Best Terrain for Young Jibbers: Smugglers’ Notch, Vermont
This season, the mountain teamed up with Burton Snowboards to develop Riglet Park. Specifically designed for kids, it features the Treehouse, an elevated platform with ramps, rolling hills, miniature rails, pyramids, and a mini halfpipe. smuggs.com
Best All-Ages Party: Keystone, Colorado
During Kidtopia Family Weeks, Keystone offers movie night, arts and crafts, a chance to meet the avalanche rescue dogs, and a maze-and-slide-equipped snow fort. keystoneresort.com
Best Family Instruction: Fernie, British Columbia
At Fernie, you don’t drop your kids in ski school then take off for the day; you join them. (Don’t panic—you can also off-load them and dash.) Family coaches work with the kids on basics while also teaching parents some instruction tricks. One good one: have your child hold a lunch tray with a few items on it and try not to spill while skiing. Lessons from $49; skifernie.com
Best Kid-Friendly Terrain: Deer Valley, Utah
This place is so thick with on-mountain playgrounds, it drew up a separate children’s trail map charting out the whoop-de-dos and banked turns of Bucky’s Backyard and the Candyland racecourse, where the gates are shaped like candy canes. deervalley.com
Best Place to Ski the Glades Together: Steamboat, Colorado
Open glades like the Shadows, with trees spaced 50 to 60 feet apart, offer a great stepping stone to tighter tree skiing. Feel uncomfortable doing the teaching but want to keep the family together? Book a family lesson (from $390). steamboat.com
Deer Valley's ski school Photographer: Eric Schramm
Comments
I have to nominate Mont Tremblant as another fantastic family resort. My family had the time of their lives there last year!
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