My daughter, who never wants to go anywhere but the beach, wants to go skiing this spring break(2001). Since we have never been skiing we need help.
Where should we go? There will be 5 of us,
son-age 11, daughter-age 15, son-age 16, mom,
and dad.
One of the guys at work suggested a ski out resort. I don't even know what this means.
Please HELP!!!

Can you drive to a ski resort? If you are on the East Coast, Sunday River in Maine is excellent. They have great instructors and a good rate for beginner packages that would include skis, lesson and lift ticket.
You are in for a very expensive vacation. Just the necessary gear you will need for five people (Jacket, ski pants, underwear, socks, gloves, hats, neck warmers, goggles) will cost a minimum of $400 to $500 per person. You need a van just to lug the equipment with you. Start hitting the sale racks in large ski shops now. Renting a condo that you can ski in and out of is also quite expensive.("ski out resort") I own a place in Bethel, Maine that is about 10 minutes drive from the mountain, and I rent that for $2,000 per week for Christmas, February and Spring Break. I don't know what the ones on the mountain rents for.
Skiing is a great sport. It makes the winter months enjoyable. Your youngsters will sleep well after a full day outdoors. A great way to keep those teenagers happy. It is also a very addictive sport. Beautiful views, fun people. If they love it be prepared for about $1,000 of equipment each for next Christmas.
You are making memories.

For discounted ski wear check out discount stores such as Burlington Coat Factory, TJ Maxx, etc. or even the Penney's catalog. Ski shops tend to be overpriced even the sale items. As for locations, I would go out west, you can get some great deals just shop around. I would recommend Steamboat, great family place, rated #1 for families. Lake Tahoe has great packages.

I'm a west coast/rockies skier so would recommend that myself over east coast as I think the quality of snow would be much better there at that time of year than Maine (well, to me it's always better, but the mountains are higher so it must be better out west in March, I would presume). I skied Park City once in late March and it was already pretty lame, but I think the Aspen area (and maybe California) are still fine at that time). Snowmass has ski-out condos and is great for families, I'd recommend you look for deals there. I haven't been there in a while, but I think it is more reasonable in price than places like Vail (where I haven't been, so I don't know if they have ski-out). I think the ski-out think is convenient if you are really a hard-core ski nut; but I'd go for a good deal first. I agree with the possible potential expense but the truth is being a casual unfashion-plate skier, you can get by for a lot less money on special clothing than you think, especially in March. You don't have to buy a fancy parka, you can pick up waterproof cheap ones from winter sales at Kmart etc for less than $50 by that time. YOu do need goggles, probably reflective sun glasses, good hats etc (which you may have if you live in a cold area), a pair of thermal underwear (again, not that expensive on sale at discount stores) and then some pants or overalls. To be honest, I've skied (and so do many others) in jeans over thermal underwear, especially at that time of year when it's not so cold-helps if you spray your jeans with some waterproofing type material and you need these waterproof ankle-type velcro-attached covers to help keep the bottom of your jeans dry (not sure what you call them). If you can get cheap ski pants on sale, they would be better, that's true, espec if you fall down a lot (ha, ha); I think you can also buy some waterproof thin material overpants that you can just wear over jeans, etc, also, which would be less expensive than real ski clothes. I've skied a moderate amt. and outfitted myself for a lot less than $400-500, espec. when I was younger and poorer--it can be done if you don't buy into the fashion thing (to be honest, when I was skiing more some years ago at Tahoe and Aspen, etc, it was considered "cool" to not wear expensive ski clothes, only jeans, etc, but it is less appealing if you fall down a lot). I've outfitted myself for probably only $150 or less in total (that includes parka, underwear, pants, etc.) But, it's clearly an investment. If you stay in a place like Snowmass or Aspen, you don't really have to rent a van as there are shuttle buses, or at Snowmass you are right there. I do rent or drive my own car at Lake Tahoe, but I don't think you have to, most larger ski resorts are prepared for this and have various shuttle buses from the main lodging areas to the lifts, so I wouldn't rent a van just for that although if you need to drive a distance from the airport anyway, it may be just as economical to rent a car/van for a few days. Anyway, I love Aspen/Snowmass, so I'd go there, and they have great instructors and beginner trails (I learned on Buttermilk, actually, which is near Snowmass and very good for total beginners, but even I was skiing on beginner trails at Snowmass the same week). Many airlines offer ski packages to the Colorado area. I think Snowmass is reasonable, their web site (www.snowmass.com) has lots of info and has "moderate" condos that should sleep 5 easily for only $200-250 a day (which seems very reasonable to me to house 5 people) and they are having a preseason lift ticket purchase sale also on that web site. Even if someone hates skiing, they can take the shuttle bus into Aspen and hang out there. Snowmass is known as a family-oriented resort. I haven't been to Vail, which is also rate highly as a family resort, so I don't know how it compares pricewise.

Unless it's just tons more convenient, I would opt for the Rockies over New England. In my experience, New England skiing tends to be icier and for novice skiiers, more difficult than learning in powder snow.
With that in mind, I would suggest somewhere like Breckenridge, Colorado. It's charming and not too far from Denver, so easy to get to. Lots of little shops and other things to do should the kids get tired of the ski scene...

Basically, the West Coast resorts are less challenging than those in the east, and so better for beginners. However, beginners won't be out of place at any of the east coast resorts.

Don't know if price is any issue. If it is, I would look at some of the smaller resorts in New York, PA, and West Virginia. There's a little resort called Peek 'n' Peek about 1 hour from Erie, PA, across the border into NY state. Also, Seven Springs in PA, about 2.5 hours from D.C. isn't a bad choice.

We have booked a week at Vail. Plan to
ski Vail and Beaver Creek.
Thanks for all your help