Here are our favorite family-friendly ski resorts:
Diamond Peak Ski Resort
Known for its family-friendly atmosphere, this Lake Tahoe ski resort offers a great learning environment for beginners, as well as challenging terrains and trails for expert riders. Since every run funnels into the main base area, families can feel at ease on this mountain. With 655 skiable acres and more than 30 runs, this resort offers breathtaking views of Lake Tahoe, less crowded slopes for riders and reasonably priced lift tickets.
The Child Ski Center provides a fun learning experience for children 3 to 7. The Ski & Snowboarding School offers group and private lessons for beginners, intermediate and advanced skiers and snowboarders. With smooth terrain and wide trails, beginners can learn how to ride the slopes, while more experienced skiers and riders perfect their skills and take on new tricks. The Diamond Peak Terrain Park is perfect for those looking to take on some extra thrills and excitement. Filled with boxes, tabletops, rails and wall rides this terrain park has it all. The resort also provides a family-friendly terrain park, with low boxes and rails for skiers and snowboarders of all skill levels.
The Lake Tahoe area offers a wide range of lodging options for families to choose from including luxurious lakefront resorts, spacious condo units and cozy cabins. Nestled in the forest, the Parkside Inn at Incline is the closest resort to Diamond Peak. The resort features 38 spacious rooms and is located on the ski shuttle route. Providing an upscale lakefront stay for families, the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort is located a mile from Diamond Peak. The Hyatt High Sierra Lodge features two-bedroom condo units with private balconies, fireplaces and spacious living areas. Just minutes away from Diamond Peak, the Hyatt High Sierra is one of the best resorts for families in Lake Tahoe. If you are looking for more lodging options you may want to check out our Lake Tahoe resorts page.
Heavenly Ski Resort
Ride the Heavenly Gondola 2.4 miles to the top of Heavenly Mountain, and enjoy one of the most stunning views known to traveler-kind. From there, you have the tough decision of staying and playing at Adventure Peak or traveling up one of the 29 chairlifts for ribbons of beautiful skiing and snowboarding at all skill levels.
Adventure Peak provides tubing (with a 450-foot-long ride), snow -shoeing, sledding and even ski bikes.
Heavenly's ski school for kids has coaches who roam the country and teach other ski instructors how teach. In other words, your kids are being taught by some of the best.
Heavenly offers an all-day, California-licensed daycare for kids, ages 18 months to 6 years. Again, Heavenly prides itself on hiring excellent teachers, who welcome the kids. Many of the Heavenly staff members put their own children into this exceptional daycare.
Providing 4,800 acres with four bases (two in California and two in Nevada -- Heavenly sits on the state dividing line), Heavenly has something for every skill level.
Homewood Ski Resort
A good friend of mine takes her family to Homewood year after year and raves saying, "look, I know it's an optical illusion, but when you're skiing at Homewood the lake looks like it's close enough to touch. I mean, one wrong turn and I feel like I'll end up in the drink!"
It's needless to say, but I'll belabor the point anyway: every single slope provides a jaw-dropping view, paired with one of the most family-friendly, small (wonderfully so, with just eight chairlifts and four dining spots) ski resorts in Tahoe.
Homewood offers a Mountain Rangers Academy for kids, 3 to 12 years, where a very cool "magic carpet" whisks kids and their skis up the mountain (similar to moving sidewalks at airports). Homewood also sports Critter Canyon. Someone smart with a fun sense of humor whittled likenesses of animals that live in the Tahoe region. Ski instructors make a game of skiing around the animals, and the kids, of course, love it!
Every child in ski school receives his or her own GPS unit and then is monitored inside the resort. Need to drive home earlier then planned? No problem. Homewood will know exactly where to look for your child. (GPS units can also be rented for those not in ski school for a nominal fee.)
Homewood is a friendly place that offers a down-home personal touch; by the end of the day, the lift operators will know your kids' names.
Kirkwood Ski Resort
Boasting 15 lifts on 2,300 acres, Kirkwood sits off the beaten path, about 35 miles south of Lake Tahoe's south shore off Highway 88. It's a little less than a two-hour drive from the Reno Airport to Kirkwood, but don't let that stop you. It's a breeze to drive, and it's worth it.
