Family Holiday - ski-ing Dec 2006
 

We are looking for a great place to ski in America - child friendly to spend christmas - any ideas would be appreciated. thanks.,

pS We are travelling from Australia

You are probably looking to go out west?

A good friend of mine loved Steamboat Springs Colorado. That being said, I have not been myself.
I would look into the many resorts in Colorado. I can't imagine a more christmas like place than Christmas in the Rocky Mountains!

Steamboat Springs - is that child friendly?

All of the US ski resorts are child friendly. The only exception is Aspen Mountain, which has no beginner terrain. However, the nearby ski areas of Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk and Snowmass have tons of beginner terrain. You should try to go somewhere like Steamboat, Telluride, or Crested Butte where they don't get day skier traffic from a major city. The ski resorts closer to Denver and all of the Salt Lake City resorts are quite crowded during Christmas week.

My friend went to Steamboat with her two kids last year. They were 10 and 11 at the time and had a blast!!! She said it was very family friendly. I would believe that they would all be family friendly.
One resort is known for being family friendly on the east coast is Smugglers Notch in Vermont.
I still think that if I were traveling to the US for a ski trip, I would head out west. Also, check out Lake Tahoe which is also supposed to be beautiful. Lake Tahoe is in California/Nevada. It is located in both states. The Nevada side would have resorts with gambling and the California side won't. Anyway, I am sure that you will find the ski resorts in America family friendly. I would start my search in Colorado.

A good place to start is www.snow.com All the resorts represented here have tons of kid activites.

Look at Deer Valley Utah. You need to book your lift tickets at Christmas because they limit there people and will sell out so as not to over crowd. Kids school and resort rated #1 in US and it is fabulous. My kids love love love it! Park City is one Mile away.

Co. and Tahoe are good options but have drawbacks. We ski both. Live 3 hours from Tahoe.

Tahoe may not have snow at Christmas. We are going there today, but at Christmas time there was rain when we were there.

Colorado...the major resorts are at least two hours from the airport. Great snow and resorts once there. Steamboat is farther from the Denver airport unless taking a smaller plane directly. Otherwise...a long carride for the kids.

Utah...35 minutes from airport! Great snow and absolutely kid friendly!

I would look at the Park City area of Utah or Steamboat Springs in Colorado.

You can fly into Steamboat (Hayden airport). We found Steamboat extremely family friendly and casual. Having been there twice, it is one of our favorites. Our kids really want to go back!

Good luck and have fun!

I'm with fun4all. Steamboat, with flight from Denver or Park City, Deer Valley area.

Would Steamboat be a good place to celebrate christmas for the kids?

Steamboat is a fun town. Your kids will enjoy it. It has an "old west" feel to it. I think it's a very good choice for your Christmas trip.

If you want a website where more skiers post, try www.epicski.com.