We tried a bunch of ski resorts when our kids were little and eventually bought a house in Park City. It is the best combo for ease of travel (SLC is at a lower elevation, about 45 mins on wide highways) and good skiing. We usually go to Deer Valley but there is DV, Park City/Canyons, Alta, Snowbird, Solitude, and Brighton. The town is pretty nice, too. |
Beavercreek is great for kids.
Mine loved it when they were little. |
Lake Louise, staying at the Chateau over the holidays. Lovely service, good food, easy ride to the hill, and just very chill and relaxing. |
Hands down, Whistler Blackcomb Resort. It kicks butt compared to every other ski resort every single time. Just go. Enjoy Vancouver for a day or two before taking the drive on the Sea to Sky highway up to Whistler. Enjoy the amazing skiing and Canadian hospitality there. We can’t wait to go back. |
Have skied Park City, Beaver Creek, Vail, Steamboat with small kids.
Beaver Creek if you stay in the village is probably the easiest and most manageable. It's very easy to get to the slopes (walking, and they have escalators), to ski school, etc. Steamboat is a great mountain for kids, with long green runs. My kids first learned to ski there, and the ski school has always been fantastic. Vail is huge and often feels very crowded moving around the base area, and for that reason it's not my favorite when trying to keep track of kids. Lately we've gravitated to Park City and love it there, but we often stay in town and you have to take a few extra steps (longer walk) or shuttles to the lifts. With very small kids I would go with Beaver Creek, but otherwise it's hard to go wrong. |
Winter Park was very nice and low key, good ski school. The area is pretty and quiet, not super touristy and the Devil's Thumb ranch just beautiful. |
We always love Breckenridge. Ski in/out on peak 9 and an easy walk to town.
We also like to take a day drip to ski Vail and/or keystone |
We often ski Jackson Hole/Targhee. The latter often has the most snow in the west, probably because it is on the western side of the Tetons. |
Best for our family has been Ski Sante Fe. There is just enough varied terrain for all family members regardless of skill level. Snow boarders are also happy. For the non-skiers in the family, there is plenty to do in Sante Fe, where we lodge, eat and enjoy the hot stubs. |
l grew up in Vancouver and stayed with a relative with ski / in out condo in Whistler many times. I also spent 2 winters living and working in Salt Lake. If you are there for the skiing, SLC is far superior because of the snow. Whistler mostly had wet heavy snow. If you’re there for the town, ya Whistler is awesome. Also the views on a clear day are magnificent. Both are great but if it’s mainly about the skiing and you’re above beginner level, go for Utah or Colorado. |
We’ve been to SO many mountains! Whistler, North Star, Heavenly, Palisades, Park City, Sun valley, deer valley, beaver creek, snowbird, snowbasin, Brighton, vail, copper, Breckenridge, Steamboat, plus tons in PA, WV, NH, ME, MD, NY, VA and VT! We’ve prioritized ski travel for our kids entire lives. Our family favorite? KEYSTONE. Weather is always better than cold/windy Breckenridge and the long trails are amazing! Tons of challenging alpine runs, tons of groomed trails. Perfect for everyone. Highly recommend Keystone! We are always surprised how much we love it! Enjoy. |
You can’t beat park city/deer valley for ease of travel from here. |
Same here. We've stayed there 3 times - once at Christmas and the other 2 in the spring. Christmas was truly magical with skating and snowshoeing on the lake, an outdoor ice bar, great skiing, beautiful decor in the hotel. We did a dogsled ride on one of our trips. I will note that it was VERY cold the Christmas we were there, but we skied every day. We've also stayed at the Banff Springs Hotel but I prefer the Chateau Lake Louise. We have skied all over. Other great family trips were Aspen, Jackson Hole, Vail/BC. We went to Tremblant a lot when the kids were young. That said we've had fun trips to Snowshoe too, so it doesn't need to be glamorous to be fun. |
Why are you telling people about Targhee? Grr. |
Whistler is great and so is Telluride. Neither are super easy to get to from east coast.
Easiest options with a direct flight out of east coast are going to be SLC area resorts and Denver. No one mentioning international, but Portillo, Chamonix, and Banff are also great. Portillo is very family friendly and ski off. Can go in summer. Not easy to get there obviously. |