Many people vow to get active in the new year, and what could be more fun than playing in the snow and learning a new sport to get you moving in 2013! January is Learn to Ski and Snowboard month and Ski Vermont makes it easy as pie to get to the mountains. $29 packages including professional lessons, equipment rentals and a beginner lift ticket are available for resorts all over the state.

Registration for the $29 packages is available at skivermont.com/learn Lessons are available non-holiday while supplies last.

Don’t want to come alone? Already know how to ski? Then bring a friend! Be entered to win a ski and stay package at Smugglers’ Notch Resort by participating in the nationwide Bring A Friend program, and spread the love of skiing to your friends and family, all while winning great prizes.

Vermont ski resorts also offer additional lesson options and specialized clinics for those looking to expand their skills. Here is a sampling of what’s available this season:

Bolton Valley Resort
Bolton Valley Resort offers a special Learn to Love It at Bolton Valley Package for first-time adult and teen skiers or riders. The three-day Learn To Love It Program provides three days of beginner lessons. After completing the third day, the new skier or snowboard will receive a Learn To Love It card, entitling the cardholder to 50 percent off of lift tickets, lessons and rentals for the remainder of the 2012-2013 season. The three-day program is $149/person and includes a 90 minute lesson with a full-day limited access lift ticket and equipment.

The Burton Learn To Ride program at Bolton Valley, which began in 2006, combines advanced equipment, teaching techniques and learning environments for first-timer riders, using Burton-specific learn to ride snowboards that are soft and forgiving. For those who are ready to take their talents to the next level there is the Cruzers program for progressing freeriders and Dominants for progressing freestylers.

The Burton Progression Park is another source for aspiring snowboarders. The park is designed to take the park newbie and introduce them to standard park features in a progressive format.

Bromley Mountain
There’s never been a better time to learn to ski and snowboard! Bromley’s redesigned beginner area, covered carpet lift and sunny south facing terrain, combined with their friendly professional Learning Center staff, make the Sun Mountain a great place for the whole family to begin a lifetime of skiing and snowboarding.

Bromley is offering some great online deals for both kids and adults this season. The Kidsrule Mountain Camps® combine safety, education and fun for a great beginner (through advanced!) experience. Book your reservation online & save $20! (non-holiday, 48 hour advance booking) Don’t wait, this is a limited offer. You must be within the first 25 bookings for that day to receive discount. NEW this season is our GET skiing and riding for adults; packages include a 90 minute lesson in our learning zone, equipment specially designed for beginner’s success, and a limited lift ticket for easy-to-ride lifts! Book your reservation online, and save $10!* Complete a GET lesson and receive a GET Recognition Card for these great incentives: $25 off Lift Tickets, $15 off Rentals, and $15 off Group Lessons for the remainder of the season!

Burke Mountain
Burke Mountain Resort offers learn to ski and ride programs for children and adults. The Burton Learn to Ride Center is focused on manageable groups within an environment best suited for the task at hand…learning to ride. Our certified ski instructors will also get you up on the hill in no time – enjoying the outdoors and thrill of skiing. Learn to Ski/Ride programs include a 2 hour lesson and include a lower mountain lift ticket and rental equipment for just $75.00. Visit www.skiburke.com or call our Snow Sports Learning Center at 802-626-7348 for more info.

Jay Peak Resort
How best to get the kiddies interested in sliding on snow? Partner with the global leader in children’s entertainment. Jay Peak Resort and Burton Snowboards have joined forces with Disney to open the Playtime Burton Riglet Park featuring Toy Story. Burton’s Riglet Parks give kids a fun introduction to the foundations of snowboarding through play and guided discovery. The new park provides a Toy Story-themed learning experience to young riders as they maneuver through the interactive stations surrounded by a cast of kid-sized wood carvings of Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Rex, Jesse, and the Toy Soldiers.

The Playtime Burton Riglet Park featuring Toy Story at Jay Peak is slated to open in mid-January.