A lot of folks who live in California, stop at Kirkwood on the way into Tahoe for a great day of skiing, or they hit Kirkwood on the way out. Many others choose from the 10 different lodging options and stay the week, enjoying the runs for all skill levels, heated outdoor pool, two hot tubs, two restaurants and a gleaming fitness center.
Kirkwood is sometimes overlooked by families because the marketing folk tend to focus on Kirkwood's appeal to the black diamond crowd, but families fare very well at Kirkwood.
Because of Kirkwood's location, the resort sees more snowfalls than any other resort in Tahoe, and it's light, powdery, fun snow.
Kirkwood offers a kids' ski program for ages 3 to 12 that includes rentals, lift tickets, lunch and a California-licensed Mini Mountain daycare (for kids 2 to 6 years). Fifteen percent of the mountain is for beginners, 50 percent is intermediate, and 35 percent is black diamond. There are plenty of varying runs for everyone's abilities.
Sierra-at-Tahoe
Sierra-at-Tahoe is an easy 12 miles outside of South Lake Tahoe, in the direction of Sacramento, on Highway 50. Lending itself naturally to families, Sierra-at-Tahoe offers 12 chairlifts and 2,000 acres of beauty with a view of Lake Tahoe at the top.
This family-friendly ski resort is all about value. Kids (3 to 12 years) can learn to ski or snowboard in the Wild Mountain Childrens' Ski and Snowboard School with packages that include: equipment rentals, half-day and all-day lessons, lift tickets and even a kid-friendly lunch. Look for 3- or 10-day packages. (If kids get tired or whiny, they can hang out in the bounce house, eat snacks and do arts and crafts while their parents ski.)
Parents will get a chuckle out of another program offered at Sierra: the Parent Predicament Ticket. It's funny, but it's also brilliant. With this amazing program, parents can share one adult lift ticket. One parent can ski while the other watches the baby, and later, the parents switch the baby and the lift ticket. That way, the little guy doesn't have to spend too much time (or any time) in daycare.
If you are looking for daycare arrangements, Sierra offers a California-licensed daycare for kids, ages 18 months to 5 years.
Sierra also offers Family Private Lessons. Up to five people can take this one-hour lesson, ride the lift together and don't even have to come down the same run. That way, varying levels can ski to their abilities and meet up again at the chairlift.
One more great program for families at Sierra is Teach Your Kid. This lesson is specifically designed for parents who have 2- to 5-year-old children. The instructor works only with the parents to teach them how they can best teach their children the beginning basics of skiing. (Often, parents are great skiiers in their own right but haven't learned the methods for teaching a toddler or preschooler how to ski.)
If you want the most challenging runs, Sierra has you covered. Sierra offers gnarly, better-know-what-you're-doing, double black diamond runs for the true experts in your family. Sierra also offers tubing, snow-shoeing (including rentals) and six dining spots.
Alpine Meadows
With 14 chairlifts, Alpine Meadows delivers incredible Lake Tahoe views throughout its 2,400 acres of mountain, but it's true claim to fame is that it provides families with a classic ski and snowboard experience.
I really love that everything is compact and close by at Alpine Meadows. There's one base lodge, and it's easy to find and keep track of your family (what a concept).
Enroll your kids in Alpine's Kids' Camp (3 to 12 years), where they'll receive ski or snowboard lessons and, later, can play in the indoor space and find lunch, games, movies and beanbag lounge time. (If you're enrolled in the Kids' Camp and pay a small fee, you'll receive a front-and-center parking spot that is just a stone's throw from the Kids' Camp itself. Buh-bye cranky walking!)
Parents might also want to check out the Alpine Adventure Guide Program. Up to five people are guided around the mountain by a top-level instructor. Reserve a half-day or fullday, and learn about hidden spots with a day tailored to your family's skill level.
Good friends of mine won't ski anywhere but Alpine because of the varying skill level slopes. She and her family love the many challenging black diamond runs at Alpine. It's also a great place for their tween-age kids to seek out the intermediates.
Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe
Mt. Rose is known for being the closest resort to Reno, so local outdoor enthusiasts are often up on Mt. Rose in droves. It's also an easy fifteen minutes from the Incline community on the north shore. With eight chairlifts and runs covering 1,200 acres, Mt. Rose is a small, homey and very family-friendly resort that delivers an abundance of beautifully groomed terrain for beginners.
