I'm looking for a good spot for my kids over new years. What mountain has the most green slopes? And maybe is kid friendly?

TIA!

I learned on Breck peak 9, lots of fun easy runs and fun town. Large runs that aren't steep, graduate into the trees just a bit, fun kid runs.

Crested Butte is pretty beginner friendly. If you have people who are experienced skiers and some who are beginners, it has a good mix of terrain available from the same lifts so you can still meet up and ski together some without having to go halfway across the mountain to get to more challenging terrain. The final hill to the bottom can be a bit crowded and steep, but if your beginners just take wide tacks back and forth across it to get down, it is no issue.

I learned to ski at Keystone and I think it's great for beginners. Breck is great too.

When my kids were little, I took them to Alyeska and it had a nice little area at the bottom that was great for beginners.

Breckenridge, CO - Peak 8/9

Great for kids/families plus town life is cool when not skiing

Breckenridge is a good beginner mountain, Angel Fire probably is too. I disagree with others that Crested Butte and Keystone are good beginner choices. You'd still probably enjoy both though.

Aspen Buttermilk is often the resort I recommend the most when asked this question. They have a fairly wide beginner lift (panda peak) and run for complete newbies. Parking is easy right out front. Only three main lifts, so it's not real confusing like trying to move peaks at Breck. We've generally changed into ski boots right at the base and just left our shoes by the lockers. It has a real laid back vibe.

Angel Fire, entire mtn is basically one big green.

Cons - severe lack of snow fall, crowded

Some in Colorado have plenty for beginners which might be a better bet

Brek or Winter Park

off the wall option - Monarch

Never been myself but I've heard cooper is good and cheaper as well. As mentioned above copper does a good job of keeping everyone separated, not gonna get in the way of the more advanced folks on the beginners area.

Jock 07 said:

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Never been myself but I've heard cooper is good and cheaper as well. As mentioned above copper does a good job of keeping everyone separated, not gonna get in the way of the more advanced folks on the beginners area.

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Just to clarify, you are talking about Ski Cooper(Leadville) AND Copper Mountain?

Jetpilot86 said:

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Jock 07 said:

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Never been myself but I've heard cooper is good and cheaper as well. As mentioned above copper does a good job of keeping everyone separated, not gonna get in the way of the more advanced folks on the beginners area.

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Just to clarify, you are talking about Ski Cooper(Leadville) AND Copper Mountain?

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Correct.

Was just in case some did not know the distinction.

Jetpilot86 said:

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Was just in case some did not know the distinction.

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Ha good call, I guess that could get complicated especially since they're the same turnoff on I-70 IIRC

Jock 07 said:

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Jetpilot86 said:

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Was just in case some did not know the distinction.

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Ha good call, I guess that could get complicated especially since they're the same turnoff on I-70 IIRC

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Yup

Echoing what others have said about Keystone. Have been taking my son there for several years as he learns, and having the miles long green run (Schoolmarm) has really helped. More time skiing and less time trying to load up on the lift every 5-10 minutes.

Bluecat_Aggie94 said:

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Here's a link to the top ten mountains for beginners:

Best Ski Resorts for Beginners

If cost is a factor, you might want to consider something smaller, though. Beginner skiers are not likely to explore a large part of the mountain. I've taught my kids to ski at Red River and Angel Fire in New Mexico at about a third the cost of those Colorado Resorts.

Also, be wary of some of the stats resorts will throw out there on their green acreage. As an example, Keystone used to brag about the longest green slope in the USA (Schoolmarm is its name.) Something like three and a half miles long. Sounds awesome, right?

Well, the vast majority of it is a cattail, which is about the worst kind of trail for a beginner to learn on. Narrow in spots, TOO flat in spots, crowded the whole way down, and being a cattail, lots of it with a ledge that will make beginners freak out.

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+1 on red river

It looks like everyone is pretty focused on CO/NM, so just to add some variety to the discussion, I'll volunteer a New England option: Bretton Woods in NH.

Not the biggest, not the tallest, but plenty of green trails off the tops of all the lifts. Consistently rated best grooming in the east and they've already gotten a couple of storms this year. They probably won't be 100% open in early Jan (Waumbek is my favorite trail on the mountain but is rarely open before Feb. It is always the very last trail open.)

Blues are also mellow there, so it's a mountain for progressing. And if your party has people with various levels, there are a lot of routes down where a green trail is next to some mellow glades, or right next to a blue or black. We take a big group every year because it's so easy to stay together with groupings of trails that meet the levels of everyone with us.

As a plus, the Omni Mount Washington is right there, so full-service resort amenities if anyone in your party wants to hit the spa instead of the slopes. Winter flyfishing exists on the resort property or pretty much anywhere down the road. There's a big nordic course right there as well. Great views of Mt. Washington and the White Mountains from pretty much anywhere in the valley.

It's ~1.5 from MHT, 2.5 from BOS. Straight shot up I93, so road conditions aren't really a concern regardless of weather.

You ever seen a lift line on Peak 9? If going to Breck, ensure you go mid-week. Weekends are out of the question.

-Park City/Canyons- huge resort. Plenty of greens throughout, especially on the Park City side.

