| Ski Resorts for Beginners | | | | venue, features long, smooth, well-groomed runs on |
| Breckenridge | | | | which to practice parallel turns and other skiing |
| Breckenridge's Peak Nine training area is one of the | | | | techniques. Crested Butte, recently the host of the |
| best in Colorado for novices and those with | | | | U.S. Extreme Skiing Championship, offers advanced |
| intermediate skiing skills. The very smooth, dry snow | | | | skiing and 150 acres of novice terrain. You can find |
| makes perfecting parallel turns easy, and the | | | | discount accommodations and even free skiing at |
| high-speed quad chair life means more time to | | | | specified times. A popular resort for skiing holidays. |
| practice and less time traveling. Breckenridge also | | | | Deer Valley |
| provides challenging ski slopes for advanced skiers. | | | | Deer Valley Utah is another location that features |
| Many local hotels provide ski-in and ski-out access to | | | | smooth, well-groomed, open ski slopes and runs that |
| Breckenridge's trails. | | | | offer beginners a lot of choice without pushing them |
| Buttermilk | | | | past their limits. First-time skiers will delight in Wild |
| Buttermilk took top honors last year in SKI | | | | West, a beginner's-only area, free from the |
| Magazine's ranking of ski schools nationwide. | | | | unexpected assaults of hot-dog professionals. Deer |
| Buttermilk is part of the Aspen ski resort network, | | | | Valley reportedly offers the best food and customer |
| and is ranked second (after Snowmass) as the | | | | service in the Rockies. |
| nation's best ski destination for families. Classes are | | | | Mount Snow Vermont |
| small, and the 200 instructors offer personalized | | | | Mount Snow Vermont is reportedly the best Eastern |
| instruction designed to get novices on the slopes | | | | venue for skiers who want to move up from novice |
| quickly and safely. All 43 runs are easy enough for | | | | to professional skill level. With a wide choice of rapid |
| beginners, and once you get out of the glut of | | | | lifts on its gentler trails, Mount Snow clearly values |
| beginners at the bottom of the slopes, the well-kept | | | | the beginning skier, and the excellent cruising runs will |
| trails offer scenic beauty and excellent skiing. | | | | keep more advanced skiers happy as well |
| Copper Mountain | | | | Northstar-at-Tahoe |
| Copper Mountain is a perennial favorite, also located | | | | Northstar-at-Tahoe California offers a wide range of |
| in Colorado, and offers some of the lowest-priced | | | | ski slopes for the novice and intermediate skier. The |
| packages to be had in the Rockies. Long, wide novice | | | | terrain is primarily intermediate, and the lower runs |
| trails occupy the west portion of the resort, and | | | | are as good as any in the West. For novices who still |
| progressively more difficult skiing can be found in the | | | | fear lifts, Tahoe offers a conveyor belt modeled |
| eastern half. Located near Vail, Copper Mountain | | | | after airport conveyors, called the Magic Carpet, that |
| shares the high country's superb snow conditions and | | | | will whisk them up the slopes without causing a panic |
| provides adequate if not spectacular lift access. | | | | attack. Tahoe also has slopes for more advanced |
| Crested Butte | | | | skiers. |
| Crested Butte Another superb Colorado beginner's | | | | |