Colorado Ski Country USA

Press Room

 

Denver, CO, January 14, 2010 - Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) resorts are influencing children this month - in a positive way. To celebrate January Learn to Ski and Ride month in Colorado, ski areas around the state are highlighting their new programs for little learners. Like learning a second language or other skill, ski industry experts encourage learning to ski and snowboard at a young age.

In response to guest requests for snowboard lessons for younger kids, Crested Butte Mountain Resort created a new Mini Riders program. Mini Riders is a group lesson option for kids ages five and six who are interested in snowboarding. The resort guarantees an instructor to student ratio of 1:3, allowing the instructor to give more individual attention to each child.

Similarly, due to the demand for lessons geared toward younger children, Monarch Mountain now offers small group lesson opportunities for three and four-year-olds (skiing only) called Caterpillars and five and six-year-olds (skiing and snowboarding) called Junior Butterflies. Caterpillars is a weekly skiing adventure designed with lots of play that helps kids foster a love of snow sports and put mileage on their skis. Junior Butterflies is a program for young skiers or snowboarders that exposes kids to the mountain and develops all-around skiing or riding skills in a fun environment. 

Copper Mountain's Ski and Ride School made new changes based on guest feedback too. Spurred by guests who have indicated that they want youth lessons to end a bit earlier so that the family can take a few runs together at the end of the day, Copper now ends ski and ride school youth lessons at 3:00 p.m. instead of at 3:30pm.


An Instructor Helps a Child onto the Magic Carpet at Copper Mountain (Credit: Casey Day)

Family Focus
Ski Country resorts take great care to accommodate families with beginners by focusing on enhancing the service and facilities side of the guest experience.

Aspen/Snowmass and Steamboat are accommodating families with beginners this year with improved ski school facilities and terrain. Steamboat's beginner lesson improvements include a $2.5 million remodel and expansion of the resort's Kids Vacation Center and a new ski and snowboard school ticket office.

Aspen/Snowmass' Elk Camp Meadows learning area, located mid-mountain at Snowmass, is dedicated to beginner skiers and snowboarders, both adults and children. The area has a new quad chair, two new surface lifts and a new ski school building for beginners. The Meadows is at the top of the Elk Camp gondola, giving beginners better snow conditions and a complete alpine experience with sweeping views of the valley. Trail alignments ensure that there is no cross-traffic in this area, making for an ideal learning environment.

Crested Butte Mountain Resort has a new program called the Beginner Adventure. This lesson focuses on the brand new learning center and linking the experience at the Learning Center to the beginner lift and Peachtree pod (one of the beginner/easy areas on the mountain). The resort also added a new beginner trail to this area this season.

Old Schools, New Tricks
Many resorts across the state offer specialized kids learning programs designed for young skiers and snowboarders. Many of these programs offer season passes to students after the lesson program ends and others specialize in instruction for toddlers getting an early start on downhill fun.

Winter Park's Just Because I'm Three lesson program is a full-day program open to three-year-olds only. The instructor to student ratio is 1:4 and the three-year-olds now have a separate meeting place to check in. The students begin the morning inside, in a room with a little hill that the kids ride down on skis. There are fewer distractions indoors, so students progress faster before getting outside on the snow.

The Children's Learning Center (CLC) at Powderhorn is a hassle-free, one-stop center for kids ages three through seven. The CLC offers group or private lessons, ski equipment rentals, lift tickets, snacks and play all in one place. 

The Wolf Pup program at Wolf Creek allows children to progress their skiing abilities at their own pace. The Wolf Pups is an on-the-snow program designed for ages five through eight that teaches children the fun of skiing.

The Panda Cubs program at Ski Cooper also caters to the tiniest riders on the hill. The program, designed for four-year-olds, is a wonderful way to introduce children to skiing in a two-hour lesson.

Echo Mountain also offers a unique program for parents and kids to participate in a lesson together. Echo's Parent and Me semi-private lessons offer personalized coaching to teach skiing to three-year-olds and prepare them for group/private instruction by age four. The program offers a 1:1 instructor to parent/child ratio.

Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort's Powder Pigs is designed for three-year-olds, offering daycare with an introduction to skiing. The program supplies a special Nordic ski, which allows the child's heel to lift. This feature makes it easier for children to learn the concept of skiing.

As a family-oriented resort, Eldora also attracts many young beginner skiers and riders. To accommodate them, Eldora offers a range of lesson options, including lessons specific to first-timers, private lessons, and group lessons in its Mountain Explorers program.

The Sunlight Ski and Snowboard Education Center offers a variety of single-day lessons and four-week sessions. Threemosabes is a program for three-year-olds that gradually introduces children to skiing over a four-week session. Skimosabes is a four-week session for children age four to six, to develop and improve skiing skills.


Instructors Teaching a Group of Kids to Ski at Sunlight (Credit: Scott DW Smith)

Telluride Ski and Snowboard School offers daily children's lessons providing age-specific learning experiences. Gold Miners is designed for three-year-olds to gradually introduce children to a world of snow and skiing.

SolVista Basin at Granby Ranch offers a guarantee to succeed program for beginners of all ages. Called the Guaranteed Start to Ski/Ride, the lesson is a full-day group lesson and includes lift ticket and equipment rentals.

Several resorts include a free season pass after students complete a lesson program. Arapahoe Basin's children's ski lessons start at age three and snowboard lessons at age five. The ski area's guaranteed lesson program is for both disciplines and includes a 2009-10 Arapahoe Basin only season pass, three half-day group lessons, full-day equipment rentals with every lesson and guaranteed success.


An Instructor Helps a Skier at A-Basin (Credit: Bob Winsett)

Loveland offers the Loveland 3 Class Pass, which provides a free season pass to children who complete three lesson packages anytime during the season. Program includes full-day lessons, lunch, and a season pass.

Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) is the not-for-profit trade association representing 22 Colorado ski & snowboard resorts. CSCUSA is the global voice of the Colorado ski industry. The Association's primary functions are concentrated in marketing, public policy and public relations. Information about CSCUSA and its members can be found at www.ColoradoSki.com, on Twitter @ColoradoSkiUSA and on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/ColoradoSkiCountryUSA. This release and other press information can be found in the online press room at http://media-ColoradoSki.com.