Off the beaten places: Winter family fun

Everyone’s got their groove when the snow falls

All ages can enjoy Mount Snow’s 5-6 lanes tubing hill.

Southern Vermont features a host of alternative family winter activities, including ice skating, sleigh riding, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, tubing, and cross-country skiing. What are you making time for?

Ice Skating

If carving figure eights is your thing, you’ll want to check out the great ice at the Riley Rink at Hunter Park in Manchester Center. A new, state-of-the-art facility, Riley Rink at Hunter Park is the home ice for several community hockey and skating leagues and offers public skating hours at various times throughout the week. Call 802.362.0150 for hours and schedule of events. (See also: ice skating at Living Memorial Park in Brattleboro.)

Sleigh rides

Sleigh rides are available in several locales around the Bromley and Manchester area. On Route 11 in Londonderry there’s the Taylor Farm, 802.824.5690. A few miles up Route 11, in Peru there’s Horses for Hire, 802.297.1468, which Deb Hodis has owned and operated for more than a decade.

Grafton Ponds

783 Townshend Road, Grafton, 802.843.2400

Grafton Ponds Outdoor Center groomed and backcountry trails; snowshoeing, snow making, snow tubing; lessons and rentals

This is a year-round outdoor recreation center. Winter offerings include Nordic (cross-country) skiing, snowshoeing, and snow tubing on a 600-foot snow tubing run hill in the winter. The 15 kilometer groomed cross-country trail network is supplemented with snow making; there is an addition 15 kilometers of backcountry terrain. Snowshoeing is offered on 10 kilometers of trails, and the organization offers guided snowshoe tours. A biathlon course offers a tremendous workout. A base lodging offers rentals and lessons and repairs. Dogs are welcome on the property on Mondays and Thursdays. Half-day and full-day trail passes range $5–$18. Season passes are sold. A mid-week special offers a trail pass, rentals, and a group lesson for $60. Lessons are $25–$60.

Brattleboro’s Living Memorial Park

61 Guilford St., 802.257.2311

Living Memorial Park, a four-season destination for outdoors enthusiasts, has been serving Windham County since 1955. In addition to its Olympic-sized pool, it boasts two baseball fields, two tennis courts, basketball and volleyball courts, hiking trails, a playground, and a picnic location that can accommodate up to 150. In winter the park offers a ski lift and a complete indoor skating rink. Call the Nelson Withington Skating Facility, 61 Guilford St., at 802.257.2311 for info about public skating days and times.

Hildene Ski Touring Center

1005 Hildene Road, Manchester, 802.362.1788

8 kilometers of trails for cross-country and snowshoeing on the grounds of the Lincoln Family Home

Hildene is the home built in 1905 by the son of President Abraham Lincoln. In winter, guests may use the 8 kilometers of cross-country skiing trails, which have varying levels of difficulty. The Ski Pavilion rents skiing and snowshoeing equipment for adults and children, and also lessons, by arrangement. Nordic ski season is mid-December to mid-March, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is $5–$16, based on age. Rentals are $15; lessons are private or group, $15–$30. A full package includes admission, rentals, and lessons.

Viking Nordic Center

615 Little Pond Road, Londonderry, 802.824.3933

35 kilometers of groomed trails pass through woods and meadows; snowshoeing; equipment rentals and lessons; child care; night skiing

Trails are available for the novice to the expert. The ski shop offers Nordic skiing and snowshoeing equipment as well as pulk sleds for young kids. Lessons by Professional Ski Instructors of America. Trailside cabin and warming hut; night skiing; child care on the snow; four-bedroom guest house near the trail; club house for rent; group packages, rates, and rentals.

Wild Wings Ski Touring Center

North Road, Peru, 802.824.6793

28 kilometers of classic Nordic skiing terrain; small attraction and good for families. Classic, track skiing, and a nice small operation for families and kids

Trails roam through woods and along brooks. This location is a snow pocket: There may be snow here even when other locations are bare. Regular grooming. No snowshoeing.

The trails of Magic Mountain are naturally narrow and twisting, and they descend 1,500 vertical ft. for true vertical skiing.

Mountain Resorts

Bromley

3984 Vermont Route 11 Peru, 802.824.5522

Bromley is your family-friendly Vermont ski resort. To kids, the mountain is huge, and they love our new progressive terrain park. To parents, the mountain is just the right size, with slopes that funnel the whole family to our centralized base area.

Magic Mountain

495 Magic Mountain Access, Londonderry, 802.824.5645

Offering special clinics and tours, uphill, plus a snow tube park with its own lift

The trails of Magic are naturally narrow and twisting and descend 1,500 heart-pumping vertical feet to two Summit lifts for true vertical skiing. Combined with tree-skiing from boundary to boundary, Magic’s terrain is what separates this ski area from all others in southern Vermont and the East Coast—virtually unchanged since the 1960s.

Mount Snow

West Dover, 800.245.Snow or 802.464.1100 ext. 4033

Cross-country skiing, skiing, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, and the superpipe at Carinthia Base Lodge

Enjoy their five to six lane tubing hill. Even if one person is allowed per tube, several tubes can go down the hill at the same time.

Stratton Mountain Resort

5 Village Lodge Road, Stratton, 1.800.Stratton, (1.800.787.2886)

Skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, snowshoe hikes, and ice skating

Stratton promises, “Get ready for a March that will knock your boots off. Mark your calendars for longer days and nights with events, activities, and adventure.”