Killington Resort
For more than 50 years, teaching has been a passion at Killington Resort. Our combination of talented instructors (more than 60 hold the highest level of certification), unique and expansive learning terrain and innovative techniques motivate and inspire first-time and experienced skiers and riders every winter.

Individual attention is a proven path to better skiing and riding. Our Max 3 / Max 5 Learn To Ski & Ride programs offer personalized instruction in groups of no more than three to five students per class, a lesson, rental equipment and a learning area lift ticket. Plus, book a 2-day Learn To package and get a third day free.

Pico Mountain
Pico Mountain features an all-inclusive Learn To Ski & Ride program designed to get you started on the mountain and includes a lesson, rental equipment and a learning area lift ticket. With Pico’s gentle learning area and dedicated instructors, lessons will help make first time skiers or riders’ first days as seamless as possible.

Take advantage of Pico’s 3-day Learn To program and upon completion, receive a Learner’s Permit Card that features 50% off on lift tickets, lessons, and rentals for the remainder of the 2012-13 season and all of the 2013-14 season.

Mad River Glen
Ladies learn to “tele” at the Women’s Only Telemark Clinics at Mad River Glen. Since Mad River Glen is widely known as the “Mecca of Telemark Skiing” it makes sense that they would offer incredibly unique Telemark Clinics specifically for women. Coached by and for women, they use positive attitude, tactics and techniques to help women achieve their skiing goals. These clinics include: all day clinics, video analysis, and lunch. The clinics are offered on Saturdays; January 5, February 2 and March 2.

Magic Mountain
Magic is a mountain you never outgrow and is always ready to test your skills no matter your ability. Their Learn to Ski and Ride programs prepare you to enjoy the challenge of a lifetime. Whether its a first-timer adult program with dedicated morning and afternoon
instruction for just $129 (with ticket!), to children’s group lessons ($120 all day with ticket) or a full-season “Devo” program for only $575, Magic is known for developing some of the best skiers and riders in the East. Magic has many options for adults and children to fit your personal needs, and they can all be accessed right from www.magicmtn.com.

Mount Snow Resort
The Mount Snow Ski and Snowboard School is now an official Burton Learn to Ride Center equipped with the latest Burton LTR snowboards, bindings and boots designed to improve the learning experience. Ski and snowboard programs are available for kids as young as 3 years old, including the new Burton Riglet Park program for 3-6 year old riders, and daily group lessons are offered for skiers and riders starting at age 13. Mount Snow has three Kids Ski & Learn Free Weeks, January 20 – 25, February 24 – March 1 and March 3 – 8 with packages starting at $487 for a family of four. Get all the details at www.mountsnow.com.

Okemo Mountain Resort
Learn to Ski or Snowboard at Okemo for $39. First-time or beginner skiers and snowboarders visiting Okemo Mountain Resort early this season are invited to participate in a special Learn-to-Ski or Snowboard program for just $39. This program runs through Fri, Dec. 21, and includes two 2-hour lesson sessions (10 a.m.-noon and 1:30-3:30 p.m.), rental equipment, and a lower mountain lift ticket. Reservations are recommended and walk-ins will be accommodated on a space available basis only. Soon-to-be skiers and riders can call (802) 228-1600 to reserve a spot in the program at this very special rate. Beginners should arrive at the Okemo Express Rental Shop located in the Okemo Clock Tower base area at least an hour before lesson time to register for the program and to be fitted for equipment.

Smugglers’ Notch Resort
In recognition of National Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month, Smugglers’ Notch Resort is offering novice skiers and riders visiting on the Base Package January 6-13, 2013 with free daily beginner ski or snowboard two-hour group lessons and rental equipment for their entire stay. Package pricing is $115 per adult and $85 per youth per night.

Throughout the winter, options abound at Smugglers’ for beginning skiers and riders: all-day camps for ages 3-15, two-hour group lessons for ages 6 to adult, private lessons, and parent/child lessons where a parent teaches their child to ski by working in tandem with an instructor. A Burton Riglet Park with treehouse and mini terrain park features is a fun learning area for snowboarding novices 6 and younger. For those older than 6, Night School for Snowboarding under the lights on the learning slope teaches basic snowboarding skills in a group lesson followed by a practice session with instructors’ support.

