Travel With Teens and Tweens | Ski Country

Why Smugglers’ Notch is Tops for Teens

Ski Country, Smugglers' Notch, Vermont No Responses »

Feb 172011

We’re getting ready to head north for a school vacation week family ski getaway hosted by Smugglers’ Notch Resort in Vermont. If you read our earlier reviews on the best ski resorts for families in Vermont and New Hampshire you probably noticed that Smugglers’ stood out for its commitment to teen and tween programming. We were thrilled when Smugglers’ invited our family for a visit to check out all the teen attractions for ourselves. To help with our vacation planning, we asked Smuggler’s Snow Sport University director Harley Johnson and Activities Director Stacey Comishock to give us an overview of what to expect. Here is what we learned: Q: Smugglers’ Notch seems to make a big effort to cater to teens and tweens. Can you give us a quick summary of the [...]

Ski Vermont: A Teen’s View from the Top

New England, Ski Country, Vermont 6 Responses »

Jan 062011

While the princess labored to learn snowboarding at the foot of Vermont’s ski mountains, her brother skied the mountains from top to bottom armed with a new camera he found under the Christmas tree. These photos mark the first time one of the teens has contributed images to our blog so we are thrilled to share one teen’s views from the top of the Burke Mountain and Bolton Valley ski areas. For more details on the mountains themselves check our snowboard story. The trails beckoned on a rare cloudless Vermont winter day! Then on to Bolton Valley which was covered in hoar frost and sparkled in the sun. A quick ride on the chairlift And a moment to enjoy the view before an exhilarating run! The views in the winter [...]

Learning to Snowboard: A Tale of Three Mountains

New England, Ski Country, Vermont 1 Response »

Jan 052011

After getting a taste of the action last season, our princess decided this is the year she wants to put some effort into learning to snowboard. For someone who skates, but has never skied, this goal rates as a definite challenge. Santa helped out by leaving a new board under the tree and Mother Nature made sure we had plenty of snow thanks to the Christmas blizzard. With a day to kill before leaving for Vermont, we sped to nearby Nashoba Valley in Westford, MA for a quick lesson and trial run. Just 25 miles from Boston, Nashoba’s 240 ft vertical height, 17 trails, 4 chairlifts plus rope tows and a small terrain park are perfect for a few hours of skiing without investing in hours of driving. [...]

An Unexpected Christmas 2010 Family Vacation Sidetrip

New England, Ski Country 2 Responses »

Jan 012011

An Unexpected Christmas 2010 Family Vacation Sidetrip

As any New Englander knows, the weather in the mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont can be cold, windy and unpredictable. Undaunted by 17 inches of snow at home on the day after Christmas 2010, we packed up all manner of ski and skate gear, shoveled our driveway and headed north from Boston on Monday morning for a long planned Christmas ski and snowboard vacation with our Vermont based cousins. Our initial destination, Burke Mountain in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom would normally be a 4 hour drive via Route 93 through New Hampshire’s White Mountains. Although the snow had stopped at home and we saw blue sky in Southern New Hampshire, things got interesting as we approached the Mountains. Apparently, no one had told Mother Nature that the [...]

Two Top Colorado Ski Resorts for Families with Teens

Ski Country No Responses »

Dec 262010

Two Top Colorado Ski Resorts for Families with Teens

Our checklist for choosing the best ski resorts for family vacations with teens and tweens gives extra weight to mountains with teen specific activities, a range of on and off slope diversions and ski-in/ski-out family friendly accommodations where everyone can spread out and teens can enjoy some independence. We’ve been taking a peek at what Colorado has to offer and have found two top resorts that are high on our teens’ list of best ski resorts for families with teens and tweens. They are: Copper Mountain Located 75 miles from Denver, Copper Mountain has 2600 feet of vertical drop, 22 lifts, and 126 marked trails. In addition to skiing and snowboarding, the resort offers ice skating, snowshoeing, tubing, snowmobiling, sleigh rides, dog sledding, cross country skiing, a racquet and [...]

Best New Hampshire Ski Resorts for Families with Teens

Ski Country No Responses »

Dec 032010

Best New Hampshire Ski Resorts for Families with Teens

Our checklist for picking the best ski resorts for families with teens includes a lodging set-up that allows teens a fair amount of independence and a range of on and off slope options for everyone in the group. We found the following three resorts that fill the bill in New Hampshire. Omni Mount Washington Resort at Bretton Woods The Omni Mount Washington Resort in Bretton Woods is New Hampshire’s largest ski area with 464 acres of skiing and snowboarding on 102 trails and glades, four terrain parks and nine lifts. Located in the heart of the White Mountains’ Presidential Range, the scenery is spectacular and the choice of available activities is impressive. There are no specific teen lesson programs but an innovative Family private lesson option pairs up to 5 [...]

Best Vermont Ski Resorts for Families with Teens

Ski Country, Vermont 1 Response »

Nov 242010

Best Vermont Ski Resorts for Families with Teens

The Ski Vermont tourism site lists over 40 downhill and cross country ski destinations across the state. Each offers something unique, but a few stand out as having something really special for families with teens and tweens. Four in particular have caught our eye as we are making our winter ski plans – we thought we’d share what our research has uncovered: Smugglers’ Notch Resort Smugglers’ Notch Resort encompasses 3 mountains with 2,600 feet of vertical rise, 78 trails and 3 terrain parks, in a high energy self-contained four season resort setting. On mountain condos allow teens and tweens to have a high degree of independence and the resort runs a wide range of teen-specific lesson and off mountain activities to ensure they will never get bored. There are challenging [...]

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