list but I like Big Sky for families. There is only one base area and one ski school. There is a nursery in the ski school building. It's easy to get started in the morning and meet up for lunch or after ski school. The base are is not too big and not spread out. Nobody gets lost - usually.
Another advantage of Big Sky is it has great cell-phone coverage. While many would consider that worthy of gaper value it does come in handy coordinating meeting up for meals. getting messages to parents & calling ski patrol (they post their number on signs all over the hill.)
Location: somewhere between the worlds of men and make believe
Post Count: 8,149
Steamboat Springs, hands down!
Direct flights into and out, fantastic free bus system, inexpensive restaurants, huge amount of terrain suited for family skiing, kids ski free with the purchase of adult lift passes, outstanding kids learning center, fewer crowds, need I go on?
My kids grew up skiing there and I can't tell you how great the countless memories we have of family stays in Steamboat.
Really an ode from a father to his son below since because of him I get to experience such places: (pics and video following family specific observations)
After having made a trip, to Lech-Zurs, folks, I daresay, little can compare for families especially if one stays on mountain at Oberlech, car free, walk over ground on snow, or underground in tunnels if one does'nt feel like walking in the snow to get from hotel to gondola to restaurant or wherever, and it runs 7am to 1pm.
Again, our experience is still limited, but given the fantastic information i have got on this blog from others, feel best i can do to repay those kind souls is to provide brief insights into our recent experience.
I think most American and Canadian resorts offering a quality and serious learning experience for kids, and that inimitable great big, huge mountain feel, are ultra-expensive.
Austria is significantly cheaper and definitely mostly superior in quality. For Example:
1. Lift ticket for 7 days for 6 year old = 10Eur
1a. Lift ticket for 7 days for adult =190Eur
2. 6 full days in ski-school = 210 Eur +12 Eur/day for lunch and the food is not too shabby
3. adult private instruction 225 to 245 Eur/day
4. adult group lessons all day : approx 250 to 300 Eur for 6 days.
5. Absolutely ski-in and ski-right-out
6. Facilities for boots, skis classy
7. indoor heated pool
8. Per night depending on what you want is approx 300 to 500Eur and that includes breakfast and dinner, and folks the dinner was better than anything available in NYC, London, Paris or Geneva or Montreal as far as my feeble memory goes. We live in Manhattan, Bouley, Les Bernardin could'nt match Hotel Montana's half-board dinners, forget it, those dinners were a culinary delight. Even got my son off his beige diet, now that is an achievement.
9 One key area where I felt NAmerican resorts are FAR superior, that is in the actual care and attention to kids, their safety is paramount in NAmerica. I had read on blogs that instructors have lost their kids on the mountain and at the base, while I could'nt believe it when I read it, I now have first-hand experience, it happens, that is totally unacceptable, and frankly I don't exactly get why the ski-schools in Europe, are not held liable for kids who are found after the instructor lost track, forget about the more extreme cases. This is something to watch out for, no kidding.
NAmerican snow though can be drier and supreme powder is "it", because out West most resorts are higher than the Austrian Alps. That is of course another other-worldly experience. But ski-lessons in the US are brutally expensive and really not available to folks with modest incomes, just a fact about the economics geographically speaking, cest la vie.
Just something to think about. We had a great trip.
Hey dustyfog. Nice to see that you enjoyed a good ski trip. I know this thread is quite old, but I just wanted to mention that the april skiing at Sunshine is great just like dustyfog said. I've been there 4 times in the last 2 weeks and am going on thursday as well and still can't believe the conditions for april. They're not amazing, but still very good considering nearly every other resort around here is already closed.
Anyway, conditions were just alright. The weather itself was pretty nice at around -5 degrees or so throughout the whole day. Me and my buddy stayed mainly on the groomed runs. Nearly everything else was just too hardpacked to ski on. That being said, the snow on the groomed runs were nice. There was also some nice ungroomed runs at the top of Goat's Eye mountain, but only for the top half part, the whole lower part of the mountain was again hardpacked and icy on the ungroomed runs.
Summit County is nicknamed "Colorado's Playground". There are no less than 7 resorts within an easy drive (Keystone, Breck, Arapahoe Basin, Vail, Beaver Creek, Loveland, Copper). Many of them have great children's programs and off-hill activities. My family and friends stayed at a great lodge right in Dillon. It was new and had everything we needed for our large group (and it was very affordable for the quality!). The owner also helped us with advice, discounted lift tickets (yes!) and anything else we needed. We're already planning our trip for this season before they fill up. Their website is http://Colorado-Lodge.com
Winter Park is a pretty good ski resort to visit as it is a fairly inexpensive family friendly resort that's pretty well developed and has a nice variety of trails. The adventure pass is great if you have kids, and the alpine slide is a lot of fun!
This may be out of your way but I had a great time taking my (then) young family to Big White, BC. Self contained village, wide variety of runs, good lessons, kid's day program, evening programs for older kids, mega inner tubes, ice skating, snow mobiles, variety of restaurants, lots of Aussie "no worries, mate". Only drawback was a lousy grocery store so cooking in the condo was a joke. Wasn't too hard to get to--fly into Kelowna, 40 minute shuttle, go food shopping in Kelowna first. jaaanson
This may be out of your way but I had a great time taking my (then) young family to Big White, BC. Self contained village, wide variety of runs, good lessons, kid's day program, evening programs for older kids, mega inner tubes, ice skating, snow mobiles, variety of restaurants, lots of Aussie "no worries, mate". Only drawback was a lousy grocery store so cooking in the condo was a joke. Wasn't too hard to get to--fly into Kelowna, 40 minute shuttle, go food shopping in Kelowna first. jaaanson
Big White and Silver Star are excellent family destinations.
I visited this place Hotel Zuerserhof Ski & Well-being Resort last winters and i must say it was a great place to go with family and kids. At that time i had just given birth to my third child and to be very honest, this turned out to be one of my most memorable trip. Coming back into my skiing passion after nine months was like a heaven to me. If you are planning skiiing this year, then this place is a must Check Out ski resort...
I read an article by PJ Orourke in ski magazine where he said the best place to take kids was Ohio!
Same size hill the four year old will ski in Colorado, private lessons, no shuttle bus, monsterous hotel room for the price of two drinks in Vail.
Never been to Ohio, but can understand the thought process...if kids haven't skied before, smaller mountains with less gear toting are probably the way to go.
This thread is past its sell by date, but for an April trip, you typically don't have to book well ahead, but probably want to book spots with more reliable spring snow if you do.
that this was so that they could extend into April. I know a few Wasatch regulars linger around the forum and could answer that.