Smugglers’ offers a guarantee all winter long that each family member will learn to ski or snowboard or improve their ability level, or the lesson portion of that person’s package will be refunded. (www.smuggs.com/skivtw, 855-814-7325)

Stowe Mountain Resort
For the month of January the Big Easy and Stowe for Starters afternoon lesson products will be priced at $29.00 (not including $5 ESC fee) These packages include a 2 hour beginner children’s lesson or 1.5 hour adult beginner lesson, rental package and limited access to lifts (Alpine, Easy Street, Adventure lift). The offer will run Monday 1/07/13 – Thursday 1/31/13 – not including MLK Weekend.

Stratton Mountain
Loving cold weather and snowstorms is easier when they mean slaying powder and cruising under bluebird skies. In January, Stratton’s experienced instructors and varied beginner terrain are available for $29 to everyone who wants to get out there. Get equipment, a beginner area lift ticket and a lesson with a professional instructor any day, every day for $29 in January for Learn to Ski and Ride Month.

We want you to love winter as much as we do, so if you can’t make it in January, try one of the two-day Learn to Ski or Ride programs and earn a free X2 Card. Call 1-800-STRATTON (787-2886) to reserve a lesson.

Sugarbush Resort
At Sugarbush, they know that once you get the feel for sliding on snow, you’ll be hooked. And to help you discover your soon-to-be new love, they’re offering the First Timer to Life Timer program. In its forth year, Sugarbush’s innovative First Timer to Life Timer Program successfully converts first time-skiers and riders to life-time skiing and riding enthusiasts by offering a FREE All-Mountain Sugarbush Season Pass (a $1,599 value) to anyone who completes an introductory 3-lesson package ($255). From twenty-somethings, to grandfathers, Sugarbush’s First Timer to Life Timer graduates are proving that learning to love skiing and riding has no age limits.

NORDIC LEARN TO PACKAGES

Mountain Top Inn & Resort
The Mountain Top Inn & Resort located in central Vermont, minutes from Killington & Pico Ski Resorts has a variety of winter activities for family members of every age to enjoy. The Resort’s Winter Family Wonderland Package is an economical way to take a fun-filled vacation with the entire family to learn the affordable sport of cross-country skiing. The 3 night package starts at $1175 for 2 adults and 2 children and includes a one hour “family” cross country ski lesson with rentals. Also includes 3 nights lodging, breakfast, horse drawn sleigh ride, trail passes, tax, resort fee and more. The Nordic ski and snowshoe program is available for all ages. As long as a child can walk, snowshoeing is a fun family sport; while cross-country skiing takes slightly more strength and balance. Lessons are offered starting at six years old; rentals are available for both sports. www.mountaintopinn.com 802.483.2311

Topnotch Resort and Spa
Come enjoy world-class luxury and daily on-mountain learning clinics for both alpine and nordic skiers, all at the most wonderful rate. Top Notch’s turnkey packages include equipment rental, lessons and lift ticket or trail passes, along with wonderful accommodations to make it super easy to start your ski experience. Learn more about their Start in Stowe and Nordic for Newbies packages and rates, and don’t hibernate this season!

Trapp Family Lodge
Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont offers introductory Learn to Cross Country Ski Classic or Skate group lessons daily throughout our ski season. We offer private lessons and in-house packages for those Nordic skiers looking to either improve their race performance or take their classic and skate technique to higher performance levels. All ages and abilities welcome. The Outdoor Center also offers daily backcountry ski lessons and tours; introductory, intermediate, and advanced. Whether you are new to backcountry skiing or are looking for secret stashes of powder to carve tele turns, we have lessons, tours, equipment and some of the greatest access the northeast offers. Call 802-253-5755 for more details. www.trappfamily.com

 

Ski Vermont also offer the Fifth Grade Passport, a program that lets Fifth graders ski and ride for free in Vermont. For more information, visit Ski Vermont Fifth Grade Passport.