As a family
of five novice skiers (and three daughters under the age of 10), the idea of
going on a ski trip to Vermont seemed a bit daunting—but then again, so did the
idea of staying inside a cramped city apartment for MLK weekend, so we embarked
on a getaway to Vermont’s Smuggler’s Notch Resort. Before we left, we turned to
the resort’s website (smuggs.com), which is a great resource, especially for
beginners like us; it provided detailed driving directions and helped us
identify our skiing level, pack for our trip and layer appropriately for the
conditions. Now if they could only move Vermont a little closer to the city, it
would be perfect!
When we arrived at Smuggler’s at 3:30 a.m., we were greeted with a
smile—before we found our rooms and promptly fell asleep. But in the morning,
we realized why families travel to Smuggler’s; the grounds looked just like a
winter wonderland, with tons of activities for kids like tubing, ice skating
and a zip-line course, in addition to skiing and snowboarding. And for Smuggler’s
smallest visitors, there is Treasures, the skiing-infused day care program for
children six weeks to three years, which boasts separate rooms and activities
for different age groups and a highly-trained staff.
Smuggler’s offers skiing and snowboarding camps for children 3 and up
which are broken down by age and skill level, and it just so happened that my
three children were in three different camps. Audrey, who is almost 5, was in
the Discovery Dynamos camp (when we left her, she cried and said she only
wanted to stay for a half day, but later decided to stay longer). Francesca,
who is almost 7, finished two levels in Adventure Rangers, and I was surprised
at how she remembered her lessons when she demonstrated her new techniques
after camp. And Anna, who is a week shy of turning 9, loved her instructor,
going fast and skiing backwards—her instructor even suggested she try some
beginner freestyle classes. My husband Frank and I loved hearing how much the
girls enjoyed their time on the mountain and catching glimpses of them
skiing—all three of them already better than me, I might add.
Frank and I
were in an adult group lesson with instructor Bud Conger, who has been teaching
at Smugglers’ for 47 years. It showed—in only an hour and a half, he helped us
dramatically improve our skiing by teaching us to how turn correctly. At the
end of our lesson, Bud shocked me when he said he was turning 80 the following week!
The girls
also loved going tubing, especially “when the tube went really fast and was
spinning.” But another highlight of the trip was definitely the supervised
indoor Fun Zone; while Frank and I relaxed and watched the Jets game at the
Morse Mountain Grille, the girls were able to explore the Fun Zone with a great
sitter and play ping pong and mini golf, run through an obstacle course and
jump on bouncies. Audrey returned shouting, “There was this rope thing that
turns around when you climb on it!” to which Anna added, “It was so fun,
especially if you fell off!”
It was impossible for us to do everything Smuggs has to
offer, but next time we visit we definitely want to go snow-shoeing or cross
country skiing, which came highly recommended to us by other guests. All in
all, the weekend was a great success—we tried tons of new activities, improved
our skiing skills and had a wonderful time with our children—well worth the few
hours of travel to get there.
For more information about Smuggler’s Notch, visit smuggs.com.