Mt. Rose offers both a "Rose Buds" program for kids, ages 4 to 10 years, and "Team Falcons," for kids 4 to 18 years old, who want a more challenging learning and competing experience.
Definitely sign up for the outstanding and inexpensive family program called "Runs & Roses." For $130, you'll get two full-day lift tickets for adults and two full-days for children. Mt. Rose also offers lots of daily specials, so check their Web site regularly. The coolest deal of all is that kids, 5 and younger, ski free.
Sugar Bowl Ski Resort
This well-named ski resort is the closest resort to Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area and boasts stunning views of Donner Lake. Families have flocked to Sugar Bowl for 70 years for a happy and reliable ski experience. With eight lifts serving 84 trails that slice over 1,500 acres, Sugar Bowl provides great snow days for everyone. Sugar Bowl offers the Mountain Sports Learning Center (for ages 4 to 12). With a one-to-four ratio of instructors to kids, children receive ample individual attention. Ask about their Signature Program, where half- and all-day packages include lessons, rentals, lift tickets and lunch for the kids, leaving parents free to ski.
The little kids, ages 3 to 5, are called Sugar Bears (isn't that a cute name?) and can play indoors and out, fully supervised, in a California-licensed daycare setting. Sugar Bears get their own little equipment, a magic carpet ride (100-foot-long moving sidewalk) to the bunny slope and are introduced at their little bear level to the sport. If they're tired, they'll go indoors for games, arts and crafts, and lunch.
Happily, Sugar Bowl also offers the Parent Ticket -- one parent can ski, while the other parent is watching the baby. Then, they can swap, using the same lift ticket. Also, look for nice women-specific ski clinics, where you'll learn to ski from a female instructor and, in certain classes, see a videotape of yourself before heading out to the slope again.
Sugar Bowl also offers a very budget-friendly General Admission package for everyone, ages 13 to 69. You'll receive free rental equipment and a free, two-hour group lesson (for any level) on general admission days for the price of an Adult chair lift ticket.
Squaw Valley USA
Being home to the 1960 Winter Olympics is both good and not-so-good. It was wonderful because it brought Squaw Valley worldwide, never-ending fame. It's not-so-good because forevermore, most of us associate skiing at Squaw with hot-doggers, flying down black-diamond slopes. Why would a family even think of heading to Squaw?
Parents, take another look. To begin with, Squaw is more than aware of that little thing called our poor economy. Did you know that, for years and years, kids could ski for free at Squaw? It's true. Then, they started charging a nominal amount, and today, it sits at a stunning $10 per lift ticket, per child. No, I'm not kidding. And, they plan to keep the price nice and low way into the future so that families will think of Squaw for budget-friendly family skiing.
But, isn't Squaw striped with nothing but black-diamond runs ideal for Olympic hopefuls? Well, certainly Squaw caters to the expert ski crowd -- no doubt about it. But, 4,000 acres of beautiful mountain boast 45 percent intermediate terrain.
Even better: Beginners get the insanely gorgeous lake view at Squaw Valley. That's right. Normally when you learn to ski you're on a bunny hill with a lovely panoramic view of the parking lot. At Squaw, the beginners and intermediates go way, way up, where they learn to ski with a full view of Lake Tahoe to cheer them on. (And, they'll find a very easy beginners path down at the end of the day.)
Squaw offers a bevy of nice programs for varying ski levels, always keeping our crazy economy in mind. Such offerings include an inexpensive Learn to Ski and Ride Weekend, a wondrous Mountain Top Full Moon Snow Shoe Tour (families love this one) and Women of Winter on Wednesdays.
I'm particularly impressed with the women's ski clinics. Taught by the best female instructors on the mountain, it's a "girls' day out," where you learn at your own pace without the distraction of guys. Best of all, each member of the group is videotaped, so at the next clinic, you've seen for yourself the particular areas that need work. Brilliant!
Squaw also offers free night skiing and is often called one of the best in the night skiing business. Several runs at all ski levels are beautifully lit. So, if you want to sleep late that morning, no worries -- you can ski all afternoon and evening.
If you're not crazy about skiing and need something fun to do when your family is on the mountain, choose from a wealth of fun activities at Squaw: great dining, cable car-riding, shopping, cross-country skiing or having a massage at the Resort at Squaw Creek. Families will also love the ice-skating, snow-shoeing, snow-tubing and wall-climbing.
