SNOWMASS, Colo. -- Melanie didn't care what anyone said. Maybe she was the littlest in the family, but for once she was determined to do it her way no matter what.
As soon as we arrived at Aspen Skiing Company's bastion of family skiing 12 miles up a mountain road from glittering Aspen, 7-year-old Melanie eyed all of the snowboarders coming down the mountain and announced she wanted to learn to snowboard, too.
She didn't care that no one else in the family had interest in the new sport. Her parents certainly had never tried it. Her older brother and sister, unlike a lot of kids their age -- more than a third of the country's snowboarders are teens, reports SnowSports (cq) Industries America national trade association -- much prefer racing down the mountain on their skis. Keep skiing, they advised their little sister.
Melanie dug her heels -- literally -- in the snow. She liked skiing well enough and already was a pretty fair skier for a first grader. But like more than 2 million others last year, she wanted to try the new sport. It looked like fun when she saw it on TV, she explained.
In retrospect, I think our disinterest fueled her desire. She was tired of following in her siblings' footsteps. It was bad enough having to wear their hand-me-downs. It was worse always being so much smaller and invariably slower. Anyone who is the youngest in the family can relate to that feeling. She was ready to try something -- anything -- on her own. Snowboarding simply offered her an opportunity.
That night, I thought about how vacations can spark new and unexpected insights into our kids and ourselves. Suddenly, in that cramped mountain condo, I was forced to look at my youngest in an entirely new light. Maybe I'm not as observant as I should be, but it took Melanie's plea for snowboarding lessons for me to recognize what I should have known for some time: Melanie's path was going to be her own and a lot different from what I'd expected.
I resolved that on vacation as well as at home we should let Melanie make more of her own choices (within reason, of course). So the next morning, I let Melanie try Bears on Boards, Snowmass' special snowboarding program for 5-to-7-year-olds. The program is one of the first in the country to teach such young children the fast-growing sport. It also may be one of the priciest -- $160 a day, including lifts, lessons, lunch and equipment. But unlike typical ski school classes, there were only three children to every instructor, so each child gets plenty of one-on-one time.
Melanie was in heaven from the first moment.
``The best thing is when they fall, they get right back up. It's a whole new thing, and they think it's all so cool,'' said Melanie's instructor Isabel Melvin.
By the end of the day, Melanie was able to go up the lift with her snowboard and navigate down a beginner slope. I'd never seen her so proud of herself or my older two so impressed with anything their sister had accomplished. She'd clearly climbed a notch or two on their respect ladder. The squirt could actually do something they couldn't! Amazing.
But would she ever get back on skis with the rest of us?
More kids than ever, like Melanie, are hanging up their skis for snowboards. Last year, 17 percent of snowboarders were aged 7 to 11 -- double the number the year before, reports SnowSports Industries America, and that number is expected to grow. More half the nation's 2.5 million snowboarders were under 18.
``But up until recently, many ski areas didn't start kids snowboarding until they were 7 or 8,'' explained Laura Sutherland, author of ``The Best Family Ski Vacations in North America'' (St. Martin's Griffin, $14.95). ``Look for more this season to offer these programs for really young kids as equipment manufacturers make better kids' gear and instructors get a better handle on teaching this new sport to such young children.''
Snowmass' Bears on Boards certainly has proved a hit. More than 400 kids took part last year. The parents I talked to didn't even mind the price tag. ``It's only once a year,'' said one mom, Deborah Rowley, whose son Christopher was in Melanie's class. ``He really wanted to learn, and I want him to learn the right way.''
For the rest of the family, meanwhile, Snowmass is just as good a bet. Sure, it's expensive -- we're talking Aspen, after all. Kids' lifts-and-lessons average more than $100 a day (kids 6 and under ski free, however); adult lifts are just under $60. Slopeside condos can cost more than $400 a night. (Call 800-525-6200 or www.skiaspen.com. Virtual Hostel, accessed through the Web site, will offer last-minute lodging deals.)
But this is one place that, if you can afford the splurge, seems worth the tab. It has everything for the snow-loving family -- especially little girls who want to snowboard:
-- Slopeside licensed day-care center for babies and private lessons for the can't-wait-another-year toddlers.
-- A children's ski and snowboard school that's one of the largest and best-run in the country, with instructors who get special training in handling children. Twelve-year-old Reggie gave high marks to the ``too cool for school'' teen program that set her up with a group of kids just as advanced as she was and an instructor who made sure they had plenty of challenges all day.
-- Weekly family days complete with clowns, music and family host volunteers on the mountains to give parents and kids any help they need -- even tours of Snowmass kids' trails.
-- A new family-zone skiing area with kids' trails, a terrain park for snowboards and even live reindeer.
-- Halfpipe snowboarding clinics for kids and adults every week.
-- Free shuttle service among Aspen, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk and Snowmass as well as bus service into Aspen in the evening so there's no need to drive the steep mountain roads.
-- Plenty of kid-friendly restaurants, including the chance to take a sleigh ride to Burlingame Cabin where you can sing along with the cowboys while chowing down on a western dinner. (Call 970-923-0575.)
-- Nighthawks evening child care for kids 3 through 10 years of age so parents can get a night out while the kids watch movies, do crafts and play games.
This season, Melanie promises, she'll beat us down the mountain -- on her snowboard. I can't wait to see her try.
(c) 1998, Eileen Ogintz. Dist. by Los Angeles Times