-Deer Valley. The nice thing here is that there are greens spread out throughout the resort. So you feel like you're seeing a lot of different areas of the mountain, but still able to stay on greens. The views from deer Valley are absolutely spectacular. As pointed out, they also groom everything.

10andBOUNCE said:

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You ever seen a lift line on Peak 9? If going to Breck, ensure you go mid-week. Weekends are out of the question.

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Over the last 6 years I have averaged 10 or so days a year at hreck, many on peak 9. 1st lift of the day always takes a bit but after that it is never more than 10 minutes. We always go weekends.

The gondola at keystone is much worse to run laps down a road (school marm)

The bad spot at breck is the base of peak 8. We never go there

knoxtom said:

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The two best beginner resorts in Colorado are Beaver Creek and Breckenridge. I don't understand why people recommend Keystone, it has one green run that is 3.7 miles long and exhausts kids. Most of it is a catwalk that absolutely sucks. Once they are comfy on blues then Keystone is great but it is a drag for newbies.
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This - the first time I took my kids was to Keystone and it was a disaster. EVERYTHING but school marm is a blue, and steep ones at that. My 6yr old at the time couldn't stop. I thought we lost him one time because he wouldn't be able to stop once he got to the bottom of the runs. It was a nightmare.

The next year we went to Breckenridge - I believe before we chose that we looked up which resorts had the highest percentage of greens. Breckenridge was one of the top ones and Keystone was one of the least.

If we're talking New England, I thought Killington, VT was pretty nice. We'll groomed easy runs.

The rating difficulty varies between resorts.
A Blue at one place might be Black at another, etc.

If your kid can't stop, they've got no business going up the mountain. You have to ski within your limits.

In the late 1990s when I was working for Dell in Austin, the child of one of our execs was killed in a snowskiing accident when they went down a closed run by mistake.

I think one thing that people underestimate is the amount of time it takes to learn. And everyone is different.

Some might be ready for green runs after a day of ski school and others might take 3 days.

Also, negotiating chair lifts can be tricky. I have one friend who is petrified of chair lifts so she will only go to Keystone where she can take the gondola.

HollywoodBQ said:

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If your kid can't stop, they've got no business going up the mountain. You have to ski within your limits.

In the late 1990s when I was working for Dell in Austin, the child of one of our execs was killed in a snowskiing accident when they went down a closed run by mistake.

I think one thing that people underestimate is the amount of time it takes to learn. And everyone is different.

Some might be ready for green runs after a day of ski school and others might take 3 days.

Also, negotiating chair lifts can be tricky. I have one friend who is petrified of chair lifts so she will only go to Keystone where she can take the gondola.

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Thanks for the parenting lesson. I learned that he couldn't stop after he graduated ski school, went down School Marm a couple times, and we were already on the mountain. We then spent the rest of the trip walking down School Marm. But again, I appreciate your insight.

My point was there were no runs I felt comfortable with at Keystone after that moment - other than School Marm - because Keystone is steeper than most mountains.

I learned as a kid at Santa Fe. Been a long time but remember it being fairly easy and low key for a beginner.

gigemhilo said:

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Thanks for the parenting lesson. I learned that he couldn't stop after he graduated ski school, went down School Marm a couple times, and we were already on the mountain. We then spent the rest of the trip walking down School Marm. But again, I appreciate your insight.

My point was there were no runs I felt comfortable with at Keystone after that moment - other than School Marm - because Keystone is steeper than most mountains.

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Just one of the services I offer.

Seriously though, besides my Dell Exec, I also sat next to a guy for 4 hours flying to Denver from DC because his kid had been in a skiing accident on a school/church ski trip and they had to evac him to Swedish hospital in Denver because that was the closest Level 1 Trauma Center and they weren't sure if he was going to make it. I drove that guy from DIA to the hospital because he was out of his mind and that was at least something I could do for him.

I do agree that the transition from Green to Blue at Keystone is a bit daunting.

One thing I found at Keystone when I was a beginning snowboarder was that the Blue runs there were great for learning to snowboard. You can't learn to snowboard on a Green because it isn't steep enough.

I felt like an accomplished snowboarder the first time I was able to finally go down Schoolmarm. Getting through the flat parts is really tough when you don't have any poles and only have one edge and your feet locked together.

If I had to do it again, I'd start the kids out learning at Keystone and then for that transition, take them to Alyeska in Alaska. Alyeska has a great lower lift and it's not crowded at all compared to Colorado. When my kids were 7 & 10, we went to Alyeska and just did that lower lift loop until we got tired.

Another plug for Alyeska is that fact that the base elevation is essentially at sea level (250 ft). Versus say Breck where the base elevation is 9600 ft. The effect of altitude can really get to you if you're working with flatlanders from Texas.

Beaver Creek....end of discussion. There are greens everywhere and blues that run in between the green switchbacks so you can try out your blue skills a little slope at a time. Only downside is it's one of the priciest. Luckily we get to stay in our parents timeshare so that helps with costs. We take the kids, a backpack full of food and snacks, hit McCoy park all day. With an epic pass and your own food you can get out of there for ~$60/person.