Accessible via shuttle from the base lodge, Sunapee’s learning center teems with children on any given day. The dedicated facility is a wonder of engineering, with heated floors and organized cubbies that can accommodate several hundred children without feeling cramped. The adjoining South Peak Learning Area is a perfect playground for young kids to learn their pizzas and French fries, with three side-by-side carpet lifts of different lengths, and three chair lifts to a selection of bunny slopes. There’s even a beginner terrain park with mini whalebacks and other pint-sized features for your budding freestyler.

Kids are accepted for group lessons as young as 4 (and private lessons as young as 3); older kids with more experience are taken onto the mountain proper to learn on intermediate trails there. And for kids 3 and under, the learning center also has a fully staffed daycare center. Half-day and full-day programs are available, as are private lessons. In addition, Sunapee has pioneered a series of unique family lessons that allow the entire family to learn together despite differences in ability; or parents to stand in as observers during kids̢۪ lessons so they can learn techniques to train the little ones after the formal lesson is over.