Looking to take a 9, 7, 5, and 3 year old skiing and want to find the best place for them to learn to ski. Cost isn't a huge issue since we know it will be terribly expensive anywhere we go. However, we want them to have a great time, learn how to ski on their own, and be able to come back next year and enjoy the family ski trip.

So, any suggestions on who has the best ski school for kids?

Thanks in advance!

deer valley

[This message has been edited by kwammer (edited 12/24/2010 7:39a).]

We ski Park City and have been impresesd. I have heard great things about DV.

For the 3 and 5 year-olds ski school OS glorified baby sitting,. Teach 'em to ski but wear them down for mom and dad.
For the older two a lot more options, heavily dependent on the kiddos. I'd take one day at a time with them, base it on interest among other things.
Vail / Beaver Creek ski schools are great. With that many kids I would recommend a mountain/town with lots of other stuff to do so the family has options.
Stick with one of the bigger "mainstream" resorts and you should be alright.

My son had a great time learning at Steamboat. He was 4 at the time and they spent quite a bit of time on the kiddie slopes learning basic skills that allowed him to do a couple of green runs with me on our final day.

I learned at Keystone, took ski school for about 5-6 years starting out. I agree with the poster above to stay on one of the main resorts. Copper and Keystone are both easier mountains for the kiddos from what I remember. I'd stay away from A Basin, Vail, and Beaver. While I love those three resorts, I think they are a little more advanced skiing/getting around.

Just an FYI, all o the vail resorts have the same ski school to te point that they shuffle instructors back and forth. Each will have a beginners area/hill and diverse enough terrain to got any style. The notion that vail and BC don't have an area groomed for beginners is ridiculous. Also, the younger the yet ski school the better, but the is no reason they should need more than 1-2 years unless they can't walk and chew gum at the same time. Maybe once they get to 7-8 or 11-13 you put them in an intermediate and then an expert mogul course, but beginner ski school for 5-6 years is about as useful as the obama presidency.

whats the youngest they take? my wife wants to take our daughter the season she'll be 3

I think most schools at bigger resorts will take whatever age you present at...the only thing that differs is the content, i.e. the older the child, the more ski lessons they will enjoy. I can only speak for Steamboat, but they had a very user-friendly webpage and we had no trouble reaching a live person to ask questions of.

3 is typically the youngest for "ski school". Younger than that and they are in childcare.

Good kiddo experiences at Steamboat and Kirkwood (Tahoe). After her first lesson ever at Kirkwood at age 9 she was doing parallel turns the next day.

Squaw has a great program. They also have lots of other activities other than skiing.