In a word-association test, if you said "family skiing," any Vermont skier would respond "Smugglers' Notch." Nobody accommodates families better. Period. For one thing, they've been doing it longer than most; the resort opened its first summer children’s camp in 1976. For another, all trails eventually lead to the self-contained base village, allowing parents to give their children free reign. Add the state-certified nurseries and pervasive apres-ski activities, and you've got a familial heaven.

But family friendly doesn’t necessarily mean easy, mundane terrain. The resort is set on three peaks, each appealing to different skier levels. Novice learning is isolated above the village on Morse Mountain, where the installation of the mountain’s third carpet-surface lift has made this section truly beginner-friendly. Madonna Mountain promises some of the headiest expert terrain around, such as double-black-diamond Freefall and triple-black-diamond Black Hole. Sterling offers a mix of the two, including Rumrunner, a favorite blue cruiser that was widened and contoured during the summer of 2006.

A few other areas of Smuggs have received face-lifts, too. In the Log Jam terrain park, those new to trick skiing and riding will find more rails and hits and a larger halfpipe for repeated attempts to perfect that first move. The Morse Mountain Grille, which serves uncommonly delicious waffle fries, has an upper-level dining room with awesome slope-side views. And although Smuggs is blessed with an annual average of 322 inches of natural snow, the snowmaking capacity continues to increase at the resort. The lifts are a bit old—no high-speed quads

In a word-association test, if you said "family skiing," any Vermont skier would respond "Smugglers' Notch." Nobody accommodates families better. Period. For one thing, they've been doing it longer than most; the resort opened its first summer children’s camp in 1976. For another, all trails eventually lead to the self-contained base village, allowing parents to give their children free reign. Add the state-certified nurseries and pervasive apres-ski activities, and you've got a familial heaven.

But family friendly doesn’t necessarily mean easy, mundane terrain. The resort is set on three peaks, each appealing to different skier levels. Novice learning is isolated above the village on Morse Mountain, where the installation of the mountain’s third carpet-surface lift has made this section truly beginner-friendly. Madonna Mountain promises some of the headiest expert terrain around, such as double-black-diamond Freefall and triple-black-diamond Black Hole. Sterling offers a mix of the two, including Rumrunner, a favorite blue cruiser that was widened and contoured during the summer of 2006.

A few other areas of Smuggs have received face-lifts, too. In the Log Jam terrain park, those new to trick skiing and riding will find more rails and hits and a larger halfpipe for repeated attempts to perfect that first move. The Morse Mountain Grille, which serves uncommonly delicious waffle fries, has an upper-level dining room with awesome slope-side views. And although Smuggs is blessed with an annual average of 322 inches of natural snow, the snowmaking capacity continues to increase at the resort. The lifts are a bit old—no high-speed quads here—but they get the job done. And the views of the White Mountains and Lake Champlain from the base-to-summit Madonna 1 Lift can’t be beat.

Smugglers’ Notch knows that parents need a little TLC, too, so it offers classes in skiing, snowboarding, and snowshoeing at all ability levels.