I'm trying to take my five-year-old daughter snowboarding for the first time. Both of us are beginners. I've looked into SkiLiberty and SkiWhitetail, but both seem to discourage children under 7. Any ideas of where a good place to go would be?

I am not sure if there are many places "locally" that include 5 year olds in group lessons or programs. I do know that Ski Liberty will teach children under age 8 to snowboard in Private Lessons. Just give them a call to set something up.

It's certainly expensive and the lesson times aren't as good as for adults, but I certainly wouldn't them as discouraging.

My most recent experience is with Liberty has a lot of good child-sized equipment as well as good teachers. My 5 1/2-yr old has had, oh, about 10 lessons at Liberty (beginning when she was 4 1/2 last year) and just loves them. Quite a few times, group lessons turned into private lessons because no other students signed up. And the instructors often went way over their allotted time, obviously geniunely enjoying themselves and even later briefing me on what they had taught and what we should practice.

Of course, if you've got the money, the best is go out West where the conditions are better.

last week i took my 7 year old son and 5 year old daughter to canaan valley. i placed them both in a begin. snow brd. lession, but it quickly turned into a private lession. next i take them i will place them into a private lession. I understand that hiddenvalley will teach kids at 5 years, but have'nt received any feedback.

good luck