December 10, 2008 E-MAIL PRINT

Choosy mothers choose right resort

by Heather Burke/

Okemo is family owned and operated — and you can tell by its very friendly staff and excellent children’s programs. (photo: Greg Burke)

Okemo is family owned and operated — and you can tell by its very friendly staff and excellent children’s programs. (photo: Greg Burke)

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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 in to the powder-loving parent dilemma — more ski areas are focusing on families, building new child care 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 day care, "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 2½ 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. The mountain offers tips at www.Okemo.com on what to pack and what to expect when visiting the resort. That’s what I call service. Okemo makes tons of snow, and the service, from friendly lift attendants to exceptional on-mountain cuisine, makes it a very pleasant mountain at which to ski and stay.

Bretton Woods in New Hampshire has spectacularly scenery and well-groomed slopes, and its Babes in the Woods Daycare and Hobbit Ski and Snowboard Camps are well-oiled (and all under one roof) for young families. If mom and 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 day care for tots and exceptional daily ski camps for youngsters to teens. Sunday River is a good choice early season, as it makes 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. Kids 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 day care, 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 choosy 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.

